Sector leaders are urging Catholic dioceses launching religious mega MATs of up to 70 schools not to rush the “huge undertaking” to avoid the mistakes of the early academy days.
All but one of the 19 English Catholic dioceses are pursuing trust growth plans, with papers seen by Schools Week showing bishops in one diocese planning to split almost 200 schools between three super-sized trusts.
But the government’s “sudden” decision to scrap trust growth funding has prompted some to take stock, with one putting its MAT strategy on ice.
However, the wider merger plans are likely to reshape the current landscape of large trusts, with several likely to become among the country’s biggest.
Pepe Di’Iasio, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, warned that the mega-merger plans would “require a great deal of planning and preparation”.
“Setting up multi-academy trusts of the size envisaged is a huge undertaking and cannot be rushed into.”
Rise of the religious mega MAT
The Catholic dioceses want to move their remaining local authority-maintained schools into bishop-backed trusts. Many also want to consolidate the number of trusts in each area.
In Salford, bishops want to split their schools between three trusts by 2030. Each will have at least 50 primaries and 10 secondaries, with the largest expected to take on 71 in all.
The diocese decided to move towards full academisation after the previous government’s 2022 white paper outlining a plan for all schools to be in trusts by 2030.
Correspondence sent to leaders in April stated Salford would continue to follow through with the plans “regardless of political changes that may come later in the year”. Just 42 (21 per cent) of its schools are currently in a trust.
Schools Week revealed last month that the Archdiocese of Birmingham will move all its 236 schools into as many as five trusts. It will include the biggest ever merger, as six chains combine to create a 63-school trust.
Di’Iasio added: “Most MATs evolve and expand over time, building up systems for partnership working with their schools while ensuring that they have sufficient capacity in their central teams and are able to provide targeted support as necessary across their schools.”
‘LAs can’t shut you down’
Some dioceses, such as Nottingham and Plymouth, have already completed rapid conversions. In Hexham and Newcastle, only a handful of schools are yet to join one of its four MATs.
Nick Hurn, the chief executive of the Bishop Wilkinson trust – which runs 47 schools in the area – said one of the main challenges with his 18-month expansion was “building the central team early on because you’re doing it without the resources to start with. You’re speculating to accumulate.”
As dioceses push ahead, some have tried to convince leaders of the benefits by stressing they will be shielded from council closures.
A letter sent in March by the Archdiocese of Southwark in south London – which wants schools to move into one of five Catholic trusts each with between 30 and 40 academies – said the “over-provision of school places… continues to be a difficult situation”.
With falling rolls expected to hit secondary cohorts, it stressed “academies cannot be closed by local authorities”. A spokesperson for the archdiocese said its trusts “are assisting schools with falling rolls, but if a school is not viable we would not [be] expecting it to convert in the first case”.
Leaked documents from London’s Diocese of Westminster also showed a “key reason” for its strategy “was to ensure that the decisions for the provision, be that closure or amalgamation, would be solely within [its] authority”.
Cuts cause strategy rethink
Figures from the Catholic Education Service show the number of Catholic academies increased 13 per cent in 2023, down on the 17 per cent rise the previous year. Forty-six per cent of Catholic schools are now academies.
But Liverpool, where bishops hoped to launch 12 MATs with between six and 28 schools, has paused its plans after Labour’s “sudden announcement” it was axing funds, including the academy conversion grant.
Salford is also “assessing the impact removal of the conversion grant will have”, while Birmingham will lodge its submission for the final tranche of funding by the December 20 deadline.
Jeff Marshall, an academy conversion consultant, said moves to create larger faith-based trusts will hamper co-operation between schools.
“Going to your own corner and creating a Catholic MAT or Church of England MAT or a non-faith one has created divides where we’ve never had them before. That collaborative mentality is taking a hit.”
A Catholic Education spokesperson said academy decisions were only made after “full and thorough consultation”.
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