MATs | Schools Week

Academy trust health checks will be rolled out from January, schools commissioner reveals

The schools commissioner has started piloting multi-academy trust “health checks” and revealed his full masterplan to ensure chains don’t overexpand will be rolled out across the country from January. Sir David Carter, the national schools commissioner, said he plans to run the health checks at more than 30 trusts before the end of the year. […]

Multi-Academy Trusts could be the saviour of education in the north

Successful trusts need to leave their cosy London bubble if education in the north is to improve, says Jonathan Booth. The difference between deprived secondary schools in the north and south is stark. Ofsted called this a “postcode lottery” in its annual report for 2014-15, adding: “What we are seeing is nothing short of a […]

Grammar get-out clause confirmed: selection ‘permissible’ within trusts

The government has confirmed it has a grammar school get-out clause that allows academy trusts to filter their brightest pupils to another site, effectively creating selective schools and dodging the need for new laws to be passed. The education green paper introduced by Justine Greening a fortnight ago outlined proposals for multi-academy trusts to move […]

Academy trust CEOs reject ‘centres of excellence’ proposal

Multi-academy trusts have snubbed government proposals allowing them to move their most able pupils into a “centre of excellence”. The green paper outlines plans for trusts to select within their schools and set up a site to educate the “most able” pupils. The policy, overshadowed by the grammar schools proposals, worries some trust chief executives, […]

DfE multi-academy trust league tables: Who are the best and worst performers?

The Department for Education has today published its own “league tables” for multi-academy trusts, fulfilling a manifesto pledge and promises by ministers for more transparency over the academies programme. The publication of the data confirms a series of earlier analysis by experts that shows there are large differences between the performance of academy chains. For […]

20 large academy trusts ‘underperforming’, new league tables reveal

Twenty of the largest multi-academy trusts (MATs) – running more than 300 schools – fall “significantly below” the national average for improving pupils’ attainment, a major new analysis comparing the performance of MATs and councils has found. The findings, published today by think tank the Education Policy Institute (EPI), revealed stark variations in the performance […]