single academy trust | Schools Week

DfE goes shy on ‘try before you buy’ academy deals

The government has quietly slashed funding for trust partnerships, unveiled only last year to revive its multi-academy trust drive

DfE signs off Holland Park move to United Learning despite legal battle

The scandal-hit standalone academy will join the country’s largest trust, but a union vowed to continue its legal battle

Holland Park staff and parents take MAT fight to High Court

The NEU is backing parents’ bid to stop the standalone academy joining United Learning, claiming consultation was flawed

New alliance to stop schools being swept under MAT

Experts said the new West Kent Single Academy Trust Alliance showed there were ‘other models’ to the government’s preferred MATs

Academy transfers fall to four-year low during pandemic

The government has spent £38.8 million moving academies between trusts since 2014, official figures show, but transfers fell to a four-year low during the Covid-19 pandemic. Analysis of new Department for Education data shows a significant drop in academies switching trusts over the past financial year, with both voluntary transfers and forced rebrokering drying up […]

Academy trusts’ cash stash rises to £3bn despite pandemic pressures

Academy trusts boosted their reserves and surpluses last year despite the upheaval of Covid, official figures show. New Department for Education data confirms a 20 per cent jump in the average trust’s reserves, up from £0.96 million a year earlier to £1.15 million. The figures cover the year to the end of last August however, […]

Death of the single academy? Leaked documents reveal DfE vision

Standalone and small multi-academy trusts will wither away as mergers fuel the growth of larger trusts, according to leaked Department for Education documents seen by Schools Week. The news comes as a Schools Week analysis suggests a merger was approved every five days over the past year. It lays bare the scale of growth in […]