ULT\u2019s<\/a> chief executive, has already been interim leader of Authentic\u2019s since November, after former CEO Fay MacRitchie\u2019s departure three months earlier. The merger will see 96-school ULT grow to 109 academies.<\/p>\n\n\n\nColes said two years ago his trust was \u201cnot a huge organisation\u201d compared to other sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Noting that the largest universities were \u201ctwo-and-a-half times our turnover financially\u201d, he argued the sector needed to \u201crecalibrate\u201d its understanding of what big is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are 2,000 trusts in the system \u2013 that\u2019s not a sensible way to run a public service. I think the system as a whole would be a great deal better if the average size of a trust were significantly bigger than it is at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Size less key for Labour<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Last month\u2019s white paper revealed government hopes for all schools to join or form trusts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It noted chains \u201cshould be large enough to optimise benefits in terms of driving pupil progress, estates planning and financial resilience\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike previous governments, Labour ministers have not expressed set views on size or set deadlines, however.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former minister Theodore Agnew, who also chairs the Inspiration Trust chain, said he \u201cwas very cautious about allowing MATs to get too big too quickly\u201d in the early academy era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He suggested the sector was then commercially \u201cimmature\u201d, with high levels of financial incompetence, or at least naivety\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Average trust has over 5 schools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n But in 2016, David Carter, the then-national schools commissioner, called for smaller trusts to run up to 20 schools. He said trusts with fewer than six academies would \u201cstruggle to be sustainable\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Conservatives then told all schools to start joining MATs by 2030, and trusts to work towards having at least 10 schools. Both policies were eventually dropped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pepe Di\u2019Iasio, general secretary of school leaders\u2019 union ASCL, backed Labour\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cExpansion is certainly a challenge as trusts have to scale up central services and ensure there are strong governance structures. But this is a matter of how trusts organise themselves rather than a question of how many schools is the right number.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Confederation of School Trusts boss Leora Cruddas said there was no \u201csingle, optimal size\u201d. There is \u201croom in the system for a range of approaches\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Government data reveals trusts now average 5.6 schools, up from 3.6 in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘Schools benefit from clusters’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Agnew noted that the system is now \u201cmuch more stable\u201d. Many large MATs are \u201chighly competent\u201d, and able to \u201chire the very best commercial people from the private sector\u201d. But his \u201conly reticence\u201d is around geographic proximity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ULT \u201cis spread thin across England which means it loses the benefits of inter-school collaboration. [But] I am sure they would argue differently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But United Learning said the merger would mean it had 19 schools across Bournemouth, Poole and Weymouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis continues our policy of building clusters of at least 3 to 5 schools of the same phase within half an hour\u2019s journey time of one another \u2013 precisely so that all our schools and colleagues get the advantages of geographical proximity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trust also said its scale meant it had \u201cexceptional teacher training for 400 new teachers each year in our own group and for other schools and trusts\u201d, as well as early career training for \u201cmany hundreds more\u201d and leadership training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The white paper said \u201cquality and geographical coherence\u201d will be priorities in new guidance. More details and partnership are promised to ensure \u201ca vibrant landscape of coherent high-quality, innovative trusts across each area\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Government will \u201cwelcome dialogue\u201d with MAT chiefs about whether isolated trust schools might be better served within a more geographically coherent\u201d chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jonny Uttley, a former trust CEO, said government should \u201cgive a very clear steer on locality\u201d. Trusts should have either \u201cclear community coherence\u201d or a \u201cclear model\u201d for working in and servicing local communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
England’s biggest trust this week unveiled proposals to merge with south west chain Authentic Education<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311204,"featured_media":243571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32],"post-theme":[2381],"class_list":["post-243527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-academies","post-theme-academies"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t
![\"Sir](\"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Jon-Coles-2024-feat.jpg\")