To despise MATs (Multi Academy Trusts)

Our local school has actually been massively improved since joining a MAT. I have really noticed it in regards to SEN provision as well as the opportunities that are available.

For example Year 9 have just been part of a project to get kids into engineering and after the workshop day a small group were selected to do a day of “work” at an aerospace hangar

Reform of how LEAs worked makes sense - but MATs were not an inevitable consequence - they have been a huge wasteful mistake.

Sam Rushworth is incredibly selective to which cases he highlights and ignores constituents about others. 2

I don’t agree with the principle at all. I believe state schools should be under direct state control, either the local authority or perhaps via the DfE, obviously they should be properly funded.

that all said, although I despite the ridiculous rules at our MAT , the results and general reputation of the school seems to have improved significantly since getting taken over around 5 years ago

That picture could also represent local authorities as well.

My one big issue with MATs is when they become massive. The one I worked for covered a huge geographic area and the needs of the children were vastly different, they tried to streamline everything. You can do that with children though.

Martyn Oliver is head of OFSTED so nothing is going to change with them.

You're 20-30 years too late to complain about MATs, they have been govt policy for a long time. The majority of secondary schools are academy's & primaries will eventually go that way too.

Like everything else there are good and not so good MATs

A PP praised Oasis - I interviewed with them a while back & it was horrible, no way would I have gone there to work.

That doesn’t represent any MAT I’ve worked in.

Then report…disciplinary and sacking for breach of contract. Did you report?

In fact, my LA no longer provides LA advisers to support the meetings. Governors must do their own due diligence.

Friend worked in one. She was really glad to be made redundant. Went from a school that supported its many students with special needs to one that just wanted them gone. Wanted middle of the road to high achievers only, churn out exam results, next please. Bit like Henry Ford’s original model.

Dgc school is similar —- glossy, rules, rules and more rules, smart uniform is everything but no help if your child has send.

In practice our LA advisors threatened, abused and manipulated as many schools as possible into not academising by saying how awful MATs are.

And remembering also that LA staff have to be politically impartial, so although a MAT can ‘sell it’s wares’ to schools, to convince them of the benefits of academising, LA staff are not allowed to promote the benefits of remaining maintained as they must follow political (DfE) steer.

LA staff are also not allowed to discuss the possible negatives of joining a MAT.

Same with us. We put in complaints and they all got overruled. Even had the senco defend bully's to our face, not to mention lying about having access to files about our oldest son, which caused a delay and fight to get him his ehcp

And please do not forget the millions of £s that go on legal fees for setting up these trusts, and that schools incur when joining. The government is forking all this out when the money might have been better spent on funding schools properly in the first place. There are whole legal firms that set up to do nothing but this .......

I totally agree!!

When we were investigating MATs for our rural primary where I was COG, one of the things that perturbed us was that all the land would be handed over to the trust, and all the other physical assets, much of which had been built and maintained by local people who had a personal interest in the school and its success - they had gone there as pupils, and their own chidlren and grandchildren were there. They had rolled up their sleeves and built many of the facilities as voluntary labour and were proud of the school.

And we would have had to hand it over to a bunch of people accountable to no-one. The boards of these MATs are the "great and the good" and I was astounded at how they were appointed.

We were only looking at it because we did not want to finish up having no choice over which MAT to join should membership have eventually become diktat - and even finding out where we stood over that was impossible. So many of the local rural primaries had joined MATs for just that reason - scared of where they would be allocated if they finished up obliged to join a MAT and getting no choice on one that tallied with their ethos.

At meetings about this with MATs any raising of these concerns was met with shock and horror - it was as if they were a sort of cult that you could not question; that you had to sign up to the "company message" and were heretics if you raised concerns. Frankly we all found it pretty creepy.

I agree. We've had a horrendous time with a MAT school and the seem to be untouchable.

@CelRa I think that shows neither system works well. And the funding for next academic year is going to be crippling for all schools

And the number of MATS with a deficit has tripled since 2021.

The figures show that academy trusts, which run more than 10,000 schools in England, have little room for financial manoeuvre than ever: In 2023-24, 60 per cent of trusts reported deficits, compared with less than 20 per cent in 2020-21.

Agree, my daughter is in year 8, another going up in Sept, and 5 years ago there is no way I would have sent them to this school. Taken over by a MAT, all northern schools and the difference is astonishing! A friend of mine works for the trust, very experienced and quite high up (100k+) and he works bloody hard for his money...I find it hard to begrudge the high wages when they're getting results the LA couldn't

ESFA do do checks and the accounts are audited (although the money may have been spent by then)

If people are concerned about their Trust you could become a governor/Trustee

15% of state maintained schools were in deficit in 23/24