FAQs
Academies are state-funded schools which are independent from local authorities, meaning they are not run by local councils. They can decide on their own curriculums, term dates, school hours and much more. Academies are still funded by the government, but they get to decide how they spend their money, from how much they pay teachers to how much they spend on classroom equipment.
Over half of all pupils in the UK are already educated in academies and there are three types:
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Converters – formerly council-run schools that chose to become academies;
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Sponsored – previously underperforming council-run schools in need of support, and/or judged ‘Inadequate’ by Ofsted, where the law requires them to become academies; or
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Free schools – brand new schools established to meet a need for good school places in area.
Primary, secondary, middle, all-through, 16-19, alternative provision and special schools can all be academies.
Multi Academy Trusts or MATs are charities that have responsibility for running a number of academies. They cannot, as charities, be run for financial profit and any surplus must be reinvested in the trust.
In a Multi Academy Trust, each school retains its unique identity, for example its own DfE (Department for Education) number and its own local governing board and has its own Ofsted inspections; at the same time, the trust board is ultimately responsible for overall strategy of the trust as a whole, financial good health and standards.
While other types of school partnerships can be effective, the key difference with academy trusts is that there is shared accountability for standards across the trust; all schools within the trust support each other and the trust is accountable for them all. By working in partnership with each other, the schools within a trust can share staff, curriculum expertise and effective teaching practices, and work together to deliver the best outcomes for students.
The Schools White Paper, Opportunity for All, which was published in March 2022 under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government, set out the government’s long-term vision for a school system that helps every child to fulfil their potential by ensuring that they receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.
This will be achieved by ensuring:
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an excellent teacher for every child
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high standards of curriculum, behaviour and attendance
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targeted support for every child who needs it
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a stronger and fairer school system
The government’s vision set out that by 2030, all children will benefit from being taught in a family of schools, with their school in a strong MAT or with plans to join or form one.
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All schools will provide a high quality and inclusive education within the resilient structure of a strong trust, sharing expertise, resources and support to help teachers and leaders deliver better outcomes for children.
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The best trusts in the system will work where they are needed most, levelling up standards, and transforming previously underperforming schools.
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Every part of the system, from strong trusts to local authorities, will be held accountable to a set of clear roles and responsibilities, so that no child falls through the cracks.
They will deliver:
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A fully trust led system with a single regulatory approach, which will drive up standards, through the growth of strong trusts and the establishment of new ones, including trusts established by local authorities.
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A clear role for every part of the school system, with local authorities empowered to champion the interests of children and a new collaborative standard requiring trusts to work constructively with all other partners.
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Education Investment Areas to increase funding and support to areas in most need, plus extra funding in priority areas facing the most entrenched challenges.
What this means for families:
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Stronger local schools right across England: schools will retain their ethos, whilst benefitting from the expertise and support of their family of schools in a strong trust, especially in areas of disadvantage.
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Clear accountability for outcomes for every child: public services will deliver for children and their parents.
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Better support for children and families: it will be clear what the different roles and responsibilities of schools, trusts, local authorities and others are.
The benefits of being part of a MAT are that as a collection of schools working collaboratively together, we are able to develop best practice and identify ways of working strategically in combination with each other. Being part of a MAT provides our trust schools with a group strength which we may not have otherwise had immediate access to.
This includes opportunities for the talent and expertise of our staff to develop even further and to provide career progression for our staff. It also provides the ability to broker contracts and services to support cost efficiencies across the trust, thereby being able to release additional funding to support in other areas such as recruitment, including high quality, subject specialist teaching staff, because of the reputational bias.
Along with shared subject expertise, as a MAT we are also well-placed to streamline and improve our member academy schools back-office functions via a centralised services team, for instance our centralised academy budgeting system allows us to quickly identify any areas of over-spend and opportunities for investment across the trust.
In addition, shared communication platforms, and access to the most up-to-date financial data, helps academies move towards curriculum-based financial planning, which means they can make better use of their staffing resources to improve student outcomes as well as opportunities to enrich the experiences of our young people.
Our first member academy, Beacon Academy, underwent a transformational journey over five years achieving their best ever A-Level and GCSE results in their sixty-year history, placing them as the top performing school in Sussex overall and as one of the top performing schools nationally. This led to Beacon Academy becoming oversubscribed due to its reputation for securing great outcomes for students.
As a trust, we look at each member academy school individually and agree a strategy that we believe we be effective in providing the best possible education for our students, preparing them for life, so they can stand equally alongside their peers, locally, nationally and globally.
Academies do not have to follow the national curriculum, but as part of their Education Funding Agreement with the Department for Education, they must ensure that they teach a broad and balanced curriculum including English, maths and science. They must also teach relationships and sex education, and religious education.
For further information about our MARK Education Trust member academy school curriculum provision, please visit their individual sites.
At MARK Education Trust, we offer an ambitious curriculum which gives all students the knowledge and skills they need to succeed. Our academies offer a broad and balanced curriculum which provides a strong base for students to make the aspirational choices for their future.
Our curriculum is inclusive and embraces diversity. MARK Education Trust teachers are subject experts who continually debate the content of our curriculum to ensure our students learn the most powerful and significant knowledge and acquire a clear understanding of the world.
No, academy status does not affect SEND provision. All mainstream schools have a duty to use their best endeavours to provide support to children and young people with SEN, whether or not they have an EHC plan. All students, whether they attend an academy or a school maintained by the local authority, should have access to a broad and balanced curriculum.
The admission authority for each school is the trust board and the trust adopts an admission policy which applies to all schools in the trust. However, the admission criteria can and do vary between each school in the trust to allow for local arrangements and context.
Academies are able to set their own term dates and inset days.
At MARK Education Trust we work closely with the local authority to plan our term dates and inset days so they are as closely aligned with the East Sussex term dates as possible. This includes a review of our neighbouring county term dates to consider the impact on families with children attending schools across the border in Kent.
As a MAT, we are fortunate to benefit from additional inset days which are carefully planned and most recently have been focussed on the development of curriculum, assessment and pedagogy, as well as staff training on systems and process for new member academy schools.
This ongoing strategy has been highly praised by Ofsted.
Academies are state-funded schools which are independent from local authorities, meaning they are not run by councils.
They are still funded by the government however they receive their funding directly from the government, instead of via the local authority. The academy trust then decide how they spend the funding for their trust academies.
At MARK Education Trust, we pride ourselves on our close working relationship with our local authority with both parties recognising their responsibilities to deliver the best educational provision possible for their children and young people.
We work together positively on all matters relating to the education and welfare of young people, including with Children’s Services to ensure that children are protected, and risk from harm is minimised.
In addition, we actively participate in local partnerships and other forums related to developing local provision; and regularly collaborate operationally with the local authority in a variety of ways, such as processes, term dates and county school improvement.
Local Authorities have a statutory duty to promote high standards and fulfilment of potential in maintained schools and other education and training providers, so that all children and young people benefit from a good education, and they should seek to work constructively with academies and alert the Department for Education when they have concerns about standards or leadership in an academy.
In relation to admissions, while the Trust Board is the Admissions Authority for its member academies and therefore responsible for determining its own Admissions Policy and arrangements in line with the School Admissions Code and associated legislation; they are still required to participate in the Local Authority co-ordinated scheme.
The trust adopted new articles in 2022 which allows for two Parent Governors to be elected by the parent body to each school’s local governing committee. The trust board does not specifically appoint parent trustees, but there are serving trustees who are also parents.
Academies are free, state-funded schools which are run by charitable trusts. They cannot be run for profit.
Academies are funded directly from the DfE. The Academy Trust handbook provides essential guidance for academy trusts on financial management, governance, and accountability. MATs require a central service charge from each school in the trust, which is an agreed proportion of the budget to fund central services, such as finance and HR. MATs can choose to vary the budget they devolve to each school in order to address particular needs.
The key change for each school’s Local Governing Committee (LGC) is that they will no longer be responsible for monitoring the financial health and performance of their school. The trust board is accountable for this through the trust's Resources, Audit and Risk Committee. The key areas of responsibility for the LGC are safeguarding, student outcomes; including attendance and behaviour, and stakeholders.
MARK Education Trust is an established Multi Academy Trust (MAT). The expansion of the trust is led by a small working party of senior leadership staff, including our board of trustees. Expansion does not involve member academy teaching staff or their time within the classroom, therefore teachers will continue focussing on student teaching and learning.
The board of trustees is made up of four Academy Members as the overarching body of the trust and they are responsible for appointing the trustees to the board. The board of trustees is made up of ten trustees appointed from a diverse range professional backgrounds including; finance, education, law, accountancy, HR, IT and governance.
As MARK Education Trust expanded to become a MAT in September 2022, the trust established a local tier of governance called the Local Governing Committee (LGC). This is made up of appointed community members, elected staff governors and elected parent governors.
The Academy Members, trustees and local governors are all volunteers and do not receive payment for their role in the trust.
The role of the Trust CEO is to be answerable to the board of Trustees for the overall educational performance of the trust and its financial health, and to implement the Trustees’ strategic plan for the future growth and shape of the trust as a whole.
In doing so, the CEO will work with all key leaders in the trust, including local governing committees and headteachers of each of the schools. The headteachers of each school are responsible for cooperating with the CEO, but they carry responsibility for the achievement of high standards, in and beyond the taught curriculum, in the school or schools for which they are responsible, and for developing the reputation of that school. In doing so they will report at regular intervals to the Trust CEO and will be challenged and supported by their local governing body.
At key accountability points, such as Ofsted inspection, it is expected that the headteacher of the school concerned leads, supported by the local governing committee. In schools still considered ‘at risk’, the Trust CEO may play a more active role during the inspection process.
Local Governing Committee (LGC) members and governors serve on the LGC for each school, and their main responsibilities are to do with being a local voice in scrutinising and promoting the quality of education and wider opportunities offered to pupils. Specific responsibilities and accountabilities are allocated to each LGC according to a document known as the scheme of delegation which is part of the Trust’s Governance Plan. This document is reviewed annually and agreed between the trust board and the LGC for each school.
MARK Education Trust schools are united in their vision to provide the best possible education for all students, preparing them for life, so they can stand equally alongside their peers, locally, nationally and globally.
The board are keen however, to ensure that each trust school is able to maintain all that is unique about their individual school whilst also benefiting from being part of a larger and very successful academy trust.
As part of the expansion strategy of ‘growth with care’, our board of trustees work closely with potential member schools on a due diligence process to ensure that they would be a good fit for our trust ethos and equally that our trust would be able to support the progression of an interested school. Part of this would include any adaptations, if any, required to fully develop their membership within our academy trust.
Changes such as school name and uniform would be carefully considered by both the trust and the leadership of the interested school in line with legal obligations where there is a move to academy status, as well as the cost implications for parents and carers on any uniform changes. Where there are uniform updates, this will be phased in and advance notice given.
The benefits to the staff of a school joining a MAT are that as a collection of schools working collaboratively together, we are able to develop best practice and identify ways of working strategically in combination with each other. This includes opportunities for the talent and expertise of our staff to develop even further and to provide career progression for staff. It allows for strategic planning around coursing to maximise the offer to students within the trust and therefore the opportunity for staff to teach in a different way, or subject field.
It also provides the ability to support cost efficiencies across the trust, to enable greater financial support in other areas such as recruitment, including high quality, subject specialist teaching staff, because of the reputational bias.
Staff will not be formally moved from one school to another unless as part of an agreement between the member of staff and the senior leaders. This may be to take up the opportunity of a promoted post, for instance. The senior leadership teams, the board of trustees and the Head of HR will work closely together to review where there are potential opportunities for staff progression and these will be offered to staff within the trust as well as nationally, where relevant.
Depending on the role, most staff will have the opportunity to work across both schools where appropriate. This will however not be directed, unless as part of a wider agreement to deliver a role on a trust-wide level, for instance to support course delivery and efficiencies.
All state-maintained schools in England are inspected by Ofsted. This includes academies. Ofsted usually inspect all new academies in the first three years after they open.
Academies, including free schools, are directly accountable to the Secretary of State for Education, while all other state funded schools are accountable to local authorities.
Academy trusts are founded by members who have a general duty to exercise their powers, to further the academy trust’s charitable purpose. The trust board, led by a Chair, is the decision-making body of the academy trust and is accountable and responsible for all the academies in the academy trust. A trust board then may decide to delegate further powers and decision making to the local tier of governance and to committees of the trust board. The Executive Leader in an academy trust with multiple academies is the Chief Executive (referred to as the CEO), who has day to day responsibility for all the schools in the trust.
Schools considering joining our trust
Any school interested in joining MARK Education Trust would be part of a due diligence process, both by the school and by the trust. This process enables both parties to decide whether the school joining the trust is the correct step for them.
Our Board of Trustees understands the importance of small communities having schools at their heart, especially for families with young children, where it can be done sustainably.
The management of the schools budgets are overseen and constantly reviewed and adapted by our Trust Resource, Audit and Risk Committee as part of our trust growth strategy.
MARK Education Trust aims to develop and maintain strong existing partnerships between schools within our trust, but also those partnerships with schools who are not part of our trust. This supports the professional development of our staff and our overall outcomes for our students.
MARK Education Trust currently comprises two member academy schools. Trustees are determined that any trust expansion is closely aligned with their "growth with care" strategy.
We work closely with the local authority and the Regional Director (formerly known as the Regional Schools Commissioner) regarding any potential for further trust expansion and now have an established centralised services model with staff and working closely across both schools within our trust. Our board of trustees and senior staff are continuously reviewing our trust strategy and impact and would of course welcome any enquiries from schools who wish to explore their options in relation to joining a growing multi-academy trust.
Governing bodies are sometimes concerned that the unique character of their school and decision-making power will be lost. MARK Education Trust is committed to maintaining the individuality of each school, and, providing that a high standard of student outcomes is achieved, and all of our students and staff are fully safeguarded and able to develop, we are open to our schools taking individual approaches to things such as curriculum and procedures as they know their community best. The formal scheme of delegation, reviewed annually, spells out clearly the areas which are delegated to local governing bodies and committees.
MATs enable the strongest leaders to take responsibility for supporting more schools, develop great teachers and allow schools to focus on what really matters – teaching, learning and a curriculum that is based on what works. They have the capacity to provide and deliver high quality training and evidence-based curriculum support, allowing teachers to focus on what they do best – teaching.
The model of a MAT enables a cross trust approach to staff training and development allowing the trust to shape teacher training as well as the ability to centralise resources and standardise systems, such as finance, administration, HR and IT. They benefit from economies of scale for contracts such as cleaning and catering, resulting in a reduction in workload within individual schools and also in individual cost, providing more flexibility with the budget. This supports the leadership and board to appropriately target resourcing and would support the effectiveness of recruitment to roles within our schools.
Schools who are academies have greater freedom that those who are maintained by the local authority. It gives schools the power to decide on the best curriculum for their students, determine how they spend their budgets, and much more.
Having a shared vision to provide the best education for the students within our school communities enables all schools to collaborate on how best to achieve this within their own contexts, but with the wider support, expertise and collaboration from other schools.
This is dependent on the interested partner's current status, but in general terms, the process would be as follows:
As a first step, any interested partner may want to meet informally to explore issues further either with the Trust CEO or with the Chair of Trustees. Once they believe they have reached a settled opinion, the governing body of the interested school must vote with a simple majority to ask to join MARK Education Trust. That vote must be formally recorded in the governing body’s minutes. Following a decision, the chair of the governing body must write to MARK Education Trust informing them of the outcome of the vote and asking for a process of due diligence to begin.
The board of trustees will then also have to meet to discuss the proposal and if it is agreed in principle then it can progress to the “due diligence” stage. The process will examine areas such as the finances, financial projections, student number and sustainability projections, educational standards, staffing and curriculum models, and consider the likely risks and benefits to the trust and the school joining. The DfE and the Regional Director will also be informed at this stage. If the school is under Local Authority (LA) control, they will also be informed and if the school is a Church of England school, they must inform the Diocesan Board of Education of its intentions. A legal firm will also be appointed to handle the legal aspects of the transfer.
Once complete, the trust board will consider the due diligence report, and if it decides that it will proceed with the request, then the formal application to the Regional Director will be finalised. This must be approved by the Advisory Board before the application goes to the Secretary of State for signing. This stage can happen before the transfer of assets work is completed by the LA, but the actual conversion date cannot be set until the transfer of assets is completed. The process is irreversible until the Funding Agreement is signed by the Secretary of State. Prior to that point, either the governing body of the school or the trust board can suspend or terminate the process. The entire process normally takes between six and nine months. Conversion dates are normally the first day of any calendar month.