A school trust is a group of schools working in deep and purposeful collaboration as one entity to improve and maintain high educational standards across the trust. A multi-academy trust has a single legal and moral purpose at the heart of the Articles of Association: to advance education for public benefit. Within one legal entity, with aligned processes and systems and the ability to strategically move the organisation, there is a successful model for making sustainable, long-lasting change and to transform the lives of our children and communities.

There is an emerging body of evidence beginning with an early large-scale study by Chapman and Muijs into what they called ‘performance federations’ – groups of schools in shared governance arrangements, including the early multi- academy trusts. The findings of this research suggest students attending performance federations outperformed a matched sample of their peers in non-federated schools in terms of their attainment.

Chapman, C. andMuijs, D. (2014) Does school-to-school collaboration promote school improvement? A study of the impact of school federations on student outcomes. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 25 (3), pp. 351-393

In the collaborative structure of a School Trust, it is more possible for teachers and leaders to move to another school to help improve the quality of education where that school is struggling – and these moves are more likely to be to schools with more disadvantaged pupils.

Added value for children and young people is at the heart of the school trust purpose. Schools who work together in purposeful collaboration create a multiplier, not an aggregation. It is the A x B model, not A + B with high expectations around synergy and creating transformational improvements.