How Our Trust is Preparing for the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024-26

With the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024-26 currently being discussed in Parliament, I want to take a moment to talk about how we, as a Trust, are preparing for the changes and, more importantly, how we’re making sure you—our parents and guardians—are part of the conversation.

Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) are groups of schools that work together under one organisation to make sure every school provides a high-quality education, manages money properly, and follows the rules. Unlike single schools, MATs share resources, staff training, and support across all their schools, helping them improve and stay consistent. In our Trust, unlike many others, we value the autonomy of schools and headteachers, so the schools directly control many decisions. This means local parents and children get the choices and education they deserve, tailored to their needs.

A Commitment to Transparency

One of the key parts of this bill is making sure Academy Trusts are more open about how they operate, especially regarding curriculum choices, funding, and decision-making. I fully support this.  As some of you may know, I have an academic background in writing and publishing Academy-sceptical peer-reviewed articles. 

As a Trust, we are responsible for ensuring that parents understand what their children are learning and how resources are being used to support them.

Financial Transparency – Where Does the Money Go?

I know school funding can sometimes feel like a mystery—where does the money come from, and how is it spent? We’re committed to breaking this down in a way that makes sense for parents, and our website has a section that breaks down what services we provide centrally and how these benefit our schools:  LINK

We want you to feel reassured that every pound is being used in a way that benefits your children. We take our responsibility with Public Money very seriously. We, unfortunately, do not have magic pots of money, but we work with the funding we get from the Department for Education to try and get economies of scale that our schools alone would not be able to access. 

We look forward to hearing the requirements that Parliament will set for how trusts can achieve this area of the bill. We have already published a lot of information on our website. I recommend that you take a look: 

• Audited Accounts for 23/24 

Our Financial year runs from September to August, and this is a copy of the Annual Report and Financial statements that external auditors completed up to the Year ending 31st August 2024.

• Articles of Association

The Articles of Association is a legal document that sets out the rules for running our Trust. It explains the roles and responsibilities of our Members and trustees and how decisions are made. It’s like a rule book that helps ensure our Trust and schools are managed correctly and in the best interests of our pupils.

• Members & Trustees

Members and Trustees' roles are to ensure the Trust runs well. Members are like guardians of the Trust- they make sure it is doing what it was set up to do and can make big decisions like appointing some Trustees.  Trustees oversee the Trust’s schools, ensuring they provide a good education, manage money properly and follow the rules. Members and Trustees are all volunteers; they do not get paid.

I fully understand that it can sometimes be confusing what Trusts actually do. I hope our website provides a clearer explanation of the role of Schools for Every Child and how we are here to enhance pupils' education while working closely with schools to better support children. When we do our job properly, schools and headteachers are able to perform their roles even more effectively. This, in turn, allows schools to focus fully on education and the children they serve.