Merging multi-academy trusts is a huge undertaking - but it is something that is becoming increasingly common as trusts recognise the strength that comes with scale.
It’s something that we at King’s Group Academies (KGA) know well after we onboarded five schools from a trust in Hampshire last year, taking us from a total of 10 schools to 15 - five secondary schools, one all-through school, one special school and eight primary-phase schools.
It was a long and complex process, but one that was underpinned by strong project management and clear communication to ensure that the merger achieved its intended objectives while building trust, transparency and collaboration.
Merging MATs
A key factor in the success of the merger was the establishment of a project management group, which met weekly throughout the process.
The group included executive and trustee representation from both trusts, so there was clear insight on the latest developments, oversight of key deadlines and an ability to anticipate and problem-solve challenges along the way.
This proved pivotal in keeping the project on track and making sure that key leaders had a platform to ask questions, problem-solve and share any concerns, challenges or barriers to progress.
Complementing this was our detailed communication plan, which was created to ensure that members of our community felt involved and were aware of developments.
To help with this, we made sure that the Department for Education, MPs, local councillors and local authority representatives were kept up to date through regular online meetings.
We had face-to-face events for local partner schools so that they could ask questions. We also did the same for parents and carers, colleagues, governors and all 4,000 children in the schools affected.
This ensured that all partners and interested parties understood the progress being made towards the merger date and no one felt left out of the loop. This was extremely beneficial because it helped us to understand and address any misconceptions.
The communication plan was also enhanced through a range of face-to-face stakeholder engagement events and meetings.
Getting trustee representatives from both trusts together at an early stage of the process helped to ensure that the vision, values and decision-making processes were clearly aligned.
Throughout the project there were opportunities for the executive teams from both trusts to come together to co-construct the process and share hopes, challenges and concerns.
Leaders and parents in local partner schools were also invited to attend “drop-in” question-and-answer sessions with key representatives from both trusts.
Celebrating milestones
It was also important that we celebrated milestones and successes in the process to help maintain momentum and keep stakeholders motivated and involved.
One simple but effective way we did this was through a CEO vlog, which was shared with all staff within the two trusts on a monthly basis to mark project deadlines being met.
We used an informal style in the vlog and invited questions about the merger that could be submitted anonymously. During subsequent vlogs we addressed the questions that were submitted, as well as providing the latest updates. All vlogs were filmed in-house using a handheld mobile device.
Keeping pupils informed
As mentioned, as well as updating staff, we also ensured that students were informed of the work going on behind the scenes. After all, it is their school being affected by the change so they have a right to know what is going on.
We were very deliberate in our communications with children in all of the schools merging into our trust (two junior schools, one 11-16, one 11-18 and one social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) specialist school).
We held assemblies led by both myself and the headteachers, where we outlined KGA’s vision and values and gave details about the next steps, including timescales, so that children knew the changes occurring.
The culmination of these celebrations involved a tea and cake “Welcome to KGA” meeting for all staff of the predecessor trust when the merger officially completed on 1 May 2024.
Since then communications have moved on from sharing updates on the merger to sharing the latest developments, opportunities and successes in the trust - not least the news that one school had moved from an Ofsted judgement of “requires improvement” to five “good” judgements in January 2025.
We look forward to further improvements in the future.
Nick Cross is CEO of King’s Group Academies
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