A major multi-academy trust is planning to expand its five clusters of schools, according to its latest accounts.
Star Academies says it will seek to grow across five geographical clusters in Lancashire, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, the West Midlands and London.
The trust will seek to open new free schools and also identify schools “whose ethos is a suitable match” that may be keen to join.
The MAT, which started in Blackburn, Lancashire, grew from 31 to 33 schools in 2023-24, its accounts show.
Star Academies’ community focus
Star Academies has secured funding from a philanthropic foundation to support its mission to extend the reach and impact of community hubs in each of its schools.
This funding will “enhance the enrichment opportunities available to children and young people, as well as providing much-needed advice and support for their families”, the accounts say.
Sir Mufti Hamid Patel, chief executive of Star Academies, speaking at a recent Church of England education conference, talked about the importance of schools having a meaningful community role.
“Far too many schools today are seen as tangential and discrete places of transaction, like a supermarket, a GP surgery or even a service station...a place that coldly services a purpose, albeit an important one, rather than a busy hub of meaningful, warm and welcoming experiences and opportunity, a centre of its community,” he said.
“To foster this we need to open our schools to wider services, invite our neighbours to celebrate our children’s achievements, and be much more intentional about how we leverage our resources to make life easier and more enriching for them.”
The trust’s accounts highlight how in 2023-24 a new behaviour policy was implemented that “focuses on relationships and places a stronger emphasis on proactive interventions for vulnerable pupils”.
The rate of suspensions and repeat suspensions in Star’s secondary schools has reduced significantly year‐on‐year as a result of this.
The accounts also highlight the launch of Star’s Talent Strategy for developing staff, saying that a new range of induction and CPD programmes has been created for postholders including principals, senior leaders, school business managers and heads of year.
CEO pay
The trust accounts show that Sir Mufti Hamid Patel received a £15,000 pay increase, taking home between £295,000 and £300,000 in 2023-24, compared with between £280,000 to £285,000 in 2022-23.
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