{"id":238121,"date":"2025-11-19T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=238121"},"modified":"2025-11-20T15:14:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:14:23","slug":"big-education-trust-consults-on-merging-with-oasis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/big-education-trust-consults-on-merging-with-oasis\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Education trust consults on merging with Oasis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A pioneering three-school trust in London plans to join one of England\u2019s biggest MATs in the latest high-profile academy merger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big Education Trust is to consult on proposals to join forces with Oasis Community Learning, which runs 55 academies across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department for Education is said to be taking an \u201cinterest\u201d in the move, with officials identifying the \u201coperational scale and efficiencies\u201d it could bring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the latest high-profile MAT merger that is reshaping the academy sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The average trust size has increased from 3.1 schools in 2019, to 5.3 earlier this year<\/a>, as the number of single-academy trusts also plunges <\/a>amid squeezed funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three schools \u2018too small\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Big Education was launched in 2018 by Peter Hyman, a former adviser to Tony Blair and more recently to Sir Keir Starmer in opposition, and current CEO Liz Robinson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its academies include Surrey Square Primary<\/a>, which hasn\u2019t permanently excluded a pupil in almost two decades, and School 21, a free school torchbearer for progressive values which was co-founded by Hyman and Oli de Botton, who is now the prime minister\u2019s education adviser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robinson said the trust \u201cpunch[es] above our weight\u201d by \u201cdoing lots of projects and [carrying] influence in the system\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among other things, it\u2019s involved in Rethinking Assessment and the Big AI Project, which received \u201cover $1 million\u2026over two years\u201d to design \u201ca framework of principles for the effective use\u201d of the tech. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It decided to merge three years ago as \u201cthree schools is too small to run a MAT\u201d, Robinson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/strong>There\u2019s the same breadth of work to do in a big trust as there is in a small trust, [but] you\u2019re massively resource constrained in a trust of our size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt means we\u2019re stretched very thin and work in an unsustainable way, frankly, to do what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added it is \u201cquite hard\u201d for small trusts to grow given the amount of due diligence required, meaning some \u201cget a bit stuck\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Like speed dating\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The trust developed a set of principles around \u201cwhat mattered to us, what we\u2019re looking for and what we\u2019re trying to achieve\u201d in the merger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It looked at the 100-plus trusts that operate in inner London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had lots of conversations with other trust leaders,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to avoid the speed dating, swipe-left, swipe-right metaphors in all of this.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oasis connection came after Robinson met the trust\u2019s CEO, John Barneby, at an event last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Oasis was \u201cnot actively pursuing growth\u201d, Barneby said it was interested in \u201chow we can deepen the work we\u2019re doing in a particular area or in the type of work that we\u2019re doing\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His \u201cears pricked up\u201d when he realised the trusts shared the view that \u201cthere is more value to education than just exam results. They\u2019re really important, they\u2019re a key aspect, but education does a lot more than that…beyond the headlines.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such narratives were \u201crare to hear\u201d, and it was \u201cnot just being talked about, it\u2019s being done as well\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBig Education\u2026has built out this holistic, integrated model that\u2019s thinking about the whole child, whole family and the community,\u201d Barneby said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Oasis, we\u2019ve been doing something very similar through our community hub model for a number of years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pledge to \u2018avoid staff disruption\u2019<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Barneby said that the proposed merger is “not a deficit situation\u201d, and said both organisations are working to avoid as much staff disruption as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He could not rule out redundancies, but said the goal is to “preserve the nature and character” of Big Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is expected Robinson would move into a new, as-yet-unnamed role focused on \u201cgrowing\u201d her organisation\u2019s projects across Oasis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barneby hopes this work could \u201cshape some of the system as well. Within this potential partnership is a promise to keep Big Education\u2019s influential projects and programmes thriving within a new combined organisation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt would create further opportunities for schools across both Big Education and Oasis to connect, share ideas, and learn from each other \u2013 building a stronger network for our joining communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DfE interest in ‘rare’ merger<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Schools Week <\/em>revealed last month that government officials are working on white paper proposals to encourage all schools to join a group<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not known how Labour would define a school \u201cgroup\u201d. However, it is understood the plan would not force schools into new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barneby noted there \u201caren\u2019t that many examples of a small, successful trust [like Big Education] merging with a much bigger trust\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s lots of small trust-small trust and medium-medium [mergers]. I think there\u2019s some interest around that model [from DfE],\u201d he continued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of the operational scale and efficiencies you can get are quite significant and so that\u2019s another area of value that the department see from having more mergers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Robinson believes one of the factors preventing more of these moves from occurring will be CEOs not wanting to surrender their roles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There needs to be \u201cflexibility [and] not just MAT CEOs being [viewed as] the top job in the whole system\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[With] boards as well it\u2019s kind of like turkeys for Christmas. When we started talking about this, [Big Education\u2019s board] all sort of agreed that they\u2019re not going to be having our nails in the board table and hanging on because they will be dissolved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

September launch<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The MATs are currently consulting on the plans with the aim of completing the merger by next September. They would then work “towards harmonising systems over the next couple of years\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staff were told about the proposals today. Both trusts’ boards have agreed to explore the plan, and will make a final decision in December or January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposals would then have to be ratified by the government’s regional directors after consultation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move would take Oasis’s tally of schools to 58. Only three others \u2013 United Learning, Delta Academies Trust and Reach2 \u2013 will be bigger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Robinson added: \u201cThis is an exciting strategic opportunity for us to secure our future as a centre of excellence in inclusive, expansive educational approaches, and to scale our work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A pioneering three-school trust in London plans to merge with one of the country’s biggest MATs. Their leaders explain how it could work<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311204,"featured_media":238126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3717],"post-theme":[],"class_list":["post-238121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-mat-mergers"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t