{"id":246891,"date":"2026-05-21T23:00:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=246891"},"modified":"2026-05-22T15:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T14:57:08","slug":"turnaround-catholic-trust-will-become-one-of-englands-largest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/turnaround-catholic-trust-will-become-one-of-englands-largest\/","title":{"rendered":"Turnaround Catholic trust will become one of England’s largest"},"content":{"rendered":"

A government-backed pilot turnaround trust for Catholic schools will morph into one of England\u2019s biggest \u2013 as church bosses say 70-strong MATs are \u201cbecoming the norm\u201d.<\/p>\n

The St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust is set to swell to 65 academies in just a few years, having originally been trialled by the government as a home for so-called \u201corphan\u201d schools.<\/p>\n

It is one of three trusts that will share over 200 schools across the Archdiocese of Liverpool, which has torn up previous plans to move its primaries and secondaries into 12 smaller trusts.<\/p>\n

This comes after three other Catholic dioceses unveiled proposals to create their own mega MATs, with one expected to take on 71 academies.<\/p>\n

Joan McCarthy, Liverpool\u2019s director of education, said the archdiocese \u201cwanted to find the structure that would protect and support all of our schools\u201d, which are of \u201call shapes and sizes\u201d.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cThis is a road that has been travelled by other Catholic dioceses across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cMATs of 50 to 70 schools are increasingly becoming the norm rather than the exception, and this is something that has influenced our own thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

DfE-backed pilot<\/h2>\n

St Joseph was launched four years ago as part of a Department for Education pilot \u2013 which also funded the Falcon Education Academies Trust \u2013 to find a temporary home for struggling schools that other trusts did not want. Its creation was supported by \u00a31.25 million in government start-up funding.<\/p>\n

The idea was for it and Falcon to \u201cincubate\u201d the schools, before moving them to a permanent home.<\/p>\n

\"Andrew
Andrew Truby<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While Falcon closed, St Joseph was allowed to take on \u2018good\u2019 and \u2018outstanding\u2019 schools in 2024, easing its transition out of the government scheme. It now runs 10.<\/p>\n

Under the archdiocese\u2019s strategy, it will absorb 55 more in Liverpool and St Helens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the first days, we were trying to build something, and we were starting from scratch, so it was like a start-up company,\u201d CEO Andrew Truby<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe strategy is the final acknowledgement of our journey from being a turnaround trust to one that is focused on delivering world-class education to all Catholic schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCarthy stressed that the archdiocese was \u201ccontributing to each conversion, by providing appropriate resources and finances for elements such as the condition survey and due diligence process\u201d.<\/p>\n

This will ensure \u201conly trust budgets are used to support growth \u2013 and no school budgets are impacted by the process\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018Not all direct control\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Archbishop of Liverpool John Sherrington\u2019s vision for education in his area will also see Pope Francis Multi-Academy Trust expand to 61 schools in Sefton and Lancashire. It currently has seven.<\/p>\n

A brand-new MAT, called the Our Lady of Lourdes North West, will be created to absorb 75 more schools across Knowsley, Halton, Warrington and Wigan.<\/p>\n

Only one trust in the country, United Learning, would be bigger. And just three other trusts currently have more than 60 schools on their books.<\/p>\n

Sherrington noted that trusts of that size \u201ccan sound very broad, anonymous\u201d.<\/p>\n

But \u201cthe identity of every school is important, so we will have clusters of schools in hubs that are more manageable to build up their own local ethos”.<\/p>\n

The archbishop added: \u201cIt\u2019s not all big, direct control.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stressed the move would not see the archdiocese \u201ccorporatise the academies like some of the other academy trusts have done\u201d by introducing measures like MAT-wide uniforms.<\/p>\n

Hub size concern<\/strong><\/h2>\n

McCarthy said the schools would move in batches over five waves taking 12 to 18 months each.<\/p>\n

She \u201cwould love to have it done in the next five to six years, but the reality is it may be a little bit longer than that\u201d.<\/p>\n

Pointing to the archdiocese\u2019s previous academy strategy, McCarthy said the trusts it is currently operating are \u201cquite small\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not in critical stages, but I think the reality is, if they continued as they are, then we would be looking at having to go in their reserves.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also revealed that the Department for Education has seen the plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main question that they had was, \u2018how do you ensure the clusters in the hubs aren\u2019t too big?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were happy with what we were proposing and that we were going to have senior executive leaders in charge of the hubs.\u201d<\/p>\n

More mega MATs<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Analysis conducted by Schools Week<\/em> in 2024 suggested that all but one of the 19 English Catholic dioceses are pursuing trust growth plans.<\/p>\n

In Salford, church leaders want to split their schools between three trusts with at least 50 primaries and 10 secondaries by 2030. The largest is expected to take on 71 schools.<\/p>\n

The Archdiocese of Birmingham has merged six trusts to create a 63-school MAT, called St Gabriel the Archangel.<\/p>\n

It will act as a pilot, with up to five more trusts \u2013 each consisting of more than 40 academies \u2013 established later.<\/p>\n

And in November, it was revealed that the Diocese of Westminster wants to put its 187 schools into \u201cfour equally proportioned\u201d academy chains.<\/p>\n

It argued that \u201cshifting demographics\u201d and financial pressures have left trusts needing to \u201cserve more than 10,000\u201d children to be sustainable.<\/p>\n

The \u2018right\u2019 number<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Finance expert Micon Metcalfe previously said that Catholic trusts more generally may be \u201cdisproportionately affected\u201d by financial pressures.<\/p>\n

This is because \u201cthey are wanting to deliver the bishop\u2019s plan for the area and protect small Catholic schools\u201d, which are harder hit by cuts.<\/p>\n

Sherrington added: \u201cThere are learnings from other trusts across the country as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would seem there is a right number of pupils to have in a trust that works, and that is why we are going larger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three trusts will share over 200 schools across the Archdiocese of Liverpool<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311204,"featured_media":246745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32],"post-theme":[2381],"class_list":["post-246891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-academies","post-theme-academies"],"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