Madmissions 101
Multi-Academy Trust
A charitable organisation that runs a group of academy schools under a single governance structure.
A Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) is a charitable organisation that runs two or more academy schools under a single governance structure.
MATs vary enormously in size:
- A small MAT might run two or three primaries in one town
- A large MAT can run 50+ schools nationally (e.g. United Learning, Ark, Outwood Grange)
The trust holds the master funding agreement with the Department for Education and is the legal employer of staff. Decisions about curriculum, school improvement, finance and (often) admissions are made centrally rather than at individual schools.
For parents, the relevant questions are:
- What is the trust’s track record? Strong trusts can lift weak schools quickly; weak trusts can drag good schools down.
- How much autonomy does the school have? Some MATs run a tight shared curriculum; others delegate.
- Where do appeals go? The trust is usually the admissions authority for its academies.