Our pupils benefit from being part of a larger family of schools, with access to a wider range of opportunities, experiences and expertise.

Through collaboration across the Trust, pupils can participate in a variety of enrichment activities, including music and performance events, sporting competitions, leadership opportunities, arts projects, sustainability initiatives, careers events and community activities. For example, pupils from all Shires schools currently compete in athletics and team sports multiple times a year against other Trust schools in leagues and cups.

Our dedicated School Improvement Team, with expertise across primary and secondary education, SEND, safeguarding and personal development, works closely with schools to ensure every child receives the highest quality education and support. This enables us to share best practice, strengthen provision and help all pupils achieve their potential. We have the capacity to develop and retain excellent leaders at all levels and across responsibilities to continually strengthen our local offer.

Each Trust Board will independently decide as to whether the merger will proceed, based on the outcomes of the due diligence process and consultation with all stakeholders. It is expected that this decision will be made by both Trust boards no later than the end of November 2026. An application will then be submitted to the DfE. The application is then considered by the Regional Advisory Board of the DfE, chaired by the Regional Director for the West Midlands. Ultimate decision-making responsibility lies with the regional DfE board.

Yes, other primary and/or secondary schools could join in the future as working towards a trust of 10000 pupils would support excellent opportunities for well-established trust wide practices and responsibilities, to serve communities. The creation of a larger Trust could bring additional benefits for children and young people, staff, and local communities, however, our priority at this stage, if approved, is to focus on the successful and smooth merging of both Trusts. Opportunities for further growth after this point would be carefully considered by the Trust Board, with decisions always made in the best interest of our immediate school communities. This could be through increases to either of the hubs. It is likely further schools will want to be a part of the expanded offer in the future, not least in response to the Government agenda to see formal (larger) partnerships.

No. Each school within Shires Multi Academy Trust retains its own name, history, identity and place within its local community.

We believe the individuality of each school is one of our greatest strengths, and it continues to be celebrated across the Trust.

Yes. Through the Shires Teaching Alliance, an accredited provider working in partnership with the University of Worcester, we are committed to recruiting, developing and supporting the next generation of teachers. SAET have their own dedicated teacher training offer, and this successfully trains up to 20 teachers a year.

Together, we can continue to provide high-quality training and professional development opportunities for both new and experienced educators as well as expand the Initial Teacher Training offer.

Improving outcomes for all pupils remains at the heart of our work.

Our schools work collaboratively to share expertise, resources and effective practice, ensuring that all children have access to high-quality teaching, enrichment opportunities and targeted support where needed. Attention is given to supporting disadvantaged pupils and those with additional needs, helping every child to flourish regardless of their starting point. Our strategies are evaluated and we commission the best leaders and work with other trusts to support our continual improvement.

There are currently no Trust-wide plans to change the age ranges of our schools.

Our schools continue to work closely with local educational partners and remain committed to serving their communities within their existing structures. We have previously explored discussions at Crabbs Cross Academy First School in Redditch, linked to historical routes and pyramids, but this has not yet proceeded.

No. Each school retains its own unique character, ethos and traditions, as they do now within each trust.

While schools benefit from being part of a strong collaborative Trust, their individual identity remains central to their success and to the communities they serve.

The distinctive Christian ethos of our Church schools remains an important part of their identity.

These schools continue to be supported by both the Trust and the Diocese, ensuring their values, traditions and distinctive character are maintained and celebrated. With six Cof-E schools all linked through the Diocese of Worcester, we will be better placed to support continual development of the schools as a group.

No. School uniforms remain unchanged.

Each school’s identity, traditions and sense of belonging are important to us, and uniforms continue to reflect the unique character of each school.

Shires Multi Academy Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees, supported by local governance committees within individual schools. We will commission a full Governance review prior to merger to support excellence in governance for a trust of 20-25 schools.

This structure ensures strong strategic leadership across the Trust while enabling schools to remain closely connected to the communities they serve.

There will certainly be opportunities for staff to work collaboratively across schools, share expertise and gain experience in different settings where appropriate.

However, staff remain primarily based within their existing schools unless alternative arrangements are agreed, linked to school improvement priorities, career progression or wider support.

Being part of a larger Trust creates greater opportunities for professional growth, collaboration and career progression. We want to work towards a model where Shires is, A place where you can grow your career without having to leave our family of schools.

Staff benefit from:

• High-quality training and professional development programmes
• Leadership development opportunities
• Career progression and succession planning
• Cross-school collaboration and networking
• Subject and phase learning communities
• Opportunities to contribute to Trust-wide initiatives
• Staff wellbeing support, including access to an Employee Assistance Programme
• Access to new roles necessitated through trust growth and capacity.
• Teacher training and specialist development pathways

Working together across the Trust enables colleagues to share expertise, learn from one another and develop innovative approaches that benefit both staff and pupils.

No. Staff pay and conditions remain in line with nationally recognised frameworks and employment legislation.

Teachers are employed in accordance with the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD), while support staff continue to be aligned to recognised local government pay scales and national agreements.

Shires Multi Academy Trust is led by its Executive Leadership Team, working alongside the Board of Trustees to provide strategic leadership, educational excellence and operational oversight across all schools. It is proposed that Lee Gray will remain as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Shires MAT post-merger. In addition, Mat Carpenter (CEO SAET) will take on a senior executive education role within the larger trust. Current centrally appointed staff will retain roles and support the advancement of system development and management across a large trust. The proposed hub model supports this to ensure effective provision across more schools.

Our vision is:

“Growing together through nurture, equity, service and wisdom so that every child can flourish.”

These values underpin everything we do. We are committed to providing inspirational learning, fostering personal development, supporting wellbeing and creating opportunities for all members of our Trust community.

We believe in working together, treating one another with kindness and respect, and ensuring every child and adult has the opportunity to thrive.

For the vast majority of staff, their primary place of work remains unchanged.

Where opportunities arise for collaborative working across schools or central Trust functions, these will be considered carefully and managed in a way that supports both staff and the best interests of our pupils.

Both trusts remain in a surplus position with combined reserves sufficient to enable innovation and invest in school improvement. This merger proposal is not linked to a “rescue” offer related to finances; it is a genuine discussion around increased capacity to become better together.

Legally, academy trust mergers require one existing legal entity to receive the transferring trust. In this case Shires MAT is the receiving trust. That legal mechanism should not be confused with the intended culture of the new organisation. We have reviewed trust culture and values and the alignment already in existence will clearly support a coming together of two like-minded trusts for the greater benefit of pupils.

Geography – both trusts sit in distinct clusters lending themselves to a hub model but with almost all schools in Worcestershire (Studley is in Warwickshire but is right on the edge of Worcestershire and 65% of its pupils are from Worcestershire). The two hubs are between 20-40 mins apart depending on schools actual location so collaboration and working between hubs would be relatively easy.

Shared community ethos – Both trusts are founded on similar principles around community focus and individuality of schools.

Complementary strengths – For example, Shires can support key central operations and secondary improvement with its current offer and SAET has strength in provision linked to IT and primary education.

Primary /Secondary mix – We will have five secondary schools if merger proceeds which support excellent opportunities for developing a secondary school improvement offer. The 14 primary schools would sit as two distinct hubs with sufficient capacity to grow further locally to each hub.

Church school experience – Both trusts have three Cof-E VC schools currently, merging supports a greater offer for these schools.

Values – One of the early pieces of work across the two trusts looked at aligned values and ethos. The similarities ensure a common offer based on the right culture within a larger trust.

Existing educational strengths – Both trusts have supported successful school improvement in their schools. The primary improvement offer will consolidate into a stronger cross trust offer. Also, combined school improvement capacity across the five high schools will help accelerate developments.

Hub coherence – The hubs are made up of schools within small geographical areas and the central team supporting each hub and across the whole trust fits in terms of skills and expertise across Estates, IT, HR and education. 

Because both organisations have reached a point where combining their strengths now could create opportunities and resilience for the next phase of development.

No. Financial efficiency and resilience are benefits of operating at greater scale, but they are not the principal educational rationale. The primary purpose is to improve what we can offer pupils, schools and communities. It is expected that a single, larger organisation will be able to free up more resource to support learning.

There are a number of key risks to merging as a larger organisation. Below are some of the principal risks;

• Complexity of organisational integration- we will need to ensure that trust culture and vision is understood by all staff and governors and also identify an appropriate timeline to introduce and align new and existing systems across both hubs.
• Protecting culture- we must ensure that trust culture is over communicated to enable systems and policies to permeate all schools.
• Ensuring staff are supported through change- we must ensure clarity of communication and engagement with staff through the TUPE process and beyond to post merger.
• Maintaining local identity- identify the processes and decision making delegated to local committees, head teacher sand senior leaders, so there is clarity for all, and schools can continue to deliver for their communities.
• Integrating systems carefully- we do not need to be the finished article on day one but we do need to prioritise which systems will be universal and immediate vs those changes that could embed over time.

These are precisely why both Trust Boards are undertaking detailed due diligence

Pupils will not see much difference on day 1. They will attend the same schools with the same staff as it currently is for pupils. However, over time pupils will gain access to wider opportunities and as we strive to continually improve, outcomes will improve for pupils and they will achieve more.

No, there are no plans to change any arrangements.

No, there are no plans to move away from existing structures.

The Trusts will still be funded in the same way as currently. A proportion of total income is used to operate a central offer ranging from Estates to School improvement. The trust will receive about £700,000 more when merged, linked to funds from the DFE to support buildings and estates quality. 

Reserves will be consolidated into one place as they currently are for Shires MAT. The trust aims to retain a percentage of revenue as a contingency and a reserve to promote longer term viability. Other than this all funds are spent across schools on a priority basis whilst ensuring everyone benefits over time.

If the merger does not proceed both trusts are still in a position to continue as trusts in their own right. However, some of the benefits outlined will be difficult to achieve in a short time without the additional capacity of a larger trust.

All feedback will be reviewed and considered against our overall rationale for proposing the merger. A report will be published and considered by both trust boards. The feedback from consultation will be a key part of the decision-making process.

We will publish a summary of the feedback using different themes. We will not publish individual responses or name people in any summary.

There will still be local governance committees with significant delegated responsibilities for educational improvement, performance, safeguarding, SEND, stakeholder engagement and outcomes. This is very similar to existing arrangements within SAET and one of the reasons our ‘fit’ works. The current scheme of delegation is on the Shires MAT website.

There are currently 12 trustees within Shires MAT trust board. The plan is that a group of SAET trustees will move across to the Shires board. The process for supporting this will be determined following consultation and included in applications to the DFE.

The costs associated with this merger will be shared across both trusts. There is a structured and ‘well-trodden’ legal path to follow. Legal fees and support with checks and associated requirements are expected to costs each trust £10-20K and have already been factored into annual ‘surplus’ budgets across both trusts.

The trusts are currently organised in very similar ways financially. As a result, schools should not see any significant shifts in funding linked to the merger, as funding follows pupil numbers and demographics, not ‘the trust’. If we incorporate the government school condition allowance into overall funding, schools will actually receive more money (via central support).

Schools are funded by formula allocations based on pupil numbers and demographics. Both trusts currently use a percentage contribution model to support costs associated with a central function. In addition, there are separate funds we will receive to support capital upgrades/repairs and maintenance. This will provide an additional £700-800K and is allocated on a need based linked to condition surveys, health and safety reports and age/quality factors.

No, the merger process will not generate any redundancies.

As is currently the case in both trusts there are regular opportunities for staff to work across schools and staff frequently choose to move between schools to support their ambitions, career progression or to support pupils and outcomes. 

Inclusion is a key strategic priority across both trusts. With a larger trust of 7250 pupils, we will be able to create further strategic capacity to implement further changes. We can learn from a wider group of schools about the benefits of specialist resource provision and retain high-quality staff within the trust.  As mentioned elsewhere we will also be able to provide more opportunities for pupils to engage in more curriculum and extracurricular enrichment.

This is the start of a formal process. If we are able to agree and submit the relevant applications following consultation, September 2027 seems a sensible conversion date, aligning with Academy financial planning and school years. However, it is a complex process and many actions across legal, compliance, finance, due diligence and regulation that need to be completed, so any date proposed is provisional.

Sixth form provision will continue as currently managed across each trust.