After a great deal of thinking, PALT's Trustees feel this is an exciting proposition for our Trust.
Key considerations:
The Board of Trustees has considered several reasons for looking at this course of action. This has included:
- Our desire to improve capacity (leadership, school improvement, central services)
- Our belief that there is further benefit for Calder High School to have stronger links with other secondaries
- Our expectation that we can achieve financial efficiencies from economies of scale - and do more with the funding that we do have
- Our commitment to doing more for our staff - and ensuring they have access to the best possible training and support
- With declining birth rates and increasing outcosts, financial resilience is an important consideration
In short, in the ever changing and fluctuating world of education, we want to create a more sustainable trust for the long term.
What happens if we do merge?
Alongside the sharing of ideas and best practice, the structural changes are:
- Governance changes: Trinity MAT becomes the “receiving” trust and PALT will no longer exist as an entity.
- Transfer of schools: PALT academies legally transfer to Trinity.
- TUPE of staff: Staff are transferred under the Transfer of Employment (Protection of Employment), which ensures employees’ rights are protected when they transfer to a new organisation.
- Financial consolidation: Budgets, assets, liabilities, and central services are combined into one organisation.
- Harmonising systems: Policies, IT systems, safeguarding procedures, and curriculum approaches are aligned across the new trust.
What stage are we at now?
Our two MATs will begin informal discussions about merging as we go through a process called due diligence. During this stage everyone looks through all aspects of the other Trust. The areas that will be explored include:
- Vision and values
- Geographical fit
- School improvement needs
- Financial health
- Central team structure
- Community feedback
If it looks promising, each Trust’s board agrees to then formalise their intention to merge. We have not yet reached that stage, but we have both formalised our desire to proceed with the due diligence process.
It is also important to recognise that MAT mergers in England require approval from the Department for Education (DfE). This will be sought as part of this process.
