What Happens When an Academy Trust Closes? A Parent's Guide to the DfE's Latest Action

The Department for Education has confirmed that the 24 schools in the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (ATLP) will be moved to new academy trusts, in what Schools Week has called one of the biggest-ever trust closures. If your child attends one of those schools — across Birmingham, Sutton Coldfield, Lichfield, Tamworth, Warwickshire or Coventry — you are probably wondering what that actually changes day-to-day, and how much say you have in the process.

This guide explains what a multi-academy trust (MAT) closure means in practice, what you are entitled to be told, and how to judge whether a change of trust is likely to affect the quality of your child's education.

What's happening with Arthur Terry

A troubled academy trust saddled with an over £8 million deficit is set to be carved up in one of the largest-ever MAT closures. Schools Week previously revealed how the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (ATLP) had racked up seven-figure losses after purchasing iPads as part of an initiative to provide 11,000 devices for all pupils and staff. Staff walkouts across 20 of its schools over planned redundancies and the resignation of the trust's CEO later followed.

Interim boss Lee Miller revealed education secretary Bridget Phillipson has decided all the trust's academies "should transition to a small number of high-performing, regionally based" chains. "This is intended to ensure schools continue to benefit from strong regional expertise, local understanding and ongoing support," he said.

Discussions regarding the trusts involved and the timing of any transition arrangements remain ongoing and further information will be shared in due course. In other words: the decision is made, but the detail — which school goes to which new trust, and when — is not yet public.

What a MAT closure actually means

A multi-academy trust is the legal body that runs a group of academy schools. It holds the funding agreement with the Secretary of State, employs the staff, owns or leases the buildings, and sets central policies on things like behaviour, curriculum and pay. When a trust "closes" or is "broken up", the schools themselves do not shut. They transfer to one or more different trusts through a process the DfE calls rebrokerage.

In practice, that usually means:

• The school keeps its name, buildings, pupils and most of its staff.
• The legal employer changes. Teaching and support staff transfer under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment), which protects their existing terms and conditions.
• The trust-level leadership changes — chief executive, central finance team, trust board.
• Central policies may be rewritten over time to match the new trust's model.
• Some contracts (catering, IT, school improvement services) may be renegotiated.

What it does not change, at least immediately, is your child's place at the school, their year group, their teachers in front of them, or the qualifications they are working towards.

What parents are entitled to be told

There is no single statutory rule that forces a trust to consult parents before a transfer in the way schools must consult on, say, becoming an academy in the first place. The DfE's expectation, set out in its academy transfer guidance, is that the outgoing and incoming trusts communicate clearly with parents and staff once a decision is taken.

In a transfer of this scale you should reasonably expect:

• A letter from the school or trust confirming the change and the proposed timeline.
• The name of the receiving trust, and how to find out more about it (its website, its latest accounts, its Ofsted record on the schools it already runs).
• A point of contact at the school for questions.
• Information about any planned changes that affect pupils directly — uniform, term dates, behaviour policy, SEND provision, exam entries.

If you are not getting that, ask the headteacher in writing. Schools are still required to respond to parental queries, and a transfer is not an excuse to go quiet.

How to judge whether the new trust is good news or bad

A change of trust is not automatically a downgrade. Some of the strongest school improvement in England over the past decade has happened when a struggling school joined a well-run chain. Equally, a poorly chosen receiving trust can make things worse. Here is what to look at.

Ofsted record across the new trust's existing schools

Ofsted does not inspect trusts themselves, but it does inspect the academies within them. Look up three or four of the new trust's current schools on the Ofsted website and read the most recent reports. Pay attention to leadership, behaviour and personal development judgements, not just the headline grade.

Financial health

Every academy trust publishes audited accounts on Companies House and via the DfE. You want to see a trust operating in surplus, with reasonable reserves, and without a Notice to Improve or Financial Notice to Improve attached to it. The whole point of breaking up ATLP was its financial position — so a receiving trust in similar trouble would be a red flag.

Local credibility

The Secretary of State's stated aim is that schools transition to "high-performing, regionally based" chains. A trust whose other schools are in your region, run by leaders who understand the local intake, is more likely to keep your school's character than a national chain that drops a standard template on top.

Continuity at school level

The single biggest predictor of stability for your child is whether the headteacher and senior leadership team stay. Ask, plainly: is the head staying? Are the heads of department staying? Is there a planned restructure? If those answers are clear and reassuring, the trust change is largely an administrative event from your child's point of view.

Practical questions worth asking the school

Keep them short and specific:

• Which trust is our school transferring to, and when?
• Will the headteacher and senior leadership team remain in post?
• Will there be changes to the curriculum, uniform, or behaviour policy in the next academic year?
• For children with an EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan) or SEN support, who is now responsible for delivering the provision, and is anything changing?
• For pupils in Years 10, 11, 12 and 13, are exam entries and coursework arrangements unaffected?

That last point matters most. Discussions regarding the trusts involved and the timing of any transition arrangements remain ongoing, but the academic year does not pause for legal paperwork. A child sitting GCSEs in summer 2026 should see no difference in their exam entries, regardless of which trust holds the funding agreement on results day.

When extra academic support is worth considering

For most pupils, a trust transfer will be invisible. Where it can be disruptive is when it coincides with other upheaval — a head leaving, a curriculum change, a long-running staffing gap in a core subject like maths or English. If your child is in Year 6, Year 10 or Year 12 and you can see a specific gap opening up (for example, three different maths teachers in one term), that is the moment when targeted one-to-one tuition tends to pay back, because it bridges the patchy bit until the school stabilises. Outside those circumstances, a trust change on its own is not a reason to bring in a tutor.

The short version

Your child's school is not closing. It is changing landlord. Ask the head who the new landlord is, whether the leadership team is staying, and whether anything changes for pupils in exam years. If the answers are reassuring, treat the rest as administrative. If they aren't, that is the point at which to push harder — in writing, to the headteacher and the chair of the local governing body, and if necessary to the DfE's regional director for your area.