School Collaboration – Are Mega MATs The Future?

It was reported recently that the charity Catch22 has decided to transfer all seven of its schools to other organisations and wind up its multi-academy trust (MAT). Catch22 was approved by the Department for Education (the Department) as an Academy Sponsor back in 2014. It has seven academies in its MAT and worked with academies that targeted high-risk children, including those who were at risk of being excluded from mainstream schools, had special educational needs, or social emotional and/or mental health needs. However, following a string of 'inadequate' and 'requires improvement' ratings for its schools from Ofsted, the charity has decided to re-broker all of its schools and wind up the MAT.