Dispelling the Myths 

Some say, when joining a multi-academy trust:

  • You lose your identity.

We say, when you join Lincolnshire Gateway Academies Trust:

  • We want all our academies to keep their identity.
  • There will be no change to uniforms.
  • There will be no change to staffing and leadership.
  • What is important to the school will be important to the Trust.

Some say, when joining a multi-academy trust:

  • You lose control

We say, when you join Lincolnshire Gateway Academies Trust:

  • The existing governing board will become the new local governing body with one person elected on to the Lincolnshire Gateway Academies Trust Board.
  • The local governing body will retain its responsibilities for holding its school to account and for representing its community’s aspirations and needs.
  • A school with an Ofsted judgement of good or better will retain control over its organisation, curriculum and pedagogy.
  • The Headteacher retains all the power and responsibilities attached to that position.

Some say, when joining a multi-academy trust:

  • It will cost more.

We say, when you join Lincolnshire Gateway Academies Trust:

  • The school can choose to retain existing service contracts where they are appropriate and represent value for money.
  • A small percentage of the school’s devolved budget will be used to contribute to the centrally run finance, HR and school improvement functions.
  • Extra services such as estates and facilities, ICT, EWO and goods and services negotiated as a Trust are charged at cost in line with the size of the academy.
  • Academies keep their own reserves. Principals work closely with the Finance Director to decide budgets and financial priorities. Members of local governing bodies can and do attend Trust finance meetings.
  • The Trust operation is designed to be cost neutral and any savings made in the course of the year are passed back to academies.

Some say, when joining a multi-academy trust:

  • You are remote from the “centre” where decisions are made.

We say, when you join Lincolnshire Gateway Academies Trust:

  • We have not, nor do we intend to have, a national spread; All our academies are clustered within the geographic area of north eastern Lincolnshire.
  • No academy is more than 40 minutes drive-time from the Trust’s administrative centre.
  • We believe in face-to-face meetings across the Trust to make Trustwide decisions, share successful practices, enable collaborative staff development and ensure “back-office” functions are matching individual academy needs.
  • We enable and celebrate Trust-wide events for staff and pupils where all our family of academies meet together.
  • Lincolnshire Gateway Academies Trust is a real, not a virtual, family.