EXCLUSIVE: plans for biggest education changes in a generation as hundreds of schools to be moved out of local authority control
Hundreds of schools across Merseyside are to be transformed into academies as part of the biggest shake-up of education in the region in a generation. The ECHO can reveal that the Archdiocese of Liverpool, which has a network of nearly 230 primary and secondary schools and several colleges across our region and beyond, is planning to take full control of all of these establishments through a process of academisation.
This will mean that a total of 217 schools in Liverpool, Sefton, Knowsley, St Helens, Widnes, Warrington, parts of Lancashire and Wigan will be transferred to three separate Catholic multi-academy trusts and away from local authority control in the next few years.
The move will take place over a number of years, with different schools becoming academies in different waves. Speaking exclusively to the ECHO, the Archbishop of Liverpool, The Most Reverent John Sherrington said the move is being made “for the good of all children, who are at the centre of our educational work and mission.”
The Archdiocese of Liverpool is the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church covering large swathes of Merseyside, parts of Lancashire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and the Isle of Man. It serves as the Metropolitan See for the North of England, with its seat at Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral.
Currently, while the Archdiocese owns the buildings and land associated with many schools, they are operated through what is known as a Voluntary Aided system, where the schools are under the control of local authorities. Under these sweeping reforms, all 230 schools in its network will become academies under the Archdiocese and its three trusts and independent of local authority control.
Two of those trusts – the Pope Francis Multi Academy Trust and St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust – already exist, but will be massively expanding as dozens of schools come under their leadership.
A third new trust, named Our Lady of Lourdes North West Trust, will be formed over the next year before more schools become part of it.
The Pope Francis Trust will be taking in schools in Sefton and Lancashire, while the St Joseph Trust will welcome schools from Liverpool and St Helens. Once formed, the Our Lady of Lourdes trust will include all Archdiocese schools in Knowsley, Warrington, Wigan and Widnes.
Schools will be moved across to their new trusts in waves over the coming years, with those in the first wave being informed now. Each trust will have two to three hubs with a Catholic senior leader for each.
Speaking to the ECHO about the landmark move, Archbishop Sherrington said: “I support the proposal that we develop our Catholic schools, our Catholic education, within a system of Catholic Multi-Academy Trusts.
“We’ve started that process and now we want to continue it, because it provides greater support for all of our staff and it also enables us to have control of our schools in order to work together to support the weakest, the poorest schools, for the good of all.
“So, it’s basically about the family in Christ working together for the good of all of the children who are at the centre of our educational work and mission.”
He added: “Catholic education is very important because we are educating these children, these young people, in the context of the Church, in the context of their religious faith.
“It’s an opportunity to really work to build and to transform every life, developing all dimensions of the person. So, we don’t have simply an intellectual focus; we want to look at the role of information, emotion, spirituality, art, sport—all those things. So, we’re concerned about the whole person. And I think we do this form of education very well, and so any others are attracted, can come and be attracted into our schools if there are places.”
While academy schools are sometimes criticised for lacking transparency and local accountability, operating independently of local councils, the Archbishop insisted this would not be the case under the Archdiocese.
He said: “I would say first of all that the Multi-Academy Trust will have a set of members who are the members that basically appoint the foundation directors. The board of directors oversees the school, and then each school has its local governing body.
“So, it will be the work of the CEO and that board of directors to begin to identify if there are trends where things are going wrong in order to rectify them. So, there will be a system of control and accountability and transparency.”
The Archdiocese has insisted that the move, while significant in terms of educational organisation, will not lead to widespread changes on the ground for pupils and staff.
Joan McCarthy, the Archdiocese’s director of education said: “The reality will be, for parents and children who will be sending their children to school—this is still their school. We’re not proposing changing how it looks, we’re not proposing on changing uniforms.
“We’re very keen that while we are coming together as clusters of schools, each school’s individuality remains. So, we will have the headteachers, we will have the governing bodies.
“A lot of staff will be worried that when they join the academy that changes—absolutely not. They are going to be TUPE’d across, and will have the exact same pay and conditions
She added: “We’ve been on a long journey with this, because we’ve been talking to schools about this for almost four years now. So, the heads and the governors have been aware that this is coming, and our attitude is to work with people, not to people.”
