What’s Next for Trusts?

The MAT sector is entering a more mature phase, shaped by financial pressure, structural change and rising expectations around scale, resilience and impact.  This session steps back from day-to-day firefighting to explore what the next 5-10 years could hold for trusts, and the central role business leaders will play in navigating it.

Led by Stuart Gardner, CEO of The Thinking Schools Academy Trust, it draws on experience of trust growth across 26 schools in multiple regions, alongside his MBA study and the idea of building a practical ‘blueprint’ for what may be coming next.  With finance, merger and structural change firmly on the agenda, it looks at how trusts of different sizes can prepare for what’s coming, while keeping purpose and impact at the centre.

In this session we explore

•  What may be in store for the MAT sector over the next 5-10 years

 •  How to use a practical ‘blueprint’ approach to step back, hypothesise and plan for what comes next

•  Why CFOs, COOs and business leaders will shape future trust models

•  Growth, merger and structural change, and what they mean in practice

•  How service delivery has evolved, from standalone schools to centralised MATs and beyond

Take home points

•  A clearer sense of where the sector is heading, and why

•  Practical considerations for financial and structural planning

•  Options for service models that support sustainable growth

•  Practical food for thought on leading through change

This session is for

CFOs, COOs, senior business leaders and operational leads in small, medium and large MATs who want to step back, look ahead and shape the future of their trust with confidence.

Stuart Gardner