Traditionalist academy chain pulls out of “merger” with smaller trust after local outcry

Trinity Multi-Academy Trust will no longer join up with the Pennine Learning Alliance, after concerns raised about a clash of culture including a local MP, a union and councillors, and with students seemingly poised to protest this week.

A traditionalist academy trust this morning dramatically pulled out of a controversial “merger” with a smaller chain following a multi-faceted campaign of opposition including a union, local councillors, a local Labour MP and seemingly even pupils at a high school.

Trinity Multi-Academy Trust, which runs 11 schools from its base in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, withdrew from what was seen by critics as a proposed takeover of the six-school Pennine Alliance Learning Trust (PALT), only days after launching into consultation on the idea.

The plans provoked such controversy that PALT’s chair also announced today that she is stepping down with immediate effect, while Trinity accused the local MP of “dishonesty” after he wrote to the government raising serious questions about the plans, and even criticised the leadership and what it what it said was a “toxic culture” of one of the schools it would have taken over.

Trinity MAT’s chief executive, Michael Gosling, is likely to be towards the top end of England’s high pay league for academy trust leaders this year, on £230-£240,000, its newly-published accounts show, even though the trust is outside the top 100 largest, in terms of pupil numbers.

Trinity, whose operations including on admissions and behaviour management have come under great scrutiny because of the row, is likely to point to its strong Ofsted record: five of its schools are rated “outstanding” by the inspectorate, with the remaining six being “good”.