A real-life example next door…

One of the questions I keep coming back to with the proposed Learning Partners, Learning Partners Church Academy Trust and Enlighten merger is this:

What does becoming a mixed MAT actually mean for the secular schools?

We are told that individual schools will retain their character. A community school won’t suddenly become a CofE school. Its admissions won’t become faith-based. etc.

Fine.

But that not the question I’m asking.

I’m asking what happens to the governance of the trust above those schools.

And conveniently, we don’t have to speculate. Because almost exactly this has just happened next door.

Meet Weydon Multi Academy Trust

Weydon MAT has historically been a non-CofE academy trust.

In April 2026, it merged with The Prospect Trust, bringing four Prospect schools into Weydon, including CofE schools.

That meant Weydon needed a governance structure capable of accommodating both Church and non-Church schools.

In other words, it became a mixed MAT.

And we can see exactly what that meant for the previous Trust because Weydon adopted new Articles of Association, effective from 16 March 2026. The document is explicitly the Department for Education’s model Articles “for use by multi-academy trusts with Church of England schools.”

So what changed?

Quite a lot. Actually.

The Church gets 50% of the Members

Members – remember these guys sit right at the very top of the governance pyramid. And mostly get to appoint themselves.

Weydon’s new Articles allow for up to six Members.

Three are Church Members

the Diocesan Corporate Member, defined in these Articles as the Diocesan Board of Education acting through Guildford Diocesan Educational Trust
two further people appointed by the Diocesan Corporate Member

The other three are non-Church Members.

And this isn’t just an initial arrangement which might drift over time.

The Articles explicitly require Church Members to make up 50% of the Members and non-Church Members 50%.

If a vacancy temporarily knocks that balance out, the voting arrangements are adjusted so that the two groups continue to have equal voting weight until the vacancy is filled.

That’s worth dwelling on.

Half of the Member-level governance of the organisation controlling those schools is now reserved for Church representation.

The Diocese also appoints Trustees

The influence doesn’t stop at Member level.

Weydon’s Members can appoint up to eight Directors, or Trustees.

Separately, the Diocesan Corporate Member can appoint up to three Directors of its own.

So Church representation is built into both of the principal governance layers of the MAT.

And then there’s the CEO

The CEO runs Weydon Multi Academy Trust on a day to day basis.

That includes its Church schools and its secular schools.

Yet under Article 107, the Weydon Trustees appoint their CEO:

“following consultation with the Diocesan Corporate Member (and the prior written consent of the Diocesan Board of Education)”

In other words, the Trust Board cannot simply appoint the person it wants to run the whole MAT. The Diocese has a formal role and its prior written consent is required.

That’s not protection of a CofE school’s individual ethos.

That’s influence over the leadership of the whole organisation.

The Articles themselves can’t simply be changed either

The Church also has significant constitutional protections.

… Weydon cannot alter its Articles without the written consent of the Appropriate Diocesan Authority.

…It can’t change its name without the written consent of the Diocesan Corporate Member.

…And the Trustees’ power to make the Trust’s own rules or bylaws is subject to the written consent of the Diocesan Corporate Member.

Again, these aren’t powers confined to Church schools.

They concern the company that operates all the schools.

There are additional protections specifically for the CofE schools

Some provisions are much more obviously about protecting the Church schools, and that makes perfect sense.

The Articles protect their religious character and worship. They provide for Church representation within local governance. They require diocesan involvement in appointing the head of a Church academy. The Scheme of Delegation has particular requirements where it affects Church academies.

There’s even a mechanism allowing the Diocese to nominate additional Directors to the MAT board if standards or ethos at a Church academy fall unacceptably low.

I don’t find the existence of protections for Church schools particularly surprising.

But that’s different from giving the Church formal influence over the governance of the organisation as a whole.

And Weydon’s Articles do both.

And here’s a familiar name

There is another reason this example caught my attention.

Alex Tear.

Why does any of this matter?

Because Weydon gives us a real-life example of something that can otherwise sound rather abstract.

When people hear that a secular MAT is becoming a “mixed MAT”, it’s very easy to hear:

Don’t worry. Your school isn’t becoming a Church school.

And that can is perfectly true.

But that’s only half the story.

The organisation sitting above those schools will change. Becoming a mixed MAT means, in Weydon’s case tjat:

50% Church representation at Member level, with equal voting weight protected
up to three Church-appointed Directors on the Trust Board
diocesan consent over changes to the Articles
diocesan consent over the Trust’s rules
diocesan consent over the Trust’s name
diocesan involvement, including prior written DBE consent, in appointing the CEO of the entire MAT.

That’s what I mean when I keep asking what the proposed governance arrangements for the Learning Partners merger will actually look like.

I’m not asking whether George Abbot, Guildford County or any of the other secular schools will suddenly become CofE schools.

I’m asking what influence the Church will have over the MAT that runs them.

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