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<p>The Department is focused on continuing to improve standards in schools, providing
the best education for children, including for those from disadvantaged backgrounds
and with special educational needs. The best way for this to happen is for all schools
to be in strong families of schools, benefitting from the support of the best in the
group, and the resilience that comes from being part of a larger group of schools.
That is why, over time, the Department would like all schools to be in a strong multi-academy
trust (MAT), due to the positive impact it can have on children’s lives. If we get
this right then we will see the vast majority of schools in trusts before 2030. The
Department is exploring how to further support the growth of strong multi-academy
trusts through the Regulation and Commissioning Review.</p><p>The current national
academisation rate is 47.4%, which includes 10,254 academies and free schools out
of a total of 21,630 state funded schools. This has increased from 45.7% in March
2022 when the Schools White Paper was published. Of those, 9,173 are in a MAT.</p><p>There
are 94 MATs that serve at least 7,500 pupils. These represent 6.9% of the total of
1,345 MATs, and are comprised of 2,341 Academies (22.8% of the total number) and just
over 1.24 million pupils (26.2% of the total).</p><p>There are 266 MATs serving 10
or more schools, which is 19.7% of the total. These are comprised of 4,872 Academies
(47.5%) and 1.94 million pupils (40.8%).</p><p>The Department does not issue guidance
specifically on the size of MATs.</p>
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