Trust in charge of six Calderdale schools back looking for bigger trust for merger

There was outcry from parents earlier this year when Pennine Alliance Learning Trust (PALT) – which oversees Calder High School, Burnley Road Academy, Midgley School, Old Town Primary School, Calder Primary and Wainstalls School – announced plans to join Trinity Multi-Academy Trust.

Hundreds of people turned out to a public meeting about the proposal, and there were threats of protests and even to keep children home from school in a bid to stop it going ahead.

PALT ultimately decided to halt the listening period it had launched for the plan and, at the same time, Trinity MAT announced it was withdrawing from the process.

PALT’s then-chair said at the time that the trust would still need “a new direction” as it did “not have the capacity or resources as a trust to best support our schools”.

Now PALT has written to parents across all of its schools to let them know it is still looking for a larger trust to merge with, and is hoping a transfer can be agreed in time to take effect at the start of the next school year.

In a message on its website, the trust says the reason “is a financial one”.

It says it is more cost-effective to fund the services it does – including finance, HR, estates, compliance and school support - as part of a larger family of schools.

"Joining a larger trust will put us on a sustainable footing for the future, and the aim is for the funding to go further for our schools and your child's education,” says the message.

"This is not an improvement intervention, and no school is being taken over to be put right.

"As a small trust we cannot sustain our central services indefinitely.

"We are acting from a position of strength, and we want a partner who strengthens us financially and adds to what our schools already do well for our children.”

The message stresses that while a number of trusts have expressed an interest in a merger, no decision has been made yet.

PALT is not naming which trusts it is considering at this stage but says it is “assessing each of them carefully against the priorities our schools have set”.

The next stage will be to carry out thorough checks of any trust PALT would consider joining, and then consultation with parents will follow.

A decision by PALT’s board and an application to the Department for Education for approval of the merger would be the final steps.

"We are not rushing this,” says PALT’s message. “We expect to make an application to the Department for Education in early 2027, and our aim is for any transfer to take effect from September 2027.

"These dates are indicative and depend on the process and the approvals needed.”

PALT has added that the school rebuilding work at Calder High will continue as planned, as it is a Department for Education scheme.

"We have been clear with any potential partner that the scheme continues uninterrupted through any transfer,” PALT said.

And the trust says no school closures are being proposed.

"Closing or merging schools is not part of this process. We are looking for a trust to join, not reviewing our schools and the children attending them,” said its message.

"Every school, ours included, plans around pupil numbers and funding each year, and one of the things we are looking for in a partner is the breadth to support schools of every size, including our smaller village schools, so they continue to flourish.”