Academisation
This page will be used to keep everyone updated about Burford School’s progress as we explore the possibility of joining the
Marlow Education Trust (MET).
Last updated: 15th September 2025
The consultation is open: have your say!
A formal consultation with all stakeholders will run from Monday 15th September until Friday 24th October.
Please read the information below, including the FAQ documents at the bottom of the page.
To share your questions and thoughts, please click on the relevant link below to access an online form:
Or if you’d like to speak to someone in person, please contact the school (office@burfordschool.co.uk) and we can arrange a face-to-face meeting with a member of the school leadership team or one of our governors.
What has happened so far?
- Over the last few years, the Marlow Education Trust has invited all the local primary schools to several meetings to keep everyone in the loop about changes within the Trust and their growth plans. Since Autumn 2024, the Burford Governors have been looking at the MET more closely, researching what academisation could mean for us, having more detailed discussions with the MET, and talking to other local schools.
- 12 May 2025: the Burford Governing Board passed a resolution to enter into formal due diligence with the MET.
- 12 June 2025: staff and parents/carers were informed that due diligence had begun, with a link provided to an online form where questions and comments could be shared.
- June–September 2025: the due diligence process was carried out.
- 8 September 2025: the Burford Governing Board passed a resolution to proceed to the next stage of the process.
- 15 September 2025: the formal consultation stage began.
What is the Marlow Education Trust?
The Marlow Education Trust is a multi-academy trust founded to support education in schools in the local community in and around Marlow. It currently comprises three schools: Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School, Great Marlow School and Beechview Academy. You can find out more about the Trust on their website: https://www.marlowet.org/
What is a multi-academy trust?
Academy schools are state-funded schools in England that are directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. A multi-academy trust (MAT) is a group of academies that have come together to form a charitable company, with a single group of ‘members’ (who have an overview of the governance arrangements) and a single board of trustees. Within a MAT, individual schools remain as separate entities, with separate names and DfE numbers. At the moment, Burford is a maintained school, which means that it is overseen by the Local Authority (LA).
Why would Burford consider joining a multi-academy trust?
Academies have additional responsibilities and freedoms that maintained schools don’t have. For example: freedom from Local Authority control, greater control over school budgets and access to dedicated capital funding (the Condition Improvement Fund). MATs enable schools to collaborate in a more structured way, which can provide opportunities for shared professional development, leadership development and pooling of expertise and resources. This is recognised as being one of the most effective ways of developing schools, teachers and, most importantly, the children. Our priority, as always, is to continue to provide a high-quality education for our pupils. Schools are facing challenging financial times, and much closer collaboration has the potential to allow for economies of scale, in many areas that cannot be achieved by single schools.
Why the Marlow Education Trust, rather than another multi-academy trust?
The aim of the Marlow Education Trust has always been to create a community of local schools. Compared to the other multi-academy trusts in the area, the MET is the one that would offer us the best opportunities for effective collaborative working with the schools most local to us, including the two secondary schools that most Burford pupils move on to.
What did the due diligence process involve?
Due diligence was a two-way process, with both parties (Burford and the MET) gathering information, asking lots of questions, and digging into the details of the possible benefits, costs, risks and liabilities. The Burford Governing Board created three working groups to explore all of this, and met with key people from the MET throughout June, July and August. This included looking at the questions submitted by staff and parents/carers, and getting answers to as many of these as possible. Each of the working groups produced a short report at the end of the due diligence process to summarise their key findings and make a recommendation about whether or not to proceed to the next stage. The Governing Board then met in early September to discuss the outcomes.
What will happen during the formal consultation?
Information will be made available to all stakeholders (staff, parents/carers and the wider community) via this page and the linked FAQs. Stakeholders are invited to share their views and any further questions they have. You can do this either by using the online forms linked to at the top of this page, or by emailing the school and asking to speak to someone in person. We will look to regularly update the FAQs with any further questions that are asked, and their answers.
When and how will the final decision be made, and by whom?
There are several stages to the process, and several opportunities for us to pause and take stock of our findings, weighing up the risks versus benefits, and the thoughts and opinions of our staff, parents/carers and the wider community. The final decision does not need to be made until about a month before the proposed transfer date. The decision rests with the Burford Governing Board (which includes three members of staff: our Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher and a class teacher), although of course stakeholder viewpoints will be taken into account.
If Burford joins the MET, when will it happen?
We are currently looking at the second quarter of 2026.
What are the possible advantages of joining the Marlow Education Trust?
The main benefit of joining a multi-academy trust is the opportunity for close collaboration between a group of schools. The schools within a MAT structure can more easily share training, curriculum expertise, best practice and resources, leading to improved teaching and learning for the pupils. Academies have more freedom over how they spend their budget. There is potential for economies of scale through centralised services and group buying. Being part of a very local multi-academy trust such as the MET would make this collaborative approach easier and more effective. The central services provided by the MET may be superior to the Local Authority central services in terms of response and quality.
What are the risks?
Our biggest concern would be losing too much autonomy. Some of the very large multi-academy trusts want their schools to be as similar as possible, and there is a lot of top-down direction. This is something we have discussed at length with the MET, and they have assured us that this is not their approach. They want to retain each individual school’s unique identity, and will not impose a uniform approach.
Another area of risk is that once a school joins a multi-academy trust, it’s very hard to leave it. There is no mechanism at the moment for academies to go back to being maintained by the Local Authority; the only option would be to move to a different multi-academy trust.
What would change for pupils and parents/carers if Burford joins the Marlow Education Trust?
In practical terms, pupils, parents/carers and the wider community are unlikely to notice any difference. The MET have assured us that the unique character of Burford, including its ethos, values and curriculum, would be retained. There would be no plans to change the school name, logo or uniform.
What would change for staff?
Being part of a group of local schools would offer better opportunities for professional development and career progression for our staff. Their employee would change from the Local Authority to the MET, but the terms and conditions of their contracts would be protected under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings – Protection of Employment – Regulations 2006). A TUPE consultation will happen later in the process, if we proceed beyond due diligence. The MET follows Teachers’ Pay Scales and the National Joint Council pay scales for support staff and they follow the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) and the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Our Headteacher would report into the CEO of the MET, rather than into the LA.
Do the MET’s vision and values align with Burford’s?
Yes, we believe so.
MET Aim: “The aim of the Marlow Education Trust is to bring together a community of schools from within Marlow and the surrounding area who will work together to deliver the best educational outcomes for each pupil, whatever their ability, background or needs. These schools will have shared values and share an essential common ethos and vision for education and learning. Our core values will drive our behaviour, decision making and our aspirational ambitions for our schools. Our schools will be where adults want to work; where parents/carers want their child to attend and where each pupil can grow in confidence and self-esteem.”
MET Values:
- Ambitious and Aspirational Outcomes for Every Learner
- Conformity to Our Values Whilst Preserving the Unique Identity and Ethos of Individual Schools
- Inclusivity Regardless of Ability, Background or Need
- Culture of Innovation, Self-Evaluation, Challenge, Support and Appropriate Action – Our Trust is Always Driven to Improve Further
- Our Trust Promotes Collaborating with Others and Being Outward Looking
- Relationships based on Trust and Respect
Burford would continue to have its own vision and values, as long as they support the overall vision of the MET.