Strikes at religious Multi Academy Trusts in York for the second year in a row

This week, we had strikes at schools in York who are part of the Heartwood Learning Trust (formerly the John Sentamu Trust), which is a Church of England trust (though they - wrongly in my opinion - have also taken on non-religious schools). Last year we had strikes at two York schools that are part of the Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust (NPCAT), which is a Catholic trust.

Vale of York Academy and Manor Church of England Academy have both been shut after members of union the NASUWT walked out.

Staff from both schools formed a picket line outside Manor School this morning.

The dispute is over restructure plans. Heartwood Learning Trust wants to introduce a new pastoral system at six of the schools it runs...

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Teachers at two schools in York have gone on strike in protest at the funding decisions made by the academy trust which runs them.

The National Education Union (NEU) said money was being spent centrally at the Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust (NPCAT) on certain services, such as safeguarding, for all its 38 schools in York, North Yorkshire and Teesside.

However, All Saints Catholic School and St George's Catholic Primary had previously received equivalent services free of charge from the city council before becoming part of the trust in 2023 and 2019 respectively, the union said.

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Is this a pattern that strikes with religious trusts happen elsewhere, or is it just a coincidence that in York, the school strikes happen to be at religious trusts?

Does anyone on this forum work at a school within a religious trust and if so, what's it like for you?

I personally strongly dislike the idea of these religious trusts, and indeed religious schools in general. Everything I read/hear about them seems to be negative.

I do know of people who work at the NPCAT in York, and they don't like the way it's run, but they won't speak out because their jobs could be on the line.

Some parents have no interest in going to church, but send their kids to these schools because they perceive the behaviour at such schools to be ostensibly better than at normal schools, which I believe to be a fallacy.

yorkie said:

Some parents have no interest in going to church, but send their kids to these schools because they perceive the behaviour at such schools to be ostensibly better than at normal schools, which I believe to be a fallacy.

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I'll be interested to see whether you get responses indicating any pattern relating to religious trusts.

Some parents do believe that standards of behaviour are higher at schools which have a religious connection. I've known parents make token appearances at church in order to qualify their child to meet a school's admissions criteria.

I'm inclined to think that behaviour standards are higher, partly because these schools can be more choosy about who gets admitted, and partly because they can more readily suspend those who present problems.

The NPCAT strikes in York were well founded and a long time coming for academy trusts in my opinion. 25-30% of the school budget being taken to pay for ‘academy services’, including those which were previously received for free from LEA and branched support with other schools and authorities. I’m in a Catholic trust and the financial state of my school, though better than others, is a sorry state of affairs and yet the catholic academies are merging into two. How much will be taken from school budgets to manage an academy trust that spans such a large area and provides services in-house?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Jul 2026 ==

3141 said:

Some parents do believe that standards of behaviour are higher at schools which have a religious connection. I've known parents make token appearances at church in order to qualify their child to meet a school's admissions criteria.

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Making a ‘token appearance’ isn’t enough these days. Confirmed Catholic/C of E by certificate AND a written statement by the parish priest is usually required now. However, due to the falling birth rate, many schools are not able to be as selective as they used to be previously. We’ve had issues recently where secondary schools have removed feeder schools due to over subscription, which has led to a number of families needing to appeal places.

I'm a chair of governors in a Local Authority controlled CofE primary school. Our budgets are under severe pressure, and we are just about staying in the black due to very careful financial management. We are finding that our local authority is increasing the costs for central services, and their capacity to provide those services to a high standard is falling.

Considering academisation last year, we were very clear that there is no extra money for being run as part of an academy. That academy has to take on the funding responsibilities of providing those central services.

From what I know of school budgets, many schools are very close to having to do formal restructures, which would mean making staff redundant. I know nothing of the academy organisations mentioned, but the key driver of our costs are wages. For as long as the Department for Education grant teachers pay awards that they don't then back up with extra money, those budget pressures will increase. They also make it economic suicide to replace an experienced teacher with someone of similar experience - the only way to make the numbers add up is to hope to get a good candidate who's early in their career. While it's important to get a range of experience, and to bring on newly qualified teachers, it does make appointing the right people really tough - especially if there aren't a lot of candidates.

As a church school, the local diocese is absolutely clear (as is their right) that they will not approve any church school joining a non-CofE academy trust and they also have a number of MATs under their banner which schools can join if they wish. Those MATs have varying reputations, some rather better than others. Given that church schools in England remain fully subject to the National Curriculum, are subject to their own additional regulation (SIAMS for CofE and Methodist, I'm not sure who for RC), and have limited scope to "push" their denomination's beliefs, my own view is that they provide a worthwhile part of the educational system. Having been to a school with a chaplain on the payroll, I am also conscious that the religious character may repel as many pupils as it attracts. It's also worth note that our school relationship with the Diocesan Board of Education is in some ways a lot stronger than that with the local authority.

My (entirely personal and anecdotal) experience is that church schools can be good or bad, and that the quality has less to do with the trusts or local authorities that run them than the quality of how the individual school is led. One (not mine) that I know of has really struggled in recent years, with the key reason being a really bad headteacher appointment by the governors. My kids' former schools last Ofsted's were "good" and "outstanding", yet as parents we felt that the "outstanding" school wasn't a patch on the "good" one on many fronts, especially pastorally.

One comment by someone who was a Governor at a Non Denominational and a Denominational school was that the quality of candidates for jobs at the Denominational school was noticeably lower especially at senior level.

I know not entirely relevant, so apologies in advance, but my daughter had just got a 2:1 in Education, SEN and mental health. Having got the degree I can see that she is unlikely to carry on because she can earn more money at McDonalds (as lower management) than she could as a TA which is obviously where she's likely to start unless she goes back to University for her PGCE.

I'm interested to see where things take her now she has finished her degree as both her mother and I would rather it be in education. We will have to see if anything materialises up to her graduation in November.

I’m a governor and CoG at two primary schools in the same trust. We’ve avoided a lot of the problems faced by school’s in other trusts by retaining true local governance, including financial control. Our trust has recently acquired the non-denominational schools from another trust which recently failed, all of which are partnered with existing schools to improve their governance and strengthen their boards.

The CofE schools in the old trust are yet to find a new home. This isn’t helped by the CofE’s lackadaisical approach to “their” schools which has allowed a wide range of different, competing, trusts to emerge, without placing in them the responsibility to take on CofE schools who are homeless or seeking academisation.

This is a difficult time to run a school. As mentioned upthread, pay awards are not fully funded, local authorities are hollowed-out, birth rates are declining, and the funding model isn’t moving with the times. Add in the challenges of teaching, Ofsted, parents, etc, working in the sector doesn’t appeal to many.

Over recent months, support staff at Codsall Middle School, St Nicholas First School, and Birches First School have been facing the devastating news of potential pay cuts that could drastically impact their livelihoods. Proposals indicate that these cuts could be as high as 22%, a figure that is not just unreasonable but also unjust..

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See here about ongoing industrial action in the West Midlands, religious trust imposing large pay cuts to support staff having blown their budgets.

LowLevel said:

Sign the Petition

Support CMAT support staff against pay cuts

www.change.org

See here about ongoing industrial action in the West Midlands, religious trust imposing large pay cuts to support staff having blown their budgets.

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Very Christian (not)

JohnofWessex said:

Very Christian (not)

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If there is no money, there is no money. Christian or not. The alternative is presumably reducing the number of staff.....

It’s far from clear what the whole story is, or how the situation has come about. Noticing that it’s about three small schools, I’ve a hunch that this is less about an academy trust being “un Christian”*, and more about there simply not being enough in the pot to pay for the work being done. Given the regulations around pay, I also suspect that the cuts are to hours rather than rates.

* An aside. There’s a strong strand of Christian teaching about stewardship, and using resources wisely. That doesn’t include keeping going until the cash runs out and then wondering what next.

m0ffy said:

This is a difficult time to run a school. As mentioned upthread, pay awards are not fully funded, local authorities are hollowed-out, birth rates are declining, and the funding model isn’t moving with the times. Add in the challenges of teaching, Ofsted, parents, etc, working in the sector doesn’t appeal to many.

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Not fully funded, but also an unknown. I know my school has an Apr-Mar financial period but this years teacher pay award wasn't known until a few weeks ago (3.5% this year from memory) and us support staff haven't had any word yet

Crossover said:

Not fully funded, but also an unknown. I know my school has an Apr-Mar financial period but this years teacher pay award wasn't known until a few weeks ago (3.5% this year from memory) and us support staff haven't had any word yet

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So, in other words, a multiplication of challenge and risk - budgets set (as ours was) before the pay award was known.

Yet by some miracle of the Lord there were funds available to pay a 6 figure pay off to a "senior leader" previously thought to have "retired" shortly before all this kicked off.

35B said:

So, in other words, a multiplication of challenge and risk - budgets set (as ours was) before the pay award was known.

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Essentially, yes. I know we are very tight on hiring (my department, as well as a couple of others could use an extra body - in my case, I lost one in December that wasn't replaced). Speaking to our head, he is keen to keep the school in the black (which apparently we just about are) and increasing headcount now would likely lead to redundancies later

LowLevel said:

Yet by some miracle of the Lord there were funds available to pay a 6 figure pay off to a "senior leader" previously thought to have "retired" shortly before all this kicked off.

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Which is why I was very careful to say that the information provided does not give the whole story.

If that has happened and is being funded by pay cuts that is self evidently wrong.

I’m not sure however what the specific point about the Trust being a church one is. As a practicing Christian, that would disappoint me immensely - but I’m unable to see why this would not be possible at a secular trust.

LowLevel said:

Yet by some miracle of the Lord there were funds available to pay a 6 figure pay off to a "senior leader" previously thought to have "retired" shortly before all this kicked off.

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So what are the circumstances of this senior leader being entitled to this six-figure sum? Perhaps the assumption that this person had retired was not quite accurate?

35B said:

Which is why I was very careful to say that the information provided does not give the whole story.

If that has happened and is being funded by pay cuts that is self evidently wrong.

I’m not sure however what the specific point about the Trust being a church one is. As a practicing Christian, that would disappoint me immensely - but I’m unable to see why this would not be possible at a secular trust.

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Well said.

m0ffy said:

This is a difficult time to run a school. As mentioned upthread, pay awards are not fully funded, local authorities are hollowed-out, birth rates are declining, and the funding model isn’t moving with the times. Add in the challenges of teaching, Ofsted, parents, etc, working in the sector doesn’t appeal to many.

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Superb summary, and as a CoG of a special secondary, you couldn't have hit the nail squarer on the head.

It is an arguably more challenging experience than my day job.

m0ffy said:

This is a difficult time to run a school. As mentioned upthread, pay awards are not fully funded, local authorities are hollowed-out, birth rates are declining, and the funding model isn’t moving with the times. Add in the challenges of teaching, Ofsted, parents, etc, working in the sector doesn’t appeal to many.

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Don't forget to add the explosion in SEN to all of that as well. Children who should be in specialist provision but can't get places so the school has to manage the situation as best as possible. Some funding comes but it doesn't really cover for having to basically provide one to one support using TAs. Though sometimes the LA pulls their finger out and actually funds properly. But that's rare. Usually it's begging and borrowing TAs from other parts of school to try and make it work. There's been a cracking one recently where the LA have agreed that a specialist provision is required but none of the local provisions will take the child as their need is too great for the specialist settings. Meanwhile a mainstream school has to (and is doing a decent job of) meeting need. You question what the purpose of specialist provision is at that point...

We're comparatively lucky in that our pupil numbers, as a Primary, have actually grown for the coming September but even that comes with its downsides. Mainly because funding lags behind reality so our funding for 2026/27 is based on our pupil numbers from the autumn 2025 school census when we had a lower roll. So we have to provide an education to more children but we won't actually get more money for those children until 2027/28! We've had to set a deficit budget for 2026/27 using our reserves (we're very lucky to have them!) to bridge the gap that will hopefully be filled the following academic year when national funding catches up to our increased numbers.

Just another wrinkle in trying to run a school in the present environment...

It does amuse me though when people scream about new housing being built and how will the schools cope with the numbers. We're over the moon (or will be next year when we get the money for the children) that a new housing estate has been built nearby as we reckon that's where the extra children have arrived from. We were yet another school staring down the barrel of restructuring if our roll kept falling. Bring on the housing estates

ainsworth74 said:

Don't forget to add the explosion in SEN to all of that as well. Children who should be in specialist provision but can't get places so the school has to manage the situation as best as possible.

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I find this a very interesting view, as at my place we are seeing a fall in potential students at the top end of our spectrum as our LA forces mainstream schools to increase their in-house SEND provision (in fairness, SEND secondary is a bit different, but still)

We don't have reserves anymore and aside from a little bit of overstaffing we are cut to the bone. We are the only non-academy special secondary provision in the borough, and so we are a bit of a "sink" for children that the academies deem too difficult (and we are very successful at turning their school careers around, as it goes) - but with that comes some pretty eye-watering costs. Children on 2-to-1 and even 3-to-1 care... Our "way out" of deficit is a total collapse in our Profound and Multiple Learning Disability classes - down from 16 children five years ago to just 3 for next year. I know it sounds awful, but these children are incredibly expensive to look after, and without them our budget is much easier to reach a surplus.

One of the worst parts of the role is seeing (by necessity) children as a commodity. "If we increase our numbers we get more money", etc. Twas ever thus, I guess.

Dave W said:

I find this a very interesting view, as at my place we are seeing a fall in potential students at the top end of our spectrum as our LA forces mainstream schools to increase their in-house SEND provision (in fairness, SEND secondary is a bit different, but still)

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I'm at the primary end rather than the secondary end of the piece but it's driving our staff batty being told that there's no place for these children and we've just got to manage. And we're a school that prides ourselves on our SEND provision within a mainstream setting. We have a LA Learning Support Base within our provision that takes around a dozen or so children from other primaries onto our roll and even outside of that we're known as being the school to send children with complex needs to. We have a reputation for taking children who are on the verge of (or have actually been) excluded from other schools and turning things around for them.

But, we are still a mainstream school despite all the work and inclusion and there are just some children that need more than we can provide. So it's interesting to hear that you're seeing a fall in students at the higher end!

Dave W said:

We don't have reserves anymore and aside from a little bit of overstaffing we are cut to the bone.

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We've been extremely lucky that we a) are in a small academy trust that doesn't take the proverbial with their top slice of our budget and b) we have an extremely high percentage of free school means meaning we get a huge amount of pupil premium which we are able to primarily spend on teachers. Before budgets started to get strained in recent years that had the side effect of allowing us to build up a healthy reserve. But I know we're exceptionally fortunate to be in that position!

Dave W said:

One of the worst parts of the role is seeing (by necessity) children as a commodity. "If we increase our numbers we get more money", etc. Twas ever thus, I guess.

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Absolutely but on the other hand I do at least take some comfort in that the outcomes from that are positive for them. Having more children does equal more money but at least we're giving them a quality education (both academically and more broadly) for that extra money! It is at least not just a one way street