The country’s biggest multi-academy trust took an additional eight schools last year, meaning that across its group it now educates nearly 75,000 pupils, its latest accounts show.
United Learning Trust was running 90 academies at the end of the 2023-24, the documents reveal.
At the end of August 2024, United Learning - the trading name of the charity behind the trust - comprised 14 independent schools operating within the linked United Church Schools Trust (UCST), 90 state sector academies and two standalone nurseries.
Together the group’s schools educate nearly 75,000 children and young people and employ nearly 12,000 members of staff.
Here are seven key insights from the trust’s latest annual accounts:
1. More United Learning staff on six-figure salaries
The trust’s accounts do not include the salary of its chief executive, Sir Jon Coles, because he is paid by UCST.
However, the report does set out the number of other high earners at United Learning Trust.
In 2023-24 there were 44 staff at United Learning Trust earning £100,000 or more - an increase from 33 in 2022-23.
In each of the past two years, there were four members of staff earning between £150,001 and £160,000.
United Learning Trust said increases in school leaders’ base pay in the year were in line with the national 6.5 per cent rise in teachers’ and leaders’ pay, and added that some leaders also received contribution-related pay increases.
A trust spokesperson said: “In that year, teachers on the main scale in United Learning would have seen increases of between 10.6 per cent and 14.8 per cent through a combination of the 6.5 per cent pay scale increase and progression up the pay scale.”
Sir Jon’s salary was between £290,000 and £300,000 in 2023-24, the trust said. In 2022-23 he was paid £267,246.
2. Teacher pay commitment
The accounts highlight how United Learning Trust made a “More Pay, More Time, More Support” commitment to teachers in 2024.
More on United Learning:
The trust pays teachers an average of 5 per cent above national scales, with starting salaries of £39,500 in inner London and £32,850 nationally.
It adds that its academies have an additional Inset day at the start of each term and that the trust guarantees at least one paid personal day each year for every teacher.
3. Trust growth
United Learning Trust took on eight more schools in 2023-24, spanning the North, the Midlands and the South of England, the latest accounts show.
These are Brentnall Academy in Salford; Campion School in Northamptonshire; Conisborough College in south-east London; The George Eliot Academy in Nuneaton, Warwickshire; Glebe Primary School in Shoreham, West Sussex; Hartshill Academy in Nuneaton; Heath Lane Academy in Leicestershire; and Nuneaton Academy.
These schools educate 6,500 pupils between them.
4. Community hubs expanding
In 2021 the trust set out a plan to establish a community hub in each of its clusters of schools.
By the end of 2023-24, the accounts show it had 13 community hubs established, with a further seven ready to start development in 2024-25.
The report also says that across the hubs in 2024 the trust has recorded more than “24,000 instances of participation” and 2,000 hours of community support through various activity sessions.
5. Reserves increase
The trust accounts say its retained, restricted, general and unrestricted reserves increased during the year and equate to 10.6 per cent of the trust’s recurrent operating income.
The accounts show that, as of the end of August 2024, the trust’s total reserves were £948.4 million - up from £885.7 million in 2023. This figure is made up of retained, restricted, general and unrestricted reserves, of which £53.9 million are free reserves, compared with £51.5 million in 2023.
6. Ofsted ratings
The accounts show that 17 United Learning Trust schools had graded inspections, of which six were rated as “outstanding” and 11 were rated as “good”.
Among the “outstanding” judgements was Avonbourne Boys’ Academy in Bournemouth. Its predecessor school had been judged “inadequate”.
7. Leadership
The trust’s accounts show that one in 10 senior staff in its academies were from a minority ethnic background. The trust notes that this is a significant improvement from only 5 per cent in 2019, though it is below the figure of 16 per cent across the workforce as a whole.
The trust accounts also say that over the course of the year 10.9 per cent of headteacher appointments and 7.9 per cent of senior leader appointments were made internally.
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