The key stage 2 MAT performance tables only include 37% of all primary mainstream academies (including all-through schools but excluding academies without key stage 2 results in 2018/19). This represents 42% of all primary academies that are part of a MAT and 11% of all state-funded primaries. This release provides national aggregate figures for MATs, which only cover the subset of academies and MATs included in the MAT performance tables. These statistics therefore cannot be interpreted as how academies or MATs are performing as a whole. The schools and MATs included change each year, meaning comparisons over time in attainment measures should be treated with caution. Progress measures are in-year relative measures which, in combination with the changing composition of MATs each year, means they should not be compared over time.
National figures for all state-funded mainstream schools are shown for context but comparisons between MAT and national averages should be treated with caution as they are not like-for-like. Both national aggregates for MATs and national averages for state-funded mainstream schools exclude special schools, pupil referral units and alternative provision facilities. However, state-funded mainstream schools also include voluntary, foundation and community schools. These are not academies and are therefore ineligible to be included in MATs measures. In addition, the proportion of sponsor led academies is higher in MATs measures than across all academies.
This publication is based on revised data. There is usually little difference between school level revised and final data. MAT level figures are not updated using final data.
Academies and multi-academy trusts
Academies are state schools directly funded by the government. Each one is part of an academy trust. Trusts can be single academy trusts responsible for one academy or multi-academy trusts (MATs) responsible for a group of academies. An academy sponsor may oversee a number of MATs. The statistics in this release report at the highest level of accountability. Where an academy sponsor oversees a number of multi-academy trusts, results are presented under the sponsor rather than the individual constituent MATs.
The number of eligible MATs included in the key stage 2 measures has increased from 240 in 2017/18 to 297 in 2018/19. This is an increase from 1,408 to 1,788 schools, and from 56,367 to 74,037 pupils. This represents 12% of the state-funded mainstream key stage 2 pupil cohort and 34% of the mainstream academies key stage 2 cohort. Currently, 30% (a total of 189,253 pupils) of the state-funded mainstream key stage 2 pupil cohort are in an academy that is in a MAT, regardless of whether they are eligible for inclusion in the MAT measures.
The chart below shows the percentage of MATs by the size of the MAT, for the MATs and schools included in the performance data in this release.
The table below shows the distribution of the schools included in the MAT measures by school type, showing a higher proportion of converter academies (typically previously high performing schools) than sponsor led academies (typically previously poor performing schools). The gap between the proportion of sponsor led and converter academies has widened since 2017/18 when 53% were converter academies, 46% sponsor led academies and 1% free schools. The proportion of sponsored academies, converter academies and free schools as a proportion of all state-funded mainstream schools is also shown below.