One of the largest multi-academy trusts in England plans to give up its two special schools to secure their long-term success.
Lift Schools said the decision reflected “a clear focus on securing the right long-term environment, capacity and professional networks”.
The two schools are Lift Pioneer, which was judged to be “outstanding” by Ofsted in 2019 and Lift Columbus, found to “require significant improvement” in an inspection last year. Both admit pupils with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) and severe learning difficulties (SLD).
The schools will likely be transferred to The Bridge MAT, which already runs five special schools in London and Norfolk.
Writing in Schools Week, Becks Boomer-Clark, the CEO of Lift, said “We do not believe that the long-term needs of pupils with profound and complex needs are best served within a predominantly mainstream trust, however strong its inclusive intent.
A mature school system should allow for specialisation without stigma and for divestment without failure narratives
“We believe both schools will be better served within a trust whose sole purpose is to serve young people with complex and very specialist needs, and where their expertise can both benefit from, and contribute to, a vibrant specialist ecosystem.”
Boomer-Clark said that Pioneer was “outstanding and widely respected” and that Columbus “has some through a challenging period and is now on a much stronger footing”.
A final decision on the transfer will be made by the Department for Education, with the hand-over expected in September.
Plans to transfer the special schools comes at a time when the government is steering schools into becoming more inclusive, with more SEND units and hubs.
However, Boomer-Clark said that “if every trust believes it must be able to do everything, we will end up doing too many things thinly, rather than a few things really well”.
Rather, she said, a “mature school system should allow for specialisation without stigma and for divestment without failure narratives”.
