About the MAT
From the CEO
The Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, which is the Church of England in Suffolk, established a Diocesan Multi Academy Trust in 2015 and now has 21 church primary schools in the trust. The MAT is accountable to the Secretary of State for Education for standards and finance. Once schools become academies, they cease to be maintained by the local authority (Suffolk County Council). The MAT has a mix of sponsored and converter academies. Sponsored academies are required to become an academy by the DfE whilst converter schools are good or outstanding schools which choose to join.
The MAT now has 21 schools, all church primary schools in Suffolk. In the order in which they joined, the schools are: Tudor in Sudbury, St Mary’s in Woodbridge, St Mary’s in Hadleigh, Sproughton, Nacton, Bramfield, Long Melford, Eyke, Mellis, Hartest, Stoke-by-Nayland, Chelmondiston, Ringsfield, Brampton, Hintlesham & Chattisham, Morland in Ipswich, All Saints in Newmarket, St Matthew’s in Ipswich, Wetheringsett, Elmsett and Bedfield.
Based in the Church of England’s offices in Ipswich, alongside other diocesan teams, a small friendly central team supports its schools: the CEO, Head of School Improvement, Buildings Officer, Administrator and Finance team. The current postholder is leaving to take up a Director of Finance post in another organisation.
Financial policies and procedures are well established. The trust operates a single bank account, with each school having delegated responsibility to manage within its own budget. MATs receive their General Annual Grant (GAG) funding from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and we retain a 6% top-slice to meet the running costs of the central team and some services provided to schools.
The MAT has also successfully applied for additional funding streams from the ESFA and these funds, for school improvement and building improvements, are managed centrally.
The financial year for academies runs from 1 September to 31 August, in line with the school year. Our annual accounts are on our website: https://cofesuffolkmat.org/about/annual-reports-and-accounts along with other information about our trust.
The MAT Board of Directors meets every two months. The postholder attends these meetings and also meetings of the Finance and Audit Committee, six times a year and the Premises and Risk Management Committee, which meets three times a year. Each school has a local governing body with delegated powers. The postholder also meets every half term with all the school bursars. The Chief Finance Officer leads the central Finance team. S/he will also line manage the Head of Estates.
The MAT’s key objective is to provide the highest possible quality of education, underpinned by our Christian ethos and values. The MAT works in a highly collaborative way, enabling each school to retain its own identity and ethos whilst belonging to a larger family of schools. The schools are committed to supporting each other and enjoy support from the MAT.
