“Every child no matter their background should be able to achieve and thrive, and strong schools working together through high quality trusts help make that possible. That collaboration must be matched by clear, fair accountability. Trust inspection will recognise excellence, support improvement and ensure no child is overlooked, especially those with the greatest needs.
Bridget Phillipson, Education Secretary
With MAT-level inspection by Ofsted expected to begin from 2027, trust leaders face a new phase of accountability focused on impact, assurance and system leadership. This one-day conference is designed to help executive teams and boards understand what MAT inspection is likely to involve, how it will differ from school inspection, and what inspectors will expect leaders to articulate with clarity and confidence. Through a series of high-level keynotes, the programme explores governance, strategy, safeguarding, wellbeing and standards from a trust-wide perspective, ensuring leaders are prepared for inspection conversations at the right level.
The conference goes beyond compliance to focus on how MATs demonstrate effectiveness in practice: how vision translates into action, how improvement is led and evaluated across schools, how safeguarding and wellbeing are assured at scale, and how trusts evidence impact through coherent self-evaluation. Delegates will leave better equipped to align leadership and governance understanding, sharpen their trust narrative, and confidently explain how they know their MAT is improving outcomes, wellbeing and culture for pupils. This is a strategic, executive-level event for leaders who want to be ahead of the inspection curve rather than reacting to it.
This conference will enable you to:
Understand what MAT-level inspection by Ofsted is likely to involve and how it will differ from school inspection
Clarify the strategic role of trustees, executive leaders and governance in a MAT inspection context
Strengthen your ability to articulate the trust’s vision, educational direction and improvement strategy
Develop a shared understanding of how trust-wide standards and school improvement impact can be demonstrated
Understand how safeguarding operates as a trust responsibility and how effective oversight is assured
Explore how pupil wellbeing, inclusion and trust culture are evaluated at MAT level
Identify what constitutes credible trust-level evidence and effective self-evaluation
Build confidence in leading inspection conversations and presenting a clear, coherent MAT narrative
