In a recent TES article, Jack Mayhew, CEO of Learning Partners Academy Trust, highlighted the power of multi-phase, locally rooted trusts, where primary, secondary, special, and faith schools collaborate within a defined area. This approach creates continuity and a sense of belonging for pupils, particularly during key transitions.

For MAT leaders, this raises a crucial reflection: how intentionally are inclusion and belonging embedded in your trust’s design?

Belonging often fractures before attendance shows it

Research shows pupils frequently experience disconnection long before it appears in attendance data. Risk factors include:

  • SEND or SEMH needs
  • Socioeconomic disadvantage
  • Racial or cultural marginalisation

Once belonging breaks, learning loss follows quickly. Inclusion, attendance, and culture are interconnected — different angles on the same challenge.

Sustaining belonging across phases

In our conversations with MAT leaders, multi-phase structures are seen as offering unique opportunities to act early, before small issues escalate:

  • Pupils in Year 5 or 6 showing early signs of disengagement — struggling to get into school, attend assemblies, or engage in class — can be supported proactively.
  • Sharing expertise across phases allows trust leaders to address these challenges with human-centred strategies, including small-group support or assistive technology, rather than waiting until they evolve into entrenched attendance or behavioural issues.
  • This proactive approach maintains belonging, reduces future learning loss, and smooths transitions between schools.

When inclusion is strategy, not rescue

Southend-on-Sea City Council provides a powerful example:

  • They invested in AV1 telepresence robots to keep pupils connected despite medical, emotional, or social barriers.
  • 46 pupils used AV1 in 2021-22, 12 returned fully to school, and others reintegrated gradually.
Financial impact:
  • Traditional 1:1 tutoring (~50 pupils): £850,000/year
  • AV1 continuity support (~50 pupils): £23,000/year

This demonstrates a key insight: preventing disconnection is cheaper, more effective, and more child-centred than trying to rebuild engagement after it’s lost.

Implications for MAT leadership

Inclusion is not a service added on later — it is a system choice. Trust leaders might reflect on questions like:

  • Are structures in place that allow expertise to flow across schools and phases, rather than sit in silos?
  • Are attendance and engagement treated as strategic, preventative priorities, rather than reactive responses?
  • Are technology-enabled approaches being leveraged to reach pupils in ways that feel natural to tech-native learners?

Multi-phase trusts offer a unique opportunity to act early, maintain belonging, and prevent the cascade of disengagement and learning loss — but only if leadership sees it as an intentional, trust-wide design responsibility.

A call to act

The evidence is clear: belonging breaks down before attendance does, and early, proactive interventions pay dividends in both engagement and cost.
Trust leaders have the chance to ask themselves:

  • Where are the early signs of disconnection in my trust?
  • How can we leverage multi-phase structures and technology to support these pupils before challenges escalate?
  • What changes in trust design could make inclusion strategic rather than reactive?

Take the next step: For your free AV1 MAT consultation, contact Harriet Gill, Head of Trust Partnerships, at gill@noisolation.com. Explore how your trust could maintain pupil belonging, sustain engagement, and prevent disconnection before it becomes entrenched.