The main aim of this petition is for St Mary's Catholic Voluntary Academy in Marple-Bridge to leave the St Ralph Sherwin Multi-Academy Trust, as trust leaders are failing to lead, manage and govern to an acceptable standard.

The reasons we feel this is the only viable action: 

1. There has been a total breakdown in confidence in the Trust and the management of the Trust.
2. The Diocese and the Bishop are not being made accountable for what has happened with the Trust, as this was originally imposed by them to safe guard the catholic schools in the diocese, which it hasn't.
3. There is evidence that the Trust was never viable from the start due to the mixture of schools and numbers on role - it needed a stronger balance of secondary schools and there are a huge number of very small rural schools that are well under capacity.
4. Financial mismanagement and failure of the Trust to manage finances.
5. We entered the trust with a financial surplus as a thriving and successful school, which is now not the case due to the Trust, but could be again, if we (St Mary's) are no longer part of it.
6. We are a thriving school with high numbers.
7. We are very detached from the Trust and other schools due to being in a different local authority and geographical location - it never made sense for us to be part of this Trust.
8. We know that change of Trust leadership won’t solve the problem - there have already been several changes in leadership which have cost the trust money that should have been allocated to schools.
9. Staff cuts will have no impact as the deficit is far too big for it to have any impact on it - it will only impact the children. The current proposed cuts are to get rid of the equivalent of 1 full time teaching post, a reduction of kids club staff which probably equates to a member of staff across the week, and significant reduction in administration hours, which will put a significant burden on the entirety of the school.
10. We (St Mary's) have no control over our own finances eg contracts are imposed for cleaning, gardening, maintenance, IT. St Mary's Marple-Bridge being part of this Trust is highly inefficient, due to our central services being based in Derby, there is money being spent on travel expenses and use of time and money that could be spent in a more cost efficient way. 

Article Below from https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/article-listing/stockport-teachers-to-strike-over-job-cuts-threat.html 

Members of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union at St Mary’s Catholic Voluntary Academy in Stockport are due to begin five days of strike action tomorrow (12th March) over proposed job cuts which they believe would seriously affect the quality of education and support provided to pupils.

The St Ralph Sherwin Multi-Academy Trust, which runs the school, is planning a reduction of one full-time equivalent teaching post, a reduction of six hours from the admin assistant role and the loss of ten Kids Club administration hours.

The Trust has cited financial pressures as the reason for proposing these staffing cuts, however the Union does not believe that these planned reductions in staffing will solve the significant financial issues being experienced by the Trust and believes that stronger financial management and accountability are needed. 

Financial data from the Trust shows that spending on educational consultancy across its 25 schools has more than doubled since 2020 from £412,000 in 2020/21 to £830,000 in 2024/25 and the number of staff earning between £60,000 and £160,000 per year has nearly doubled since 2021, going from 27 members of staff to 53 in 2025.

Strike action is planned for 12th, 17th, 19th, 24th and 26th March. The NASUWT will be picketing outside the school on each strike day between approximately 7.45am and 9am.
 
Matt Wrack, NASUWT General Secretary, said:
 
“Pupils and school staff should not bear the consequences of poor decision-making and financial management within higher rankings of the Trust.

“If the Trust is facing financial challenges, we believe the focus should be on reducing costs in central services, including executive salaries, rather than on cutting essential frontline jobs in schools.

“We have made every effort to avoid a strike, but the Trust has failed to offer any substantive evidence to us that their proposals can be implemented without negatively impacting on both teachers and pupils.

“This has left us with no alternative but to take action in order to stand up for jobs and pupils’ education.”

Jac Casson, NASUWT National Executive Member for Greater Manchester, said:
 
“Contrary to what has been communicated to parents by Trust leaders, we believe these proposed reductions in staffing would significantly affect the quality of education and support provided to pupils.

“In particular, we are concerned about the impact on the role of special educational needs coordinator, wellbeing provision and nurture support, all of which are vital to ensuring the needs of all pupils at St Mary’s can be met. We are also concerned that the resulting workload for remaining teaching and office staff would become unsustainable if these cuts go ahead.

“We continue to urge the Trust to agree to listen to the concerns of its own staff and to work with us on a way to avoid job losses which we believe would have a deeply detrimental impact on the whole school community at St Mary’s.”