High-profile academy merger plans for a pioneering three-school trust in London to join one of England鈥檚 biggest MATs have been given the official go-ahead. Schools Week revealed in November that Big Education Trust was set to consult on proposals to team up with Oasis Community Learning, which runs 55 schools across the country. This morning, the organisations announced they received the green light from the Department for Education for the merger to happen later this year. Boosting ‘offer to every child’ Oasis CEO John Barneby believes it will strengthen what his trust 鈥渃an offer to every pupil, in every community鈥� it serves. 鈥淥asis has always been clear that education sits within a wider set of relationships 鈥� with families, communities and the bright futures young people go on to lead,” he said. 鈥淏ig Education brings an exceptional, evidence-informed approach to that work, built over many years through their schools and programmes.鈥� was launched in 2018 by current CEO Liz Robinson and Peter Hyman. Hyman is a former adviser to Tony Blair and more recently to Keir Starmer in opposition. Its academies include Surrey Square Primary, which hasn鈥檛 permanently excluded a pupil in almost two decades, and School 21, a free school torchbearer for progressive values that was co-founded by Hyman and Oli de Botton, who is now the prime minister鈥檚 education adviser. Scaling Big’s work Big Education chief Liz Robinson said the move will help her trust 鈥済row an approach to education that we know makes a real difference – one that goes beyond academic outcomes and focuses on the whole child鈥�. She added: “Our model has been developed and tested through our schools and professional programmes, and the evidence of its impact is clear. 鈥淛oining with Oasis gives us the opportunity to scale that work, while protecting what makes it distinctive.” Speaking last year, Robinson said her trust decided to merge three years ago as 鈥渢hree schools is too small to run a MAT鈥�. The Oasis connection came after she met Barneby at an event in 2024. While Oasis was 鈥渘ot actively pursuing growth鈥�, Barneby said his 鈥渆ars pricked up鈥� when he realised the trusts shared the view that 鈥渢here is more value to education than just exam results. They鈥檙e really important, they鈥檙e a key aspect, but education does a lot more than that鈥eyond the headlines.鈥� DfE’s merger ‘interest’ He also said the DfE was taking an 鈥渋nterest鈥� in the move, with officials identifying the 鈥渙perational scale and efficiencies鈥� it could bring. At the time, Barneby could not rule out redundancies but said the goal is to 鈥減reserve the nature and character鈥� of Big Education. Today, the MATs said the government’s decision followed “a period of consultation with staff and stakeholders, whose valued feedback has informed the approach and will continue to play an important role as the two trusts prepare for the next phase of their shared journey”. It is expected Robinson will move into a new role focused on 鈥済rowing鈥� her organisation鈥檚 projects across Oasis. The merger is set to be completed in September. Only four other trusts will have more schools on their books – United Learning, REAch2, Delta Academies Trust and St Gabriel the Archangel Catholic MAT.