AQUINAS Church of England Education Trust

What AQUINAS Church of England Education Trust does

AQUINAS Church of England Education Trust is a UK Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) operating twelve state-funded academies — nine Church of England schools in the London Borough of Bromley and three community schools in East Sussex. Founded in August 2013 and registered as a private limited company (Company Number 07525735), the trust provides centralised educational, operational, and professional development services to its member academies under the governance of a board of directors, with Kathy Griffiths serving as CEO since inception. The trust employs 726 staff as of March 2025 and is headquartered in Bromley (BR2 8HZ), operating an in-house Training and Development Centre that supports teaching and operational practice across the network.

The trust's business model rests on state funding channeled through the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), with no tuition fees levied on families. Revenue mechanics consist of per-pupil funding passed through to academies plus an internal Central Management Fee charged to member schools to fund trust-wide shared services covering HR, finance, curriculum support, estates, and professional development. Go-to-market for growth is structured around academy conversions, mergers, and a newly established Associate Academy Scheme, with the trust actively pursuing expansion into South London, Kent, and additional East Sussex schools.

The trust's operating platform is organisational rather than technological: centralised governance and shared back-office functions, a diocesan-aligned mission, and partnerships with RDBE, CEFEL, Bromley Schools Collegiate, Thames South Teaching School Hub, and WalkThrus form the core delivery infrastructure. There is no indication of proprietary technology products, software platforms, or AI-driven tooling within the available data.

Name

AQUINAS Church of England Education Trust

Legal name

Aquinas Church of England Education Trust

Website

https://aquinastrust.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

AQUINAS Church of England Education Trust is a UK Multi-Academy Trust operating twelve state-funded primary and secondary academies across Bromley and East Sussex, delivering centralised curriculum, operational, and professional development services under ESFA funding.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Multi Academy Trust / Primary and Secondary Education Services

NAICS

Elementary and Secondary Schools (6111), Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Faith-Based (Religious) K–12 Schools (EDAJABAC)

Keywords

• Multi academy trust
• Primary education
• Secondary education
• Church school network
• Academy trust services

Headquarters

HQ city

Bromley

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Education Funding: As a multi-academy trust, Aquinas receives government funding for educating students across its network of academies. Funding flows through the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) for academies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Aquinas Church of England Education Trust is a Multi Academy Trust that operates a network of 12 Church of England and Community primary and secondary academies across Bromley and East Sussex, delivering state-funded education to pupils from Foundation Stage through Key Stage 5. In addition to direct school delivery, the Trust provides centralised School Improvement, Finance and Facilities, HR, Governance and Legal, Professional Development, and Branding and Communication services to member academies under an annual Central Management Fee, and runs an Associate Scheme to onboard new partner schools.

Product overview

Aquinas Church of England Education Trust is a multi-academy trust operating as a unified network of Church of England and community primary and secondary schools across Bromley and East Sussex. The Trust's product portfolio consists of its network of academies (including Cudham CE Primary School, Keston CE Primary School, Parish CE Primary School, Rye Community Primary School, St George's CE Primary School, St John's CE Primary School, St Mark's CE Primary School, St Nicholas CE Primary School, Trinity CE Primary School, Bishop Justus CE School, Robertsbridge Community College, and Rye College) supported by central services including School Improvement, Finance and Facilities, Human Resources, Governance and Legal support, Professional Development, and Branding and Communication. The Trust differentiates through its Aquinas Core Teaching Principles and Aquinas Approach to Curriculum Design frameworks, which provide structured pedagogical guidance and curriculum planning methodology across all member academies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Primary Academies Network Network of Church of England and community primary academies (Foundation Stage through Key Stage 2) operating under shared curriculum frameworks, common teaching principles and centralised back-office support. Provided to pupils aged 5-11 and their families across Bromley and East Sussex.
• Secondary Academies Network Network of three secondary academies (Bishop Justus CE School in Bromley, Robertsbridge Community College and Rye College in East Sussex) delivering Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 (GCSEs) and Key Stage 5 (A-Levels and further education) under the Trust's curriculum and teaching frameworks.
• Central Support Services for Aquinas Academies Bundle of centralised services (School Improvement, Finance and Facilities, Human Resources, Governance and Legal, Professional Development, Branding and Communication) provided to member Aquinas academies under an annual Central Management Fee.
• Aquinas Training and Development Centre Professional development and teacher training service offering leadership development, National Professional Qualifications (NPQs), Early Career Teacher (ECT) support and apprenticeship levy programmes for teachers and school leaders across the Trust and wider Bromley, Bexley, Lewisham, Greenwich and East Sussex area.
• Associate Academies Scheme Pre-membership partnership programme enabling prospective academy partners to gain insight into Aquinas operations, collaborate on learner activities, professional development and events, before deciding whether to convert and join the Trust as a full academy.

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Rochester Diocesan Board of Education (RDBE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRDBE is a charity and company that exists to support Church of England Schools, children's and youth workers in the diocese of Rochester. There are 89 Church of England schools within the Rochester Diocesan Family of Schools serving 22,110 children aged 4-19.
• Church of England Foundation for Educational Leadership (CEFEL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCEFEL brings together educational partners dedicated to supporting development of leaders in education working towards a vision for education based on a Christian view of 'life in all its fullness'. They offer networks, programmes, and research resources.
• Bromley Schools CollegiatecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEstablished in 1993 to train teachers in local schools with high employability and retention rates. Outstanding Ofsted gradings for both Primary and Secondary teacher training. They train teachers in Bromley, Bexley, Lewisham, Greenwich and East Sussex.
• Anglican Academy and Secondary School Heads (AASSH)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAASSH speaks up for church schools and academies, nurtures and develops Heads in church schools, supports new Heads, acts in a consultancy role to support under-performing schools, and develops capacity in leadership.
• KMT (Kent and Medway Training)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKMT is an accredited provider of school based teacher training in the South East and across Kent. They welcome trainees from various backgrounds and support them through their journey to become qualified teachers.
• The National Association for Able Children in Education (NACE)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAll Aquinas academies have membership of NACE which provides 35 years of experience in meeting needs of more able learners. Through ongoing professional development, teachers have access to meetups, clinics, webinars, resources, consultancy, and research initiatives.
• OLEVI AllianceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOLEVI Alliance creates high performing people through valuing and creating a growth culture. Their innovative approach around teaching and learning, leadership and coaching has transformed both individuals and schools in various contexts.
• Thames South Teaching School HubcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of 87 Teaching School Hubs designated by the Department for Education, created as centres of excellence for teacher training and development. They work with national, regional and local partners to meet needs of schools across all phases and settings.
• WalkThruscoreTechnology or IntegrationWalkThrus provides visual guides explaining the art and science of teaching. Aquinas uses WalkThrus as a toolkit for teacher development and instructional coaching across all schools, and shares good practice while delivering accredited WalkThrus training.
• National College of EducationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational College of Education is committed to ensuring positive impact on learners, schools and communities. Aquinas works with them on programmes and measures impact through surveys and destination data.
• St Benet's TrustminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAquinas works closely with St Benet's Trust in Norfolk to improve performance across all academies. Leaders from each trust regularly carry out collaborative reviews of education, working in partnership to improve identified areas of practice.
• AletheiaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTrust-to-trust collaboration partnership for educational improvement and best practice sharing.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Outwood Grange Academies Trust: Large UK multi-academy trust with strong school-improvement brand and centralized support services, including school improvement, training, and curriculum frameworks analogous to Aquinas's offerings. Comparable in operating philosophy of school improvement through trust-wide standards.
• Harris Federation: One of the largest UK multi-academy trusts, operating 50+ primary and secondary academies across London and southeast England. Highly comparable to Aquinas as a state-funded MAT serving similar pupil populations, though materially larger and broader in scope.
• United Learning: National UK MAT and independent schools group operating both state-funded academies and fee-paying schools. Highly comparable to Aquinas in faith-rooted educational mission and centralized school-improvement model, though broader in scope and scale.
• E-ACT: National UK multi-academy trust operating academies across multiple regions, with comparable state-funded academy model and centralized support services. Similar in operating structure to Aquinas, though at much larger scale.
• Academies Enterprise Trust (AET): Large UK multi-academy trust operating primary and secondary academies across multiple regions. Comparable to Aquinas in operating model (centralized support services, academy network structure) and target market, but operates at significantly larger national scale.
• Oasis Academy Trust: National UK MAT operating faith-rooted academies with a strong values-based mission, similar to Aquinas's Church of England identity. Comparable in mission-driven educational philosophy and centralized academy support model, though operating nationally rather than regionally focused.
• Ark Schools: UK multi-academy trust operating primary and secondary academies with a strong pedagogical framework and teacher development focus. Comparable to Aquinas in mission-driven ethos and emphasis on curriculum and teacher development as core value propositions.
• The Kemnal Academies Trust (TKAT): Large UK multi-academy trust operating primary and secondary academies across southeast England, including regions overlapping with Aquinas. Highly comparable in geography, operating model, and pupil demographic, though at larger scale.

Direct peers

• REAch2 Academy Trust: UK primary-focused multi-academy trust with similar scale to Aquinas (dozens of primary academies, similar centralized support model). Directly comparable as a primary-led MAT of similar size operating in the same state-funded, academy-converted model.
• St Benet's Trust: Smaller UK faith-rooted multi-academy trust that Aquinas has an explicit trust-to-trust collaborative partnership with for school improvement. Most directly comparable peer given the formal partnership, similar faith-based identity, and shared operational scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/aquinas-church-of-england-education-trust

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about AQUINAS Church of England Education Trust