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Oasis Community Learning and Big Education Trust will merge in September after gaining Department for Education approval.

The three London schools run by Big Education (two primaries, one all-through) will join the 55-school Oasis at the beginning of the 2026-27 academic year.

Oasis currently runs 33 primaries, 20 secondaries and two all-through schools across the country.

The merger will make Oasis the sixth-largest multi-academy trust in England, behind United Learning, REach2 Academy Trust, Delta Academies Trust, St Gabriel the Archangel Catholic MAT and Lift schools.

John Barneby, CEO of Oasis, said: “Big Education brings an exceptional, evidence-informed approach...built over many years through their schools and programmes.

“Bringing our organisations together strengthens what we can offer to every pupil, in every community we serve.”

Oasis and Big Education to merge

Liz Robinson, CEO of Big Education, said: “This merger enables us to grow an approach to education that we know makes a real difference - one that goes beyond academic outcomes and focuses on the whole child.”

Ms Robinson’s new role within Oasis is yet to be confirmed, but is expected to be a senior executive position within the expanded trust’s national leadership team.

When considering expansion, Oasis only considers taking on schools in areas where the trust already has a presence and where schools are financially sustainable, according to its .

At the end of 2024-25, the trust had 29,853 pupils, of which 53.2 per cent received pupil premium funding, and 37 per cent spoke English as an additional language. This is much higher than the national average.

One of its academies, Oasis Academy South Bank, was named ����Vlog secondary school of the year at the ����Vlog Schools Awards 2025.

‘Challenging’ financial situation for trust

Big Education’s state that the trust was “actively pursuing a merger with a larger trust in order to support long-term sustainability”, as declining pupil numbers had a negative impact on the trust’s finances.

The trust said its “very challenging financial situation” arose from low reserves, its size and increased staff costs.

Big Education had an in-year operational deficit of £649,850 in 2024-25, and £93,602 in unrestricted reserves.

The trust was founded in 2018 by Ms Robinson and Peter Hyman, a former adviser to Tony Blair and Keir Starmer.

Mergers across education

The move comes among an increasing number of mergers and consolidations across the sector.

The number of trusts with 11 to 20 schools has increased almost sevenfold in the past 10 years, and the number with 21-30 schools has also grown from 11 to 48, according to ����Vlog analysis.

Large trusts, with 41 or more schools, have almost tripled from five to 14 in the same period.

The combined share of trusts with more than six schools has risen from 6.6 per cent to 32.3 per cent, and the average number of schools per trust has more than doubled from four to nearly nine.

Last week, ����Vlog reported that Co-op Academies Trust is set to take on six schools from a struggling trust in Cumbria, pending a final decision this month.

The move would push it into the top 25 biggest MATs by number of schools.