Due Diligence

Many Trusts have grown for the sake of growth.

Ultimately, this strategy can come at a cost. Just like a marriage, if you don’t find partners who share similar goals and value sets. then troubled waters lie ahead. Similarly, understanding the educational and financial strengths of a school before they join is vital. A Trust should look at how the strengths of the incoming school can support the wider MAT and how the MAT can best meet the needs of the school.

Our Due Diligence service has three categories:

Due Diligence for a Trust on a school looking to join

Due Diligence for a school on a Trust it is looking to join

Due Diligence for Trusts when merging

J&G Marshall has three options for how we can support you with your due diligence.

  1. If you are a Trust, we can conduct a comprehensive review of key areas to give an honest account of a schools strengths and areas for developments. This includes: Teaching & Learning, Leadership and Management, Governance, Finances and, if applicable, a Condition Survey.
  2. We can provide the template for your MAT to conduct due diligence itself. This keeps costs down, the due diligence is owned by you and it builds skillsets in your Trust moving forward.
  3. For schools, we will effectively complete a MAT Growth Audit on your behalf. For this we will look at Standards & Track Record, People and Leadership, Risk Management, Financial Sustainability and Vision & Growth Plan of a MAT and report back to you the findings.

For too long, due diligence has been superficially conducted. Using both internal and external due diligence activities, you will be able to build a much clearer picture which, in turn, will enable you to make a more informed decision. Better decision making leads to better outcomes.

Whether you are a Maintained school or Academy Trust, contact us to discuss how our Due Diligence can support you.