The Confederation of School Trusts National School Trust Survey

The survey explores school trust priorities and challenges across the various elements of trust leadership.

390 trust accounting officers across England participated in the survey. The survey covered trusts of all sizes, ranging from trusts with a single academy to those managing dozens of schools, making it a representative sample of school trusts across the sector.

This summary report highlights responses to key questions in the survey based on priorities highlighted by trust leaders at the beginning of the academic year 2025/26.

Over half of the trusts surveyed put the top strategic priorities for their trust in the next academic year as:

• Financial sustainability
• Improving quality of education

Financial sustainability remains the top priority for the second consecutive year, taking over from improving the quality of education in 2024. Digital strategy is emerging as a growing priority for trust CEOs, with 35% of CEOs highlighting it as one of the top five strategic priorities for their trust for 2025, up from 21% in 2023. Inclusion was added into the 2025 survey following feedback from the sector; this was reported as a priority by 51% of CEOs this year.