The Surrey Heath Learning Partnership of 30+ schools had always been a very active group, working together for the best of all children in our area. Schools had shared projects, research and events for many years and through this connection back in 2016, a large group of schools, including local authority and church schools, gathered on a chilly evening to explore how we could work together even more effectively and help ensure future sustainability.  After many meetings, hours of work and understandable rigour and due diligence, The Alliance Multi-Academy Trust or TAMAT was born, bringing together five of those initial schools and over 1400 children.  We are proud that we have already achieved something that is unique – for the first time in Surrey, schools of both a secular and church nature have collaborated and found a way of coming together formally in a Multi-Academy Trust, for mutual benefit. There was an element risk because we had always relied on the local authority and/or diocese and did not want to lose our uniqueness.

The school leadership teams and governors committed to a new level and type of collaboration that benefits the children of all our schools enormously. We are enjoying the autonomy but also the added strength in resourcing that working together brings.  But we have not come together to create TAMAT academy school “clones” – far from it.  We fundamentally recognise the individuality of each school, their teachers, their cultures and environments, but most importantly their children and TAMAT will always respect that.  On 1 April 2024, two additional primary schools joined TAMAT adding more capacity to our flourishing MAT and extending our reach to the Dorking area and beyond.

Our doors are open to other like-minded partners and we invite you to find out more.