A child battling anxiety is placed on a waiting list. A family in temporary housing is denied a school place. A headteacher facing rising exclusions seeks more support.

These aren’t the result of neglect or indifference. They’re the quiet consequences of a system that was built for division rather than connection.

For the past 25 years, academy trusts have played a vital role in our education system - driving improvement, raising standards and creating space for innovation. At Oasis Community Learning, we’ve seen first-hand how autonomy can lead to improved outcomes for children.

But autonomy alone is no longer enough. The next step in our system’s evolution is interdependence - where we retain the freedom to lead and choose to lead together.

Role of Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Over the last decade, responsibility for children’s outcomes has been spread across schools, trusts, local authorities, health boards, safeguarding teams and youth services. Everyone holds a part of the puzzle, but no one sees the whole picture.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill making its way through Parliament has sparked understandable debate. Some view it as a threat to trust autonomy. But we see it as an opportunity and invitation for meaningful partnership.

Because the truth is, no single body can meet children’s needs in isolation. And nor should they have to.

Local authorities remain among the most important convenors in the system. They hold statutory responsibilities in safeguarding, admissions, special educational needs and disabilities and early intervention.

They see the wider social infrastructure of a community. And when that perspective is brought into partnership with trusts, which bring aligned leadership and coherent improvement strategies, the potential is enormous.

A coordinated response

The challenges schools face today aren’t just education issues, they include rising mental health needs, persistent absence, youth violence and housing insecurity. They’re signs of broader social strain. And they demand a coordinated response that local authorities are uniquely positioned to lead - if we lead alongside them.

That’s why in Bristol, Oasis academies John Williams, Brightstowe and Brislington, and our community hubs, work with the local authorities, neighbouring schools and charities to tackle key educational challenges in the region.

Attendance and admission challenges are confronted with new inclusion policies that identify students’ learning and behaviour needs to reduce suspensions and exclusions across the city.

Strong relationships and collaborative services mitigate youth violence within the community.

Educational psychologists and national health care providers support students with speech, language and communication and other special educational needs.

This fully functioning, symbiotic relationship is bolstered by sharing best practice and innovative new ideas, relieving strain on schools and local services in Bristol. This outcome didn’t derive from another structural reform. It came from relationships built on trust and shaped by a shared commitment.

For years, the national debate has been polarised, focused on system structures, and too often reduced to tribalism.

But we don’t need to retreat into the past, nor wait for the perfect White Paper from Whitehall. The future will be shaped locally, by those bold enough to lead across organisational boundaries, not just within them.

Education at the heart of something bigger

As part of a family of charities, we also work in housing, youth justice, mental wellbeing and community development. But we’ve learned that even with all those threads, we can’t serve every need.

That’s why joined-up relationships with local authorities matter so deeply. We need to shift from acting in parallel to acting in concert - with locally led, context-aware, robust services, built around children and their families.

Because the real strength of a system is not found in its structural design, but in how well people are connected in sharing responsibility rather than outsourcing it. A stronger system enables trusts to bring real depth of expertise and local authorities to bring the power of place, working not as rival models but as essential partners.

No policy can substitute for the relationships that hold a system together, and no child should be lost between the gaps of fragmented responsibility. If we want a system that sees the whole child thrive, we must begin by seeing and supporting each other.

John Barneby is CEO of Oasis Community Learning

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