St Joseph's CMAT has been given the green light by the Department of Education to continue accepting sponsored academies that need support, and converter academies until December 2024.

St Joseph's currently has seven academies under it's wing. St Ambrose (Liverpool), The Trinity (Vauxhall), St Nicholas (Liverpool), Holy Spirit (Bootle), St Augustine of Canterbury (St Helens), Holy Family (Wigan) and St Chad's (Runcorn).

They will also be adding Notre Dame Catholic College soon. It will be become the trust's third secondary school after St Chad's and St Augustine of Canterbury.

The goal is for the trust to become CMAT 10, as a central Liverpool trust. This forms part of the archdiocesan strategy.

The trust was launched in 2021 as part of a government project to provide expert support to Catholic schools with directive academy orders. It was launched in partnership with the Catholic Education Service, the Archdiocese of Liverpool, the Diocese of Shrewsbury and the Diocese of Chester.

Archdiocese of Liverpool's Director of Education Joan McCarthy said: "The Archdiocese of Liverpool welcomes the DfE announcement on the future of the St Joseph's Multi-Academy Trust.

"We look forward to working with the CMAT and the DfE as we progress towards establishing CMAT10 in line with our published strategy."