Centralising trust communications: what should trusts own... and what should schools lead?

There’s more to centralising communications than trust-wide announcements.

In this blog, we’re focusing on external communications with current and prospective parents, wider stakeholders and local communities, through school and trust websites, social media and parent communication systems.

With 81 per cent of multi-academy trusts now centralising most back office functions (Kreston Academies Benchmark Report, 2025), trusts are already making decisions about which functions sit centrally and which remain at school level.

For trusts considering centralising communications, the question is: what should central teams handle and what should stay school-led?

Centralising communications across a multi-academy trust

The balance of central and school-led communications will be different for each trust. In more decentralised trusts, schools may manage most website content, social media and parent communications themselves. Elsewhere, central teams may take a more active role in planning campaigns, creating content and communicating on behalf of schools.

However, each trust must have a clearly defined structure when it comes to communications and responsibility. Leaving it up to “common sense” or a school’s best judgement invites unnecessary ambiguity.

While school staff may feel confident posting everyday social media or parent communication app updates, what happens when bigger news needs to be circulated? Without guidance, suddenly what seemed like a routine part of the day becomes a minefield of stress and uncertainty for school staff.

Where trusts have marketing or communications expertise within their central team, centralisation makes that support available to every school. This can go beyond advice and templates: central teams can coordinate pupil recruitment campaigns, manage shared content and provide hands-on support where schools lack time or specialist skills.

The clearest way to create that structure for trust and school teams to follow is to produce a framework explaining which elements are controlled centrally, which are school-led and which require approval. It should answer everyday questions: who updates school websites, who manages social media, which parent messages need approval and who takes the lead when a sensitive issue arises?

This framework does not have to be long. In fact, in most cases it shouldn't be. The best frameworks are just a few pages, making them easy to digest and remember. The education sector is full of busy people who rarely have time to check a long document every time they want to update their community.

What can be centralised?

Many trusts already centralise communications that are from or about the trust itself. But central teams can also take responsibility for selected communications on behalf of schools, reaching both prospective and current parents, wider stakeholders and local communities.

Depending on the needs of each school, central teams could take responsibility for:

• Publishing shared news and announcements across school websites and social media.
• Coordinating pupil recruitment campaigns and promoting open days.
• Managing follow-up communications with prospective families.
• Preparing consistent parent updates about shared policies or changes.
• Coordinating parent surveys and communicating the actions taken in response.

Templates mean the central team can create or update communications once and roll them out across multiple schools, rather than asking each school to produce its own version. For example, if a trust is running an admissions campaign, the central team can provide the campaign messaging, email templates, social posts and supporting assets, while schools adapt the details for their own audiences. This makes communications quicker to launch, more efficient to manage and more consistent with the trust’s brand and messaging.

Central teams can also take a more active role in delivery. For example, a trust could coordinate an open-day campaign across several schools, publish social posts and send follow-up emails to interested families, with schools providing local details and responding to individual enquiries. This reduces the work each school must organise and helps ensure prospective families receive timely, consistent follow-up.

The importance of trust oversight

One of the most important parts of centralising communications isn’t about posting anything at all. Central oversight helps trusts see whether schools are reaching families, whether parents are reading and responding, and where additional support could make a difference.

This should be done with schools rather than to them. Central teams and school leaders should review communications together, combining engagement data with schools’ knowledge of their communities. A termly review can help identify priorities, with more frequent checks where a school needs support or engagement is declining.

Oversight should cover three areas: whether families are receiving and reading communications, whether parents feel informed and supported, and whether websites and social media give prospective families a clear, current picture of each school. Measuring parent reach, interaction and engagement, alongside parent feedback and reviews of public content, helps trusts identify gaps and benchmark schools. The aim is to spot where support is needed and share effective approaches across the trust, taking each school’s context into account.

Preserving school autonomy

Centralising communications can save both school and trust staff time, money and stress. But there are still plenty of reasons for schools to lead their own communications.

According to the British Educational Suppliers Association, many schools in multi-academy trusts worry about preserving their autonomy when it comes to functions being centralised.

It’s a reasonable concern. School staff know their families, understand local priorities and see school life first-hand. That knowledge gives communications their relevance and personality. Central support should preserve this local voice, whether schools publish communications themselves or the trust manages delivery on their behalf.

As with centralised communications, what remains with the school will be different for each trust. It may even be different for individual schools within the same trust, with some schools wanting more central support than others.

It often makes sense for schools to lead routine parent updates, celebrate pupil achievements and share local events. Trust-approved templates and shared resources can reduce the work involved while allowing schools to shape the message for their community. While central teams handle publishing or distribution, schools can still provide the stories, local details and personal insight that make communications their own.

Centralising communications should not add complexity. When done right, it should create clarity, consistency and purpose across the trust – for trust teams, school staff and parents alike.

Trust oversight can transform communications – and parent satisfaction along with them – for the better. But which metrics should trust teams pay attention to? We investigate the five most important engagement metrics for trusts.