We are excited to be exploring a potential merger, which would see Big Education join the Oasis family – uniting two organisations with strong track records in delivering exceptional education, rooted in community. Both organisations are values-led and committed to making a transformative difference in the communities we serve.
Our parent letter can be viewed below:
Dear Parents and Carers,
We want to share some important news with you. Big Education Trust and Oasis are exploring the possibility of joining together to create a stronger, more effective family of schools. Like Big Education, Oasis is a deeply values-led organisation, and there is direct alignment in our missions and approaches. This potential partnership offers an exciting opportunity to combine the very best of both organisations for the benefit of our children, staff, and communities.
Why are we considering this?
At Big Education we are known for our innovative educational practice and professional development programmes, which extend beyond our schools. Oasis has a holistic vision for education and community too, supported by a strong national infrastructure and the scale to provide robustness and expertise.
What would this mean for our schools?
While Oasis operates nationally, Big Education schools would stay as a ‘hub’ for the first few years, working in the same way as now, whilst benefiting from the Oasis network and resources. Importantly, each Big Education school would retain their own identity and distinctive educational offer.
Our strengths are complementary, and our schools are geographically close. Oasis runs several schools across London, with the closest ones being Oasis Academy South Bank Primary and Oasis Academy South Bank Secondary (TES Secondary School of the year 2025) in Waterloo, and Oasis Academy Silvertown in Newham.
By working together, we would aim to:
- Share best practice and deliver even better outcomes for our pupils
- Further enhance the educational offer for our children
- Support professional growth and leadership development for all our staff
- Continue to emphasise community engagement as a core part of our work
- Boost pupil recruitment and support retention of pupils and staff across our school family
- Build a strong and sustainable future financially and operationally
What happens next?
Bringing two organisations together is a journey. As you take some time to digest this news, you may have questions. Most importantly, we are committed to making any change seamless for our children. Everyday school life would remain the same. Our current approaches to teaching and learning, as well as curriculum and assessment would also be unchanged. Oasis is keen to learn from Big Education’s work and share these practices across its current schools to create an organisation that brings out the best in both. Of course, there will also be many benefits of working in a larger organisation. We think the potential of what we can achieve together with Oasis is exciting, and we look forward to working with you to make this vision a reality.
Next steps
Each school will be hosting a parent session to give you the opportunity to find out more information from the senior staff from the school along with Liz Robinson, CEO of Big Education.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Liz Robinson, Chief Executive Officer
Moray Dickson, Headteacher
