In 2016 and again in 2019, Bishop Declan shared his vision for all his schools to work together and undertake a due diligence exercise in readiness for the establishment of Catholic Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) across the diocese. His reason for doing this was to respond to the changes in the educational landscape and “ensure Catholic education is sustainable and remains true to its key principles for the generations of pupils now and yet to come”. His directive was: “All schools are to be in a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) or academy ready by 2021 with academy ready meaning the point at which schools have completed sufficient preparation to enable/facilitate formal commitment to the academy process when appropriate.” As a next step, all the Bishop’s schools joined one of seven partnerships.