Academy Trust, Trustees & Governance - Current Trustees, their role & responsibilities

Trustees role

Trustees (Directors/Governors) are the people responsible under the Academy Trust’s Articles of Association for controlling its management and administration. They have responsibility for directing its affairs, and for ensuring that it is solvent, well-run, and delivering the Trust’s charitable outcomes for the benefit of the public.

This is the same body of people as both the directors of the company and the ‘governors’ of a single Academy Trust like Highams Park school; thus the terms Trustee, Director, Governor are used interchangeably to describe the same people. The Board of Trustees is the equivalent of the Governing board in non-Academy schools and performs a similar function.

The Trustees (Directors/Governors) bring a wide range of skills, knowledge and expertise from their professional lives to the governing board and the school. Amongst the current Board of Trustees there is;  an architect, a solicitor, a quantity surveyor, a chartered accountant and company secretary of a large PLC and a financial risk management consultant as well as the expertise of the staff Trustees (Directors/Governors).

The Board of Trustees has carried out a review of its structure and committees to ensure it is as effective as possible in holding the school to account. Most of the business of the Trust is conducted through full Board of Trustees meetings or through its two main committees,

1. The Resources Committee

2. The Academy Effectiveness Committee

There are four scheduled full Board of Trustees meetings a year, four Resources Committee meetings a year and four Academy Effectiveness Committee meetings a year.

There are also ad-hoc committees that are convened when there are matters to deal with that are the preserve of the Board of Trustees (the Governing Board) such as admissions, pupil discipline, staff discipline, staff pay.

As an Academy, the current Board of Trustees (the Governing Board) is made up of five categories of Trustees (Directors/Governors) :

• Foundation Trustees (Directors/Governors) - can be up to seven foundation trustees (Directors/Governors) appointed by the Members of the Trust
• Parent Trustees (Directors/Governors) - two elected by the parent body
• Co-opted Trustees (Directors/Governors)
• Staff Trustees (Directors/Governors) - two elected by the school staff
• The Principal - Ex-Officio

The list below shows the names and the category of each of the current Trustees (Directors/Governors). The number of meetings, attendance records for those meetings of each individual Trustee, and the structure and committees of the governing board are contained in the Annual Reports of the Trust.

1 Chair of the board        
2 Principal - Ex-officio by virtue of office as headteacher/principal    

Responsibilities of Trustees

Each Member of the Trust and each individual Trustee (Director/Governor) have made declarations that they have no pecuniary interests that are material to the Trust's activities. Each Trustee is also required to declare any relevant business and pecuniary interests at the beginning of every meeting.

The Board of Trustees (governing board) of the Academy Trust has wide responsibilities under statute, regulations and the funding agreement.

Principally, it is responsible for ensuring that the Trust’s funds are used only in accordance with the law, its Articles of Association, its Funding Agreement and the Academies Financial handbook issued by the Education Funding and Skills Agency(EFSA).

The Board of Trustees manages the business of the academy trust and may exercise all the powers of the Academy Trust. The Board should focus strongly on the three core functions of governance set out below. The Trustees must ensure compliance with the trust’s charitable objects and with company and charity law. The Board of Trustees signs off the annual accounts and is responsible for adherence to the trust’s funding agreement with the Secretary of State. It is the Trustees who are therefore responsible for the trust’s accountability to Parliament and to the Secretary of State as the Principal Regulator of academies as exempt charities.

The Board of Trustees has wide discretion over its use of the Trust's funds, which it must discharge reasonably and in a way that commands broad public support. It is responsible for the proper stewardship of those funds, including regularity and propriety, and for ensuring economy, efficiency and effectiveness in their use – the three key elements of value for money.

The Board of Trustees focus strongly on the three core functions of governance:

• ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
• holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff
• overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.

Academy Trusts are companies limited by guarantee and exempt charities. The Board of Trustees is subject to the duties and responsibilities of charitable Trustees and company directors as well as any other conditions that the Secretary of State agrees with them. These responsibilities are mutually reinforcing and are there to ensure proper governance and conduct of the Trust.

Trustees also pay attention to the guidance in the Department of Education's Governance Handbook which sets out the legal duties applying to, and core role and strategic functions of, Boards of Trustees.

The Board of Trustees have the following statutory duties as company directors as set out in the Companies Act 2006. These comprise the duties to:

• act within their powers
• promote the success of the company
• exercise independent judgement
• exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence
• avoid conflicts of interest
• not to accept benefits from third parties
• declare interest in proposed transactions or arrangements