Sound governance is a pre-requisite for a Trust that is able to effectively ensure that everything it does is based around the concept of Children First.

We are a not-for-profit, limited by guarantee organisation that operates several individual nurseries and schools. The legal entity consists of Members and Trustees. Our Accounting officer is Christine Stansfield.  

MEMBERS

Members are the ultimate "owners" of the Trust and have the overall control, with the ability to appoint some of the Trustees and the right to amend the Articles of Association (our written rules of operation that set out what we can and can't do).   

Further information on our Members can be found here.

TRUSTEES

Our Trustees are the 'directors' of the organisation and are responsible under Company Law for the operations of the Trust.  Their core functions are to set the strategic direction of the Trust, hold the CEO to account for performance and to ensure that the Trust adheres to the various legislations and regulations by which we are bound. They are also responsible for ensuring that the Trust demonstrates financial probity.

The Trustees set and use the Scheme of Delegation to empower those involved in the governance at the Trust to govern the day to day affairs of the individual organisations within the Trust.  This document is a powerful tool to ensure that every decision taken within the Trust is done so on the basis of our guiding principle of Children First. 

Our Board of Trustees has four sub-committees, the Audit, Finance & Risk Committee, the Governance & Remuneration Committee and the Quality of Education Committee, whose terms of reference are reviewed annually. 

Further information on our Trustees can be found here.

LOCAL GOVERNING COMMITTEES

The Trust Board delegates some responsibilities to Local Governing Committees, who operate under the steer of the Quality of Education and Governance and Remuneration Committee.

The Local governance layer consists of 3 committees, these are made up of a group of Local Governing Committee members who monitor and scrutinise information from all schools across the Trust on Curriculum, Performance and Community. All schools provide information to these committees.

Principally, the role of Local Governing Committees are:

• To receive information from schools. 
• To monitor the work done in school to check that it matches the information given by school leaders.
• To challenge and support the school leaders in their development of processes and procedures.
• To monitor school based policy reviews to ensure compliance is maintained.
• To evaluate cross trust practice, identify strengths and areas for development and promote the sharing of good practice. 
• Create links with schools to build supportive relationships with the school and its community. 
• To receive and support the views of stakeholders and champion the Trust in the community