Quantock Education Trust: Trustees
Quantock Education Trust (QET) is a multi-academy trust (MAT) overseeing Haygrove School, Spaxton CE Primary School and Stogursey CE Primary School. Haygrove School, is a successful and oversubscribed secondary academy located on the west side of Bridgwater serving over 1,000 pupils and was rated Good by Ofsted in 2016.
About the trust
The school offers pupils a Global Learning Programme and extensive enrichment opportunities: in January 2019 some pupils entered the prestigious Oxford Schools’ debating competition and were the only representatives from a state-maintained school.
Quantock Education Trust is committed to protecting the Christian ethos of its two church schools and includes 50% Foundation representation in the composition of its trust board and the two local governing committees. Candidates are not required to be practicing Christians but should have sympathy with the Christian ethos of the trust.
The trust has the ambition to grow and is currently negotiating the transfer of a second secondary school into the Trust. It also remains committed to working in collaboration with small rural primary schools, to focus on issues relating to low aspiration, sparsity, deprivation and restricted opportunities.
Plans for the future
The key challenges for the board over the next 12-24 months are:
1. Increasing leadership capacity: The trust’s people strategy aims to focus on talent management and career planning to build a 10 year plan for every member of staff to help facilitate the retention of high quality staff, promote wellbeing and plan ahead with confidence. Part of the strategy is to invest in staff and their professional development and offer opportunities outside the trust’s schools through outreach work and engaging in wider networks.
2. Managing growth: developing a strategy for growth and the process of due diligence, including communication/consultation with key stakeholders, to welcome new schools into the trust.
3. Financial sustainability: integrating the curriculum and financial planning to increase efficiencies and the economies of scale and building central team capacity to enable Heads of Schools to focus their time on enhancing the quality of education provision.
Trust ethos & values
To enrich life opportunities for all members of our Trust community, working and learning together with aspiration, ambition and care, in our schools and wider society. For more information, please see:
https://www.quantockedtrust.co.uk/vision-and-vales
Role summary
Trustees – or non-executive directors - are both charity trustees and company directors of the academy trust. The core functions of their role are: ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction; holding executive leaders to account for the educational and financial performance of a charitable company funded by the public purse.
The board of trustees manages the business of the academy trust and may exercise all the powers of the trust in compliance with its charitable objects, company and charity law.
In the interests of safeguarding and in accordance with DfE requirements, all trustee appointments will be subject to an enhanced disclosure and barring service check.
Person specification
Every trustee is expected to abide by the trust’s code of conduct and the seven principles of public life set out by Lord Nolan: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.
The Competency Framework for Governance (DfE) 2017 details the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for effective governance: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/583733/Competency_framework_for_governance_.pdf
The strategic expertise required for this role includes:
Essential
Strategic HR
CFO/Accountant/Finance
Legal/Compliance
Desirable
Growth Management
Change Management
Corporate/Charity Governance
HR: The trust is interested in hearing from candidates who have senior experience in HR and employment law. This may have been acquired within a small to medium sized enterprise or through a varied HR consulting practice. Experience of managing staff through growth and organisational change is desirable.
Finance: A trustee with financial expertise would help to support growth and succession planning.
Non-executive/Trustee: The successful candidate will have a proven understanding of governance, preferably with prior non-executive/trustee experience. They will have a willingness to support and challenge the executive leadership team as the trust continues to grow. The trust is interested in hearing from candidates with a good understanding of education, although this is not essential.
Role Details
Time commitment
8 hours per month minimum. The board currently meets on a monthly basis 6-8pm with occasional extraordinary meetings when there is an urgent issue to discuss.
Location of board meetings and trust website
Board meetings are held virtually or at Haygrove School, Durleigh Road, Bridgwater, TA6 7HW.
https://www.quantockedtrust.co.uk/
MAT governance structure
https://www.quantockedtrust.co.uk/governance
Background on academy trusts
Academy schools, which are charities run independently of local authority control, now account for 74% of secondary schools and 31% of primaries – and their number is growing all the time.
Many of these schools are grouped together as multi-academy trusts (MATs). There are currently 832 multi academy trusts of 3+ schools. If the schools are to fulfil their potential, the trusts need non-executives (known in charity law as trustees) to bring a wide range of skills and experience to help guide strategy, ensure their ambitions can be soundly financed and keep their schools up to the mark delivering for their pupils.
“Academy boards must be ambitious for all children and young people and infused with a passion for education and a commitment to continuous school improvement that enables the best possible outcomes. Governance must be grounded in reality as defined by both high-quality objective data and a full understanding of the views and needs of pupils/students, staff, parents, carers and local communities. It should be driven by inquisitive, independent minds and through conversations focused on the key strategic issues which are conducted with humility, good judgement, resilience and determination.”
Source: Governance Handbook, Department for Education (2017)
Trusteeship is a voluntary, unpaid role for people who have the energy and skills to make a real contribution to shaping the future of our schools. You do not need to have any specialist knowledge of education.
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