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Board and Governance Structure

Members

Our Members are our custodians whose role is to ensure that the Trust is acting in the best interests of the children and young people at all times and achieving the Charitable Objective(s) as set out in our Articles of Association.

Trustees

The trustees of the academy trust are both charity trustees and company directors. As the Board of Trustees, they manage the business of the Trust and are legally responsible for the Trust’s statutory functions as well as the performance of all our academies.

The trustees focus on three core functions:

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 and ensuring effective financial performance.

Local Governing Bodies

To support the firm foundations of strong Governance,  each school has a Local Governing Body (LGB) that understands the school’s needs and its community. The LGB performs an essential role in providing focused governance at a local level. In order for each school to have autonomy to enable them to drive key areas specific to each school’s needs, certain powers and duties have been delegated to the LGB’s.

Executive Team

Led by the CEO, the Executive Team have delegated responsibilities for the operation of the Trust on a day to day basis.

The structure of the Trust in accordance with the Articles of Association is;

Members (Minimum 3)

  • Members at the date of adoption of the Articles
  • Any person unanimously appointed by the Members

Trustees

  • Up to 10 Trustees appointed by the Members
  • Additional Trustees Co-Opted by the Member appointed Trustees
  • The Chief Executive Officer if appointed by the Members

Local Board of Governors

  • 2 parents - elected - 4 years
  • 2 staff representatives
  • Headteacher
  • Up to 7 appointed by MKET

MKET Overview Committees

The Board of Trustees also has the following committees:

  • Personnel, Finance, Facilities, and Audit Scrutiny Committee
  • Quality of Provision and Outcomes Committee

Local governing bodies

All MKET schools have their own Local Governing Body (LGB) which is in effect a committee of the Board of Trustees and as such is accountable to the Trust.

The school is accountable to its LGB, which in turn is accountable to parents and the community.  A LGB has elected parent and staff representatives and the Trust appoints additional governors.  The Trust uses these posts to cover skills gaps in the LGB, hence these posts are often filled by people from the business or not-for- profit community.

The value of school governance

LGBs make decisions which are in the best interests of the children and young people at the school.  Keeping the decision making as close as possible to those that are affected by the decisions makes for sound and efficient leadership and governance.  Fulfilling the role of a school governor is, therefore, both a serious undertaking and enormously rewarding.  Not only do governors bring their own knowledge and skills to the role, but, in learning how schools are run they often develop their understanding of leadership.  The majority of employers appreciate this and are supportive of their staff taking on the responsibility.  In addition, contributing to the growth and development of a school and seeing tangible improvements in the attainment and wellbeing of the children and young people is a satisfying and important contribution to the local community.

The role of the local governing body (LGB)

The LGB is responsible for the conduct of its school and must promote high standards of educational achievement.  It is the school's accountable body and as such within MKET's overall aims and policy framework it:

Sets the strategic direction of the school by:

  • Setting the values, aims and objectives for the school
  • Agreeing the policy framework for achieving those aims and objectives
  • Recommending key performance indicators to the Board
  • Recommending the school improvement strategy, which includes drafting the budget for approval and suggesting the staffing structure

Challenges and supports the school by monitoring, reviewing and evaluating:

  • The implementation and effectiveness of the policy framework
  • Progress towards targets
  • The implementation and effectiveness of the school improvement strategy
  • The budget and the staffing structure

Ensures accountability by:

  • Recommending the Board's approval of the Self Evaluation Report
  • Drafting responses for the Board's consideration to school improvement and Ofsted reports when necessary
  • Holding the Headteacher to account for the performance of the school
  • Ensuring parents and pupils are involved, consulted and informed as appropriate
  • Making information available to the community

The day-to-day leadership and management of the school is the sole responsibility of the Headteacher supported by the school's Senior Leadership Team.

To fulfil their role, governors need to gain knowledge of how their school operates through training, by attending meetings and by getting to know their school community, for example through visits to the school during the school day.

Governors need to work together as a team under the leadership of the Chair of the LGB and are required to sign that they adhere to a code of conduct.

Meetings

LGBs are required to meet formally a minimum of three times a year, i.e. once a term.  Meeting dates are usually set well in advance and usually last up to two hours. Governors need to be well prepared for these meetings and attendance is expected, with apologies only for good reasons.

In addition to full LGB meetings, there are two committees at each school in the Trust which also meet termly:

  • Learning, Teaching and Student Welfare
  • Personnel, Finance and Facilities