Our Governance

The de Ferrers Trust is a charitable company limited by guarantee and as such is required to comply with charity law and company law.  The charitable company was set up by our founding members, details of whom can be found in the memorandum of association.     

The Trust is one legal entity with one set of articles of association that governs each academy within the Trust.  The Trust has a master funding agreement with the Secretary of State and then each academy has a separate supplementary funding agreement.   The memorandum of association, articles of association and master funding agreement can be located at the bottom of this page.  Each academy will publish their supplementary funding agreement on their academy website. 

Our Governance Structure

 

The Members

The trust consists of five members who are very similar to shareholders in a normal company.  They are often considered as the custodians of the trust and act as a ‘check and balance’ on the performance of the multi-academy trust.  The members have the power to appoint or remove trustees, amend the articles of association and, if necessary, wind up the multi-academy trust.  To ensure robust accountability within our governance structure the members are independent of the trust board.  The members will meet as often as is necessary to carry out their duties, but at least on an annual basis.

Details of our Members for the last 12 months can be seen in the table below.   Current members are displayed in a bold font.

Member	Appointed	Resigned	Declaration of Interests
Elizabeth Laughlin (Chair)	3 September 2013	31.08.2018	Employed by SCC
Mark Taylor	9 December 2014	31.08.2018	Employed by Arden Group
Jacqueline Botton	3 September 2015	03.09.2019	Trustee Burton on Trent Street Angels; Trustee for riverside church
Rev. Michael Freeman	3 September 2015		Vicar of The Church of Saint John the Divine, Horninglow
Matt Hancock	15 June 2017		Burton albion Community Trust
Kevin Gaunt	31 October 2017		Proprietor of NJ&W Consultants Limited
CECET - Corporate Member	01 September 2018		None

 

The Trust Board

The Trust board has strategic oversight and ultimate responsibility for all of the management decisions within the multi-academy trust.  The board consists of up to 11 trustees, eight of whom are appointed by the members.  The trustees are appointed purely on a skills basis.  The board’s key responsibilities are to ensure, through their governance structure and leadership teams, that the multi-academy trust is making proper and effective use of public funds and for the quality of provision.  The trust board will meet as often as is necessary to carry out their duties, but at least five times per year with Board Committees meeting in addition to this.  

Details of our trustees for the last 12 months can be seen in the table below. Trustees that appear in a bold grey font are our current directors.  If you would like to learn more about a particular trustee please select the trustee, or alternatively go to our 'Meet the Trust Board' page. 

 

Director	Appointed	Appointed by	Term of Office expires	Resigned	Attendance at meetings during 2018/19	Declaration of Interests
Elizabeth Laughlin	04.10.2011	Members	21.04.2019	21.04.2019	3/3	Employed by SCC AT VICTORIA PRIMARY SCHOOL
Mark Taylor	24.06.2015	Members	18.04.2022	27.09.2019	4/5	Employed by air it
Andrew Burns	04.10.2011	Members	18.04.2023		2/5	Employed by Willmott Dixon
CLAIRE SHAW (CHAIR)	12.09.2017	CECET	11.09.2021		3/5	Employed by the lichfield diocese
Amy Smith (Vice Chair)	06.11.2017	trustees	05.11.2021		3/5	employed by the department for education
Sophie Leadley	15.05.2018	trustees	14.05.2022		4/5	Owner of Viva Vacations Limited (since 2017) Solcitor working as a consultant for Eversheds Sutherland LLP (since 2003) Solicitor working as a consultant for Browne Jacobson LLP (since 2018)
Gerry McSorley	06.12.2018	Members	05.12.2022		4/4	Employed by Health Education England.  Sits on the North Cluster Board of the Discovery Schools MAT. Specialist advisor to the Care Quality Commission.
JOHn widdowson	02.04.2019	MEMBERS	01.04.2023		2/2	employed at burton albion community trust. trustee of central england co-operative learning trust.  sits on east staffordshire patient board
LEE MOLAI	02.04.2019	members	01.04.2023		1/2	eMPLOYED BY CEVA LOGISTICS UK LTD.  CHARITY TRUSTEE OF LIFE TABERNACLE CIC

 

Accounting Officer	Date Appointed	Declaration of Interest
Ian McNeilly	01.05.2018	Governor at Brookfield Community School, Chesterfield.

 

The trust board has established two sub-committees to assist them, namely The Finance, Audit and Risk Committee and The Standards Committee.  Each committee operates with its own set of terms of reference which can be located at the bottom of this page.  The sub-committees will meet as often as is necessary, but at least three times per year.  

The Standards Committee

This is a newly formed committee meeting in 2018-19.  The committee will be responsible for monitoring staff recruitment, retention and performance and for reviewing data on the progress and attainment of all trust academies.   

The Standards Committee members are:-

Amy Smith (Chair)       Attendance 2018/19:  3/3

John Widdowson         Attendance 2018/19:  1/1

Claire Shaw                  Attendance 2018/19:  1/3

The Finance, Audit and Risk Committee

The Finance, Audit and Risk Committee sat as the Audit and Risk Committee for the year 2017-18 but its remit has been expanded to include finance for the year 2018-19.  The committee is responsible for providing financial scrutiny, oversight and assurance on behalf of the trust board over the suitability of, and compliance with, its financial systems and operational controls.  It also has responsibility of ensuring risks are adequately identified and managed. 

Current membership (displayed in bold type face) is detailed below, together with details of the attendance of last year's committee members.

 

 

A Local Governing Body (LGB) will be established for each academy where appropriate.  The LGB carry out the trust’s vision, policies and priorities and engage with the academy's key stakeholders (our students, parents, staff and members of the community).  They will play a support & challenge role and will seek assurances on behalf of the board in regard to academic performance and quality of care and provision for their academy.  They are responsible for making decisions by way of the powers delegated to them by the trust board in accordance with the terms of reference and scheme of delegation (located at the bottom of this page).  

 

For details of each local governing body please select from the list below:-

 

The de Ferrers Academy Local Governing Body

Horninglow Primary Local Governing Body

Eton Park Junior and Lansdowne Local Governing Body

The Pingle Academy Local Governing Body

Granville Academy Local Governing Body

Richard Wakefield C.E. Academy Local Governing Body

 

Details as to Attendance at meetings for 2018-19 can be found next to the details regarding each member, director or governor. 

Our Annual Calendar of Meetings for 2019-20 can be found below. 

Training

"The role (of a governor) is so important that amateurish governance will no longer do.  Good will and good intentions will only go so far.  Governing boards made up of people who are not properly trained and who do not understand the importance of their role are not fit for purpose in the modern and complex educational landscape."

Sir Michael Wilshaw - November 2015

 

With this in mind the Trust has worked with all members, governors and directors to provide continuous professional development to assist them in acquiring the skills required to fulfil their role. 

During 2017-18 clerks, governors and trustees participated in the following training:-

• Level 1 Safeguarding
• Level 2 Safeguarding
• Exclusions
• SEND
• Preparing for Ofsted
• The role of a Pay Committee
• Secondary Data
• Progress 8
• NGA Clerks conference

Code of Conduct

All governors and trustees are requested to abide by a code of conduct.  A copy of which is located below.