Trust Leadership and Governance

Hilary Power is the founding Chief Executive Officer and the appointed accounting officer for the Trust. Prior to her appointment to the role, she provided many years of outstanding leadership for Tennyson Road Primary School. The CEO role includes a personal responsibility to Parliament for the financial resources under the Trust’s control. Academy trusts must comply with Academies Financial Handbook as a condition of their funding agreement. It provides an overarching framework for implementation of effective financial management and control.

The fundamental principles of the organisation and the rules for Trust governance are laid out in the scheme of delegation. The governance principles recognise the importance of developing relationships with common purpose as much as they are about developing processes and structures. Highly effective governance is underpinned by a common understanding about who is responsible for providing valuable input to decision making and who has the decision making responsibility.

Effective governance in the Trust will be supported through the following tiers:

Trust Members – the guardians of the constitution
Trust Board – the Directors / Trustees
Trust Groups – Finance, Standards and Performance, Risk and Compliance, Well-being and Safeguarding
Local Governing Bodies (LGBs) – The Academy Governors and Committees
Academy Improvement Boards (AIBs) – Academies Requiring Improvement

The Central Team – the CEO and other senior management (education and operations)

The Trust Board has overall responsibility and ultimate decision-making authority for all the work of the Trust, including the establishment and maintenance of the academies, scrutiny and challenge of academy education and financial performance. In addition, the Board ensures an effective ﬂow of communication between the LGB, the AIB and the Trust Board.

A full list of executive and non-executive Trust leaders are set out in the Trust Directory.