Governance
In a multi-academy trust, a single trust is responsible for a number of academies. The MAT consists of the Members and the Trustees.
Members
The Members are akin to the shareholders of a company. They have ultimate control over the academy trust, with the ability to appoint some of the trustees and the right to amend the Trust’s Articles of Association.
Trustees
The Trustees are responsible for the same three core governance functions performed by the Governing Board in a maintained school: setting the direction, holding the Headteacher to account and ensuring financial probity. As charity Trustees, they must also ensure that they are complying with charity law requirements. Academy trusts are charitable companies and the Trustees are Company Directors and must comply with company law requirements. The duties are largely the same as those of a Governor of a maintained school, such as regularly attending meetings, managing conflicts of interest, seeking advice from the academy’s leadership team and ensuring the academy has appropriate procedures in place for reporting financial information.
Local Governors
Individuals who sit on Local Governing Boards are referred to as ‘local Governors’.
This is because Trustees can delegate governance functions to the local level. Trustees have complete discretion over what is delegated to each local Governing Board. They may, for example, decide to delegate all functions to academies in the chain that are performing well and only a few to those academies that need greater support. Alternatively, where a multi-academy trust wishes to retain all governance functions centrally, it may establish an advisory body at the school level, which has no formal governance function but which advises the Board of Trustees on its decisions.
Governance in Multi-academy Trusts, National College for Teaching and Leadership (2014)
Our Structure
Please click on the button below to view our structure.
Members
Mr Michael Garratt (Chair)
1 September 2016
Dr Bryan Slater
1 September 2016
Mrs Samantha Swinnerton
22 March 2017
Mrs Philippa Redmond
10 June 2020
Dr Linda Steynor (Chair)
Ms Anne Gibson
Mr Peter Harwood
Mr Owen Jenkins
Mr Peter Lamble
Mr Gary Leverett
Mr Paul Tacon
Leavers
Nicholas Hancox
Alfonso Gotts
Ian Clayton
Local Governing Boards
Each school within the Trust has its own Local Governing Board made up of skilled people.
Full details of each Local Governing Board (including names, date of appointment, term of office, appointing body, relevant business and pecuniary interests, and attendance records) are available on each school’s website:
Dussindale Primary School
North Walsham Infant and Nursery School
Hemblington Primary School
North Walsham Junior School
Hillside Avenue Primary and Nursery School
Bluebell Primary School
Thorpe St Andrew School and Sixth Form
Recruitment (Governance)
The Yare Education Trust is currently looking for new Governors within its schools.
If you are interested, please download the Recruitment Pack. Should you have any questions, please contact the relevant school directly.
The Yare Education Trust is a charitable company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales at Trust Central Office, Longfields Road, Norwich, NR7 0NB (Company Number – 10301555)