Trust Members
The Trust Members are the equivalent to the shareholders of a commercial company. They have ultimate control over the Trusts Articles of Association. They have a number of statutory rights set out in the Articles. They lead HATs vision, aims, ethos and strategic direction by:
- Setting and ensuring clarity of vision, values, and objectives for the trust
- Agreeing the school improvement strategy with priorities and targets
- Appoint/ remove Members/ Directors/ Trustees
- Meeting statutory duties
- Adopting the compliance polices and processes ratified by Trustees
- Changing the articles of association when required
Our Trust has four members and is currently recruitiung a fifth member. More detailed information about our members can be found here.
Trustees
The Trust Board meets six times per year, plus an Annual General Meeting which is also attended by the Trust Members.
Our Trustees are responsible:
- To undertake the performance management of the Executive Headteacher
- To sign off the financial statements and annual report
- To ensure quality of educational provision including the standard of Teaching and Learning
- To challenge and monitor performance including Student Outcomes
- To manage finances and property
- To exercise reasonable skills and care in carrying out their duties
- To ensure compliance with charity and company law
- To ensure operation in accordance with the Funding Agreement
- To scrutinise Behaviour and Safety and levels of Attendance and Exclusions at the academies
- To ensure compliance with statutory requirements including Safeguarding, Audit & Risk and Health and Safety
- To appoint chairs of local governing bodies
They do this by:
- Meeting statutory duties
- Appointing the lead executive/ Headteacher/ Head of School
- Monitoring the educational performance of the school/s and progress towards agreed targets
- Performance managing the Exceutive Headteacher
- Engaging with stakeholders
- Contributing to school self-evaluation
- Ensure senior leaders have arranged for the required audits to be carried out and receiving the results of those audits
- Ensure senior leaders have developed the required policies and procedures and the school is operating effectively according to those policies
Overseeing financial performace, by:
- Setting the budget
- Monitoring spending against the budget
- Ensuring money is well spent and value for money is obtained
- Ensuring risks to the organisation are managed
In addition, and as charity trustees, our trustees must also ensure that they are complying with charity law requirements. Education trusts are charitable companies and the trustees are company directors who must comply with the company law requirements. Our Trustees also have complete discretion over what functions to delegate to each individual academy within the Trust through their academy committee.
The role of the trustee and the Seven Principles of Public Life can be found here.
Trustees are expected to join two of the sub-committees, either Trust Personnel, Trust Finance and or Trust Audit & Risk. The terms of reference for each of these can be found below:
Trust Personnel terms of reference
Trust Finance terms of reference
Trust Audit & Risk terms of reference
We also have the Trust Risk Register Working group who meet termly.
The trustees appoint the trust auditors and agree their cycle of work. They undertake a Trust Safeguarding and H&S review annually.
The Trust Board review the constitution, membership, and terms of reference for its committees each year. Including constitution, size and remit.
Our Trust has ten trustees. More information about them can be found here.
HAT Governor Council
Chaired by the Chair of Trust and the Governance Professional, these termly meetings serve as a strategic forum for:
- Trust-wide updates and governance developments across all settings
- Sharing best practice between Trustees and Local Governing Bodies (LGBs)
- Training sessions to enhance governance knowledge and skills
- Clerking support, including resource sharing and expertise exchange
- Strengthening consistency and alignment across the Trust as it grows
- Enriching trustee understanding of activities and priorities within each LGB
These meetings are part of the Governance Team’s commitment to delivering high-quality governance and fostering a joined-up HAT approach.
Local Governing Body
Each Academy has a Local Governing Body to provide local governance. The Chair of each LGB is invited to join Trust Board meetings when appropriate. Academy LGBs carry out their functions in relation to their respective academy on behalf of the Trust Board and in accordance with policies determined by the Trust Board. The Trust’s Scheme of Delegation sets out clearly the delegation of powers, duties and responsibilities. The Trust Board has ultimate responsibility and accountability and retains the right to overrule a decision of the LGB and/ or to remove delegated powers should they consider it to be in the best interest of the academy or the wider Trust.
Membership of each Academy LGB comprises:
- Headteacher/ Head of School (ex officio whilst in post)
- Parent governors – minimum of two
- 1x Support Staff Governor
- 1x Teaching Staff Governor
- Other suitable skilled individuals meeting the criteria for appointment
Who establish the local strategic direction by:
- Agreeing the school development plan and improvement strategy with priorities and targets
- Meeting statutory duties set by the Trust Board
- Monitoring progress towards targets
- Monitor and evaluate School and Student progress and attainment
- Monitor and evaluate the school’s action plan, Raising improvement plan and SEF
- Monitor and evaluate the planning, development and delivery of the curriculum of the school
- Be a source of challenge and support to the Headteacher/ Head of School and Senior leaders
- Act as a link governor on a specific issue/ with department, making relevant enquiries of the relevant staff, and reporting to the governing body through the committee structure on the progress on the relevant school priority
- Listening to and reporting to the school’s stakeholders: pupils, parents, staff, and the wider community
- Ensure the school staff have the resources and support they require to do their jobs well
- Recruit new members of the Local Governing Body as vacancies arise
Ensuring financial probity by:
- Being aware of spending against the budget
For governing bodies to carry out their roles effectively, governors must be:
- Prepared and equipped to take their responsibilities seriously
- Acknowledged as the accountable body by the lead professionals
- Supported by the appropriate authorities in that task
- Willing and able to monitor and review their own performance
Each LGB meets a minimum of six times per year and should comprise of at least six members, requiring a minimum of four (or 50% plus one – whichever is the larger) to be quorate for any meeting. The term of office for any committee member shall be four years. This term of office does not apply to the Headteacher/ Head of School. Subject to remaining eligible, any committee member may be reappointed. Local Governors are recruited and appointed by ratification of the full LGB.
Governance training is provided for Local Governors by the Chair of Trust and Trust Board and at their own academy and via the LA training programme. In addition, local governors will also have access to governance resources such as The Key, the EPM training schedule, the Peterborough City Council training facility and National College.
Each schools terms of reference for the full LGB is agreed by the trust board annually and their Standards committee agreed by the LGB are available on their school websites. Details of individual committees can be found on the website of the relevant academy.