Governance
Governance Structure
Authentic Education Trust is overseen by the Board of Trustees. Our Trustees are highly experienced professionals, some of whom have had careers in education, alongside Trustees appointed following a skills-based assessment.
The board is supported by our central team which delivers the strategic aims of the Board and ensures our vision and values are met on a day-to-day basis. The central office team provides support for our Academies in governance, education, estates, finance, operations, digital, communications and marketing. The central team is led by our CEO.
As the maintaining authority, the Authentic Education Trust Board is accountable to the Secretary of State for Education as a network of schools under one legal body. Authentic Education Trust is a multi-academy trust, or MAT.
Authentic Education is a company limited by guarantee, which means it has charitable status, although it is overseen by the Department for Education rather than the Charity Commission. The Articles of Association set out the purpose of our Trust. The founding members of the trust signed the Memorandum of Association on incorporation. Authentic Education’s responsibilities are set out in the Master Funding Agreement which is a contract between Authentic Education and the Secretary of State for Education.
Each Academy maintained by Authentic Education has its own Supplementary Funding Agreement (SFA), which includes duties for the local community the Academy serves.
Authentic Education has three main layers of governance, with the appointment of members, trustees and local governors. The DfE Governance Handbook outlines the purpose of the roles below:
Members – who have ultimate responsibility for the Trust achieving its charitable objectives. They sign off the articles of association and have power to appoint and remove the Trustees.
Trustees – (the Trust Board) who collectively deliver the three core functions common to school governance. The trustees must also ensure compliance with company and charity law and with the trust’s funding agreement with the Secretary of State.
Local Governors – (the Local Academy Board (LAB) for each Academy) who collectively are the local governance arrangement in each school. They are tasked with setting the strategic direction for the Academy, within the overall Trust vision. They hold the Principal and senior leadership team to account for educational performance, its pupils and the performance management of staff. They also ensure investment in educational improvement is value for money and has the desired impact on standards.
Tasks of the Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees is the accountable body for Authentic Education Trust activities. It functions to:
- Establish the core education vision
- Hold Principals and Local Academy Boards to account for the standards of attainment and broader achievement of pupils, the quality of teaching and learning, the behaviour and safety of pupils, the leadership and management of the school, the pedagogy, curriculum and learning environment for our students
- Arrange for educational audits to evaluate performance regularly with cognisance of the latest Ofsted guidance and to make recommendations to improve effectiveness
- Set Academy targets, with input from the Local Academy Boards
- Monitor and manage financial and administrative policies
It oversees:
- Budgeting and reporting procedures
- Statutory compliance work
- Staff contracts and HR policies
- Digital network strategy
- Major procurement policies
- Principal recruitment and appointment
- Evaluation of Principal performance, with input from Local Academy Board Chair
- Administrative and support services as required
- Other educational programmes including but not limited to: leadership training, extended school programme
The Authentic Education Trust Board has delegated a number of responsibilities to the Chief Executive Officer, the Local Academy Board and Principal of each Academy. These are set out in the Authentic Education Scheme of Delegation.
Our Trust Board meets four times a year, and has the following committees who meet separately:
Education committee: Alison Beane, Chiku Bernardi, Sarah Mascall
Finance & operations committee: Alison Beane, Chiku Bernardi, James Bishop, Allan Campbell
Opportunities, audit & risk committee: Joanna Tiffin, Nicholas Spearing, Helen Rice
People committee: Berni Catling, Alison Beane, Nicholas Spearing, Allan Campbell
Financial scrutiny is completed through an external auditor appointed by Trustees, and an internal audit process carried out by a separate audit provider, reporting to the opportunities, audit & risk committee.
The Board has adopted Authentic Education terms of reference for these committees along with the rules for the Board.