Governance Stucture & Responsibilities

St Bartholomew’s School governance structure has two levels, Members and Trustees

Members

The Members are considered the shareholders of the Academy Trust. They can appoint and remove Trustees, they have the right to receive the annual accounts, as well as changing the Articles of Association and they can appoint auditors.

The Members ensure that the Board of Trustees has the necessary expertise to fulfil its functions effectively and that the Board acts in accordance with the Trust’s charitable objectives.

Trustees

Trustees are also Directors and are often referred to as Governors. They make up the Trust Board, which is also known as the Governing Body or Governing Board.

Trustees operate at a strategic level with three key functions:

strategic leadership
accountability and assurance
strategic engagement.

The Board has collective accountability and strategic responsibility for the Academy Trust. It has a focus on ensuring the trust delivers an excellent education to students while maintaining effective financial management and must ensure compliance with:

the Trust’s charitable objects
regulatory, contractual and statutory requirements
the Trust’s funding agreement.

The Board also has strategic and statutory responsibilities for:

safeguarding
special educational needs and disabilities
promotion of student welfare
keeping the estate safe and well-maintained.

The Trust Board meets, as a whole, around five times a year, with committees meeting once or twice termly to ensure that responsibilities for each area of the school and governance are carried out. Governors also undertake link visits and are involved in panels to consider specific matters regarding staff and students.

Categories of Trustee

St Bart’s has the following categories of Governor:

Appointed: The Members may appoint individuals to the Trust Board, based on a skills need to ensure that the Board is able to undertake its duties.
Co-opted: The Trustees may co-opt those they feel meet the skills needs of the Board to ensure that governance responsibilities can be met.
Parent: Those with parental responsibilities for students at St Bart’s elect two parent governors via a secret ballot.

All terms of office are for four years (apart from the Headteacher whose term usually lasts until they step down), although reappointment or re-election is possible.

Committees

Committees have delegated authorities from the Full Governing Body (Trust Board) to enable Governors to carry out their duties. The committees are: