Strand 2: Great Governance
Models for governing multi academy
trusts
The vital importance of innovative and
effective governance
Frank Green CBE, Schools Commissioner
Models of governance – challenges and
opportunities
Emma Knights, Chief Executive, NGA
Nick Mackenzie, Partner and Deputy Head of
Education, Browne Jacobson
Governing Groups of Schools
Models of Governance :
Challenges & Opportunities
Emma Knights, Chief Executive, National Governors’ Association
Nick MacKenzie, Partner, Browne Jacobson LLP
5 March 2014
session overview
Getting the Board composition right
Deciding the committee structure
What is delegated to school level?
When is a governor not a governor?
Will this structure stand the test of time?
Learning from others – across the schools sector
and other sectors
how do we …
effectively link
the work of the
local boards and
main board?
linking board to local boards …
people
links
• segregation of people
• right people right
place
• link governors
• management team
documents
process
• scheme of delegation
• expectations &
entitlements
• codes of conduct
• reporting
• meeting timetabling
• review of
effectiveness
approaching committees in a MAT?
Delegation
• same delegation between
LGB’s/academy councils?
• restrict sub-committees?
• shared committees?
• meeting protocols?
Clerk & Process
• common clerk?
• governance manager?
• common format for
paperwork?
• frequency of meetings?
further information
www.nga.org.uk
www.education-advisors.com
contacts
Please note
The information contained in these notes is based on the position at
March 2014. It does, of course, only represent a summary of the
subject matter covered and is not intended to be a substitute for
detailed advice. If you would like to discuss any of the matters
covered in further detail, our team would be happy to do so.
© Browne Jacobson LLP 2014. Browne Jacobson LLP is a limited
liability partnership.
Philip Wood | 0121 237 3786| philip.wood@nga.org.uk
Nick MacKenzie | 0121 237 4564 | nick.mackenzie@brownejacobson.com
Key points for discussion:
•
Getting the Board composition and school committee
structure
•
What is delegated to school level? When is a governor not
a governor?
•
Scalability: what changes need to be made as groups
grow and diversify
Who governs what? – Live models of
governance – Panel debate
Facilitated by David Wootton, CEO Salford
Academies Trust and IAA Board Member
Jo Williams
Chair of Governing Council
Dixons Multi Academy Trust
Bradford
• Context - Growth of our MAT
• Governance Structures
• Issues and Benefits
Nigel Gann, The Anglican Diocese of
Bath and Wells
The Diocese of Bath & Wells
Multi Academy Trust
and
Local Governing Boards
The Structure
(see detailed handout)
Challenges
• DfE deadlines and moving the goalposts
• Finding the governors
• Establishing areas of responsibility
• Protecting Christian distinctiveness while maintaining the skills base of the GB
• Accountability
Lessons learned
Powers
Power depends on knowledge and information, and is less important, in an organisation committed to
partnership working, than who is entitled to know what, and to speak about it.
Partnership being more important than power is more likely to be sustainable in an environment where
education is perceived as a public good, rather than a source of power or profit.
Vision
The importance of the vision which is shared by those engaged in a diocesan multi academy trust
Education is a public good
An ethos where integrity is valued more highly than ideology and compliance
Geographical integrity
Attachment to the local community & enabling school-school co-operation are critical elements of both
democratic accountability and parental engagement with school
Structure & powers:
Maximum delegation to LGBs
Maximum consultation
Maximum flexibility in school delegation
Minimum bureaucracy
Challenges
DfE deadlines & moving goalposts – VC membership; offering alternative sponsors; DfE
departmental attitudes to expansion/limitations on growth
Finding governors
Establishing areas of responsibility for LGBs/MAT
Protecting Christian distinctiveness >< ensuring skill base of governors
How is this “great governance”?
The structure enables (after Glatter):
• Localism: power & control are dispersed rather than concentrated at the centre
• Co-operation: (e.g. with other schools, especially DBE & MAT schools) is encouraged and
enabled, with heads and other leaders working in teams, governors serving on each other’s
bodies, etc.);
• A strong focus on communities: LGBs recruited from geographical communities including
congregations;
• Local stakeholders can have a sense of belonging (the biggest challenge for LGBs is what they say
to parents, pupils, staff, communities);
• Probity – no-one has financial interests invested in the MAT;
and
• There is a shared vision in the form of a common ethos and academy mission statement.
What kind of an egg is the bathmat?
Neil Weightman, Assistant Director, The
Diocese of Nottingham Education
Service
The Aldridge Foundation: Culture not process
– making governance integral to success
Liz Dawson, Governance Manager
Alan Brooks, External Affairs Director
The Aldridge Foundation
Approach
Alan Brooks, Director of External Affairs
Liz Dawson, Governance Manager
Distributed Governance Model





Separate charitable trusts
Strong sponsor leadership & representation on
governing bodies
Working closely with LA co-sponsors
Regular monitoring and support through network of
Academy Directors
Education Director’s role to support progress
Separate Trusts – Shared Goals






Reach Good then Outstanding judgements from Ofsted
Improve teaching and learning, offering the right
curriculum to ensure that all groups of students make
the same levels of progress
Reach maximum capacity in student numbers
Acquired the Governance Quality Mark
Secure a solid, steady and positive reputation in all our
respective communities, ensuring that we are highly
esteemed and valued locally
Embed entrepreneurship effectively, with measurable,
positive impact on outcomes, aspirations and progress
of students.
And A Shared Vision
Exceptionally successful
Capable, independent & entrepreneurial
Praised
Respectful
Well -equipped
Responsible
Proud
SAFE & HAPPY
Well-advised
Healthy
Beyond Process




Governor department links
Hearing Student Voice
Strategy days
Expert Advice
New For 2014



Joint Principals and Chairs of Governors Forum
Governors in the academy day
Pan academy governor events
Strand 2: Great Governance
Models for governing multi academy
trusts
Managing the dynamics of sustainable
growth – Panel debate
Facilitated by Emma Knights, Chief
Executive, NGA
Sir David Carter, CEO, Cabot Learning
Federation
Bob Findlay, Chairman, Leigh Academy
Trust
Mark Blois, Chair of Governors, LEAD
Academy Group
‘Go forth and innovate’: summary and
closing remarks
Les Walton CBE, Chair, Northern
Education Trust
“No organisation can be
better than its governance
and leadership”
- Nick Weller, IAA Chair
Les Walton CBE
March 2014
Chair Northern Education Trust
IAA National Conference
Working in partnership to fulfil the potential of children and young people
Go forth and innovate: a summary and
commentary on the three aspects of
Governance
1. The vital importance of innovative
and effective Governance
2. Models of Governance
3. Managing the dynamics of
sustainable growth
Working in partnership to fulfil the potential of children and young people
“We need constancy of purpose within a
turbulent environment” Nick Weller
• Leaders with constancy of purpose in a
world of constant change
• Broad and balance curriculum with
particular focus on sport, performing arts
and leadership
• Understand organisational development
• Policy focus
secret ofStandards
success
• ‘The
Quality
is constancy of
purpose’ Benjamin
Disraeli
Localism, power and control are increasingly
dispersed rather than concentrated at the centre. This
is a phenomena which applies to more than education
Mass production:
vertically integrated
Lean production:
vertically disintegrated
Virtual organisation:
horizontally disintegrated
Many remote
external suppliers
Complete set of internal
business processes
Short-term collaborations
Closer relationships
with fewer suppliers
Electronic links
Noncompetitive
business
processes
outsourced
More focused: fewer internal
Many internal links in supply chain links in supply chain
Core competences only
Evolution of Supply Chains Professor Amin Rajan
Lord Adonis stressed a new moral purpose which is
focusing on the 50% requiring clearer pathways to
employment and skills development
My response – a lot of the system (league tables etc.) is reinforcing
academic achievement at 16. Also governors and leaders will need to
tackle the hard job of catching the rabbits of vocationalism and
academia
If you chase
two rabbits,
both will
escape.
The first rule
of focus is
this:
wherever
you are, be
there
If you don't
know where
you are going,
any road will
take you there.
The Schools Commissioner, Frank Green, says
Trusts should focus on total quality rather than be
externally inspected
• purpose in a world o
• Broad and balance curriculum with
Create
constancy
particular focus on sport, performing arts
ofand
purpose
leadership for
•continual
Understand organisational development
of
•improvement
Policy focus
product
and
• Quality Standards
‘
service’ Edward
Deming
Constancy of Purpose
Wake up an realise you
are part of the Global
Environment
Vision
Progress
Developing a
shared
Picture of
Transformation
Improve
constantly
and forever
Commission support
from those you trust
Invest in internal
training
Values
Values
Consider the
locality
Values
Immmerse
Governanc
e
Values
Build in quality
into everything Values
Clarity of
purpose
Values
Eliminate
dependency
on Ofsted
Do not rely
on any
national
initiative
Persuade
Government
that individual
Academies
will improve
as the system
they are part
of improves
Agree percentage
targets are no
substitute for
leadership
Ensure
Governors
and staff
train
together
Current
reality
Time
3- 7 Years
Many presenters stressed the need to ensure the
fundamentals of effective governance are in place
Committee room, designed 1901, in Halifax Town Hall
Different MAT , Umberella Trusts and collaborative
Governance Structures were described
Emma Knights emphasised
getting Board composition
right
Deciding the committee
structure
What is delegated to school
level
When is a governor not a
governor
Will this structure stand the
test of time
Learning from others – across
the schools sector and other
sectors
Different Governing Models were described
• Jo Williams – Dixons Academies Trust
• Nigel Gann – Diocese of Bath and Wells
• Neil Wightman – Nottingham Catholic
Education Service – Umbrella with ability to
intervene
• The Aldridge Foundation – distributed
leadership and separate trusts
All presenters supported Boards which included skills and representation and also
linked with the community
The size and structure of local governing bodies was
discussed. Everyone agreed that the Board needed to be
kept small with a mixture of skills and representation
A skills and representative based
board
For example in North Shore Academy, Stockton:
Portfolio holders:
1.
Chair (NET)– governance and Leadership and remaining areas including non-teaching staff
2.
Vice Chair (NET)- finance, resources, pupil premium and performance management and Science
3.
Portfolio holder - behaviour and Attendance and SEN
4.
Portfolio holder – achievement and Humanities
5.
Portfolio holder – teaching and learning and English
6.
Portfolio holder – planning and Mathematics
Community Representation
1.
Parent – parent voice
2.
Councillor – community voice
3.
University Professor – further and higher education and child protection
4.
Health Service Executive – student voice
5.
Principal - governance and leadership
6.
Local Authority * partnerships * local authority attends as an observer
in a non voting capacity
-
Schemes of delegation were
considered very important –
“Some local heads
encouraging
‘earned
“Need to win
and governors wish
hearts and minds
to keep local
autonomy’.
However there
as local
control?” is a
governing bodies
give upneed to manage carefully
“Need for
responsibilities”
harmonisation of
policiesgive
across
Boards which may readily
different schools,”
up their autonomy.
A model was described which considered the key
elements in linking the Trust Board to local boards
People
Segregation of people
Right people right place
Link governors
management team
Documents
Scheme of delegation living document!
Expectations and entitlements
Codes of conduct
Process
Reporting
Meeting timetable
Review of effectiveness
Brown Jacobson considered the need to be clear about delegation and
streamlined processes. They also stressed the importance of the clerk
Delegation
• Same delegation between LGBs /
academy councils?
• Restrict sub-committees?
• Shared committees?
• Meeting protocols?
Clerk and Process
• Common clerk?
• Governance mandate?
• Common format for paperwork?
• Frequency of meeting?
The MAT Board and the local
governing bodies should
clearly understand where
authority lies
Product
Reports
with
Standards
Goals and
objective
12
2
Policies
10
Authority of the Board
above this line
Authority of the Principal
below this line
Process
Reports
with
Standards
4 Regulation
8
6
Operations
Documents
The Policy Clock Regina
Paul USA
Making best use of external
support and challenge is not
always done well. High
performance requires high
support and high challenge
Many people considered that Boards cannot include all the skills you need. I
mentioned the NET non executive programme supported by the Chamber of
Commerce, Institute of Directors and LEPS. I also stressed the need to
encourage ethical scrutiny. I also described how we used observers on the
YPLA Board
• Ethical scrutiny
• Non-executives
• Board
observers
The Aldridge Foundation
focused on people
• Governor department links
development including the
• Hearing Student Voice
hearing
of
the
student
voice
• Strategy Days
•
•
•
•
Expert Advice
Joint Principals and Chairs of Governors Forum
Governors in the academy day
Plan academy governor events
The principles of public life and the need to be
central to our work
• Leaders with constancy of purpose in a
world of constant change
• Broad and balance curriculum with
particular focus on sport, performing arts
and leadership
• Understand organisational development
• Policy focus
• Quality Standards
There was a lot of discussion in managing change, particularly with Boards
which were reluctant to change. The key issues discussed are listed below.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
What it means to be a member of a multi academy trust
Being very clear about the relationship between the NET Trust
and the local governing body
Transition Boards
Imposing or requesting an Education Improvement Board
Key recommendations regarding the establishment of an IEB or
SIB
The role of NET where a governing body is selecting the
sponsor
Renewing a governing body
Attracting new governors
Providing a unique offer
Finally…………………..
• The LEAD Trust described the
importance of managing growth
• The Cabot Trust described their
approach to establishing a new
academy
Protocols for joining and importance
of locality
Analysis of need and support
capacity
What does new partner bring?
Cabot
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Protocols for joining and locality
Analysis of need and support capacity
What does new partner bring?
Attitude to collaboration
Capacity
Central Team – a place to aspire to
Use of SLEs
Get policies right
Robust risk register
Due diligence at least three times – what prevents this
school from being outstanding
The Leigh Academies Trust
said
• Outstanding governance is about
keeping it simple
• Support leaders – don’t meddle
• Create sustainability
And finally…….my recommendations for
the next steps
We need workshops where Trusts are able to
share their practice in detail. For example:
Who is on your Board?
How do you recruit?
What is your structure?
How do you develop the expertise of your
governing body, your executive and central
team?
How do you manage across a distance?
etc. etc.
les.walton@northerneducation.com