Governance

Bishop Ramsey CE School is part of the Veritas Educational Trust.  Details about the Trust, including copies of our governance documents i.e. Funding Agreements and Articles of Association, can be found on the 'Veritas Educational Trust' page of this ‘About Us’ section  - please click here to open this page in another window.

At present we have one academy in the Trust, Bishop Ramsey, but hope to welcome more schools or academies into our community in the future.  We are also working towards opening a new secondary school in the Hillingdon Borough, Bishop Arden Church of England School, following approval by the Department of Education in September 2016 to move to the pre-opening stage.  You can keep up to date with developments on this by visiting the Bishop Arden website www.bishopardenschool.org

 

Structure of Governance in the Trust

The nature of the Trust as a company intending to run multiple academies means there are many governance and management layers. The rules about how any academy trust should be run are set out in a legal document called the Articles of Association, and in a multi academy trust delegation to academies and their local governing bodies within that Trust is set out in a Scheme of Delegation, a document that is prepared and agreed by the Trust Board.  However as our Trust has been set up to include many types of academy school, with or without a designated religious character, in terms of the membership of any local school committee (LSC), which forms part of the Scheme, this will vary dependent on the academy or school’s original status and character.  Therefore membership of the LSC will be discussed with any school or academy that wishes to join the Trust and agreed subject to the Articles of Association.  The Scheme of Delegation gives a fuller outline of the governance structure and details on the roles and responsibilities of those who contribute to the governance of the Academies and the Trust itself.  A summary explanation of the governance roles can be found below.

Members
The “Members” of the Trust are equivalent to shareholders of a trading company but as the Trust is charitable with no power to distribute profit to shareholders, the Members are best viewed as guardians of the constitution, changing the Articles if necessary and ensuring the charitable object (as set out in the Articles) is fulfilled. They have a limited governance role and no day to day management responsibilities. The Members are chosen in accordance with the Articles of Association.

Trustees/Directors
The corporate management and both “trustee” and “director” responsibility for the Trust is vested in the “Trustees”, who will be trustees for charity law purposes and company directors registered with Companies House. The Trustees are personally responsible for the actions of the Trust and the Academies and are accountable to the Members, the Secretary of State for Education and the wider community for the quality of the education received by all pupils of the Academies and the expenditure of public money. The Trustees are required as trustees and pursuant to the Funding Agreements to have systems in place through which they can assure themselves of the quality, safety and good practice of the affairs of the Trust. The Trustees meet as a board of Trustees, generally known as the “Trust Board”. All Trustees have the same responsibility to act in the best interests of the Trust and the Academies, irrespective of their role on the Board i.e. whether appointed in an executive capacity, or nominated by one or more of the Academies.  

The Trustees oversee the management and administration of the Trust and the Academies run by the Trust and delegate authority and responsibility to others, including executive officers and individuals who are locally based who can undertake the day to day management and governance of the Academies. The Trust Board will continue to have the necessary strategic and legal oversight of the Trust and will monitor all activities; determining the strategic direction of the Trust, assessing the performance of the Academies and establishing and reviewing the policies and practices governing the life of the Academies.

The Trust Board has the power to delegate certain powers and functions to separate committees to be known as Local School Committees for each academy and may establish any other committee e.g. a Finance Committee for the whole Trust. 

Local School Committees
Each academy’s ‘Local School Committee’ derives its power from the Trust Board.  Like the Trustees on the Trust Board, the individuals (the ‘Local School Committee Members’) serving on a Local School Committee are also responsible for fulfilling a local governance role, in conjunction with a “Principal” (Executive Headteacher, Headteacher or Head of School, as the case may be), who is responsible for the internal organisation, management and control of the Academy or Academies (as appropriate). The Trust Board will also delegate management responsibility directly to the Principals, who will report primarily to the Local School Committee but subject to the oversight exercised by the Trust Board.

The Local School Committees may, subject to the agreed Scheme of Delegation, establish any sub-committee or working group to advise and inform the Local School Committee Members to support them in their decision making.

Current Governance Structure 

The Trust currently operates a 'single tier' governance structure with the Trust Board, which meets 6 times a year and the following committees of the Trust Board:

• the Finance, Resources and Audit Committee which meets 6 times a year;
• the Curriculum and Community Committee meets 4 times a year;
• the Trust Development Committee which meets 4 times a year;
• the Risk and Internal Scrutiny Committee which meets 3 times a year;
• the Admission Committee which meets twice a year; and 
• the Pay Committee which meets twice a year.

The Trust's governance structure is flexible and will evolve to suit the needs of the Trust as it grows.

 

Governance Personnel & Information

 Trust Board Committees for the 2022 - 2023 academic year   

Veritas Educational Trust: Members' & Trustees' Register of Interest, 2022 - 23

Officers of the Trust: Register of Interest, 2022 - 23

Trustees' Register of Attendance, 2021 - 2022 Academic Year

To view the attendance register, please click here

The Trust's Statement on Executive Pay

For the 2021 to 2022 financial year there was one member of staff earning above £100,000 a year, falling within the band of £120,001 and £130,000, at the time of publishing, October 2022.