Governance

The purpose of governance is to provide confident and strong strategic leadership which leads to robust accountability, oversight and assurance for educational and financial performance.

All governance boards have the same core functions:

  • Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
  • Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff
  • Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation, and making sure its money is well spent

At Embrace Multi Academy Trust, governance is led by its board of trustees and delegated responsibilities are carried out by the local governing boards of each school in the trust.  The chairs of governors group meets on a termly basis, which provides an opportunity for  communication and collaboration between trustees, the trust leader and local governors.

Members

Shane Bray, Richard Dunnett, Carolyn Lewis, the Right Reverend Martyn Snow (Bishop of Leicester) and the Ven Claire Wood
(performance of board of trustees, fulfilment of charitable object, appointment and removal of trustees)

Board of Trustees and Trust Committees

Russell Andrews (Chair), Lucy Carlisle, Denise Chadwick, Philip Gowland, John Haggart, Sharon Mullins, Mark Poultney, Evan Roberts and Ben Straw

(vision, finance, strategic planning, risk assessment and management)

Louise Nixon (Clerk to the Trust Board)

Local Governing Boards

(ethos and values, teaching and learning, safeguarding, community links, parental links and Christian values in our Church of England academies)

Chairs of Governors' Group

(communication link and information sharing)

Members

The role of members in a trust is minimal and one of oversight.  Members are the guardians of the governance in a trust and are not involved in its day-to-day management.  The members ensure that the board of trustees is performing well and that the charitable object of the trust, the provision of a broad and balanced curriculum to advance the education for children and young people, is being fulfilled.  Members appoint some of the trustees and, in exceptional circumstances, can remove trustees who they have appointed.

Board of Trustees

The board of trustees is legally accountable for managing the business of the trust and has overall responsibility and accountability for all governance in the trust. Trustees work with the trust leader and members of the central team to set the overall vision for the trust, plan trust strategy and assess and manage risks. The board of trustees is responsible and accountable for the performance of all the academies within Embrace and meets at least four times per year. Trustees are appointed to a four-year term of office and the chair of trustees is appointed on an annual basis. The chair of the Embrace board of trustees is Russell Andrews.

Local Governing Boards

Each academy has a local governing board (LGB), which upholds the ethos and values of the school, monitors key performance indicators and holds the school to account for:

  • teaching and learning
  • safeguarding procedures
  • links with parents/carers and the local community
  • upholding its distinctive Christian values   (for Church of England academies).

Some of our LGBs have sub-committees, which focus on a particular area and report back at full LGB meetings.  A document setting out the chairs and local governors at each academy can be found via the ‘governance information’  link at the top of this page.  

Trust Committees

There are two committees of the board of trustees, each of which meet at least three times per year.

The finance and audit committee is chaired by Evan Roberts. 

The standards committee is chaired by Russell Andrews.

Chairs of Governors’ Group

The chair of each local governing board in the trust is a member of the chairs of governors’ group.  The chairs meet with the trust leader and chair of trustees at least four times per year, which enables effective communication and information sharing within the group and between the layers of governance.  The group is chaired by Kathryn Bullock.