Governance
The overarching responsibility and accountability for governance of the Trust and its academies lies with the Board of Trustees, who meet throughout the year.
The Trustees are responsible for setting and monitoring strategic objectives, as well as ensuring compliance with charity and company law and the Trust’s funding agreement.
The Trust Board has delegated these responsibilities to three committees, each with its own terms of reference. Chaired by a Trustee, each committee meets termly with their minutes submitted to the Board of Trustees for noting, comment and action.
- Education and Safeguarding
- Finance and Audit
- People and Performance
The Members protect the Charitable and Educational objectives, including the Ethos of the Trust. They take part in annual and extraordinary general meetings and appoint the Directors to the Trust Board.
The Members are: Tom Sheldon, Andrew Nicolas, Paul Morall, Margaret McAlpine and Keith Carrano.
Statutory Policies adopted by the Trust Board are reviewed on a rolling cycle.
The Education and Safeguarding Committee oversees the educational performance of each school and the personal development and wellbeing of pupils. The responsibility of the Education and Safeguarding Committee is to ensure all pupils in each school receive the very best education through a broad, balanced and engaging curriculum in a safe environment.
Each school has a Local Governing Body (LGB), comprised of parents, staff and Trust appointed members. Their primary role is to enable school leaders to achieve the highest educational outcomes for all pupils, through monitoring the quality of education and by providing effective support and challenge. In cases where any school requires rapid improvement, an Interim Management Board is formed in place of a LGB to deliver the necessary improvements until such time the Trust Board deem appropriate.
The Trust Board is accountable for the financial performance of each school and delegates the operational management, regulation and oversight to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), in accordance with the scheme of delegation. The CFO reports to the Finance and Resources Committee. The Finance and Resources Committee have responsibilities for issues of finance, risk, control and governance.
For all additional information on Governance and Financial Information, please visit the Connect Education Trust website.
Vision, ethos and direction
- In partnership with the Executive team and the Headteachers, Trustees ensure that the culture of each school reflects the vision, ethos and direction of Connect Education Trust described in its vision and values statement.
- Creating Remarkable Futures: The ethos for Connect Education Trust is strongly rooted in improving life chances of all pupils, where they can give and receive respect and have a strong sense of identity, well-being, worth and achievement. Our aspiration is that all pupils will develop the skills and attitudes necessary to prepare them for life now and in the future.
- The Connect Education Trust development plan is informed by an annual self evaluation of the Trust by Trustees, Local Governing Body members and staff.
Quality of Education
Accountability for the educational performance of each school is delegated to the Executive Team, who are also responsible for promoting and monitoring standards of safeguarding and ensuring high quality professional development and staff wellbeing. The Executive Team consists of the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Education Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations officer.
The Local Governing Body oversees the educational performance of each school and the personal development and wellbeing of pupils. The responsibility of the Governing Body is to ensure all pupils in each school receive the very best education through a broad, balanced and engaging curriculum.
Each school has a Local Governing Body (LGB), comprised of parents, staff, executives and Trust appointed members. Their primary role is to enable school leaders to achieve the highest educational outcomes for all pupils, through monitoring the quality of education and by providing effective support and challenge. In cases where any school require rapid improvement an Interim Management Board is formed in place of a LGB to deliver the necessary improvements until such time the Trust Board deem appropriate.
The Trust Board is accountable for the financial performance of each school and delegates the operational management, regulation and oversight to the Chief Finance Officer, (CFO) in accordance with scheme of delegation. The CFO reports to the Finance and Resources Committee. The Finance and Resources Committee have responsibilities for issues of finance, risk, control and governance.
Bowes Primary School Local Governing Body
Position |
Name | Date appointed | Term of office |
---|---|---|---|
Trust Appointed Governor -Chair | Rachel Rees | 27.1.2024 | 26.1.2028 |
Headteacher | Effie Demetriou | 14.11.2016 | N/A |
Staff Governor | Sophie Walrafen | 01.12.2024 | 30.11.2028 |
Trust Appointed Governor | Disa Witkowska | 10.05.2021 | 09.05.2025 |
Parent Governor | Emily Thomson | 01.12.2024 | 30.11.2028 |
Parent Governor | Linda Adderley | 01.12.2024 | 30.11.2028 |
Contact details for the Chair of the Bowes Local Governing Body are as follows: