Non-Executive Director X 3

Prince Albert Community Trust (PACT)

Prince Albert Community Trust, based in Aston, Birmingham, seeks to add up to two individuals with skills in the areas of legal and/or HR to its board, in addition to recruiting a Member; at PACT, Members are able to alter the trust’s Articles of Association and appoint – or, where necessary, remove - trustees. The trust is in the process of growing and is looking to strengthen its overall governance position. Board meetings are held at Unity House, Trinity Road, Aston.

About the trust

The Prince Albert Community Trust (PACT) currently has four primary schools in Birmingham’s highly disadvantaged areas. It is in the process of planning for a six to eight-form entry Free School in the secondary sector by September 2021.  It is the preferred sponsor of a further primary school that is subject to academisation. The Trust currently has around 2,800 pupils and has aspirations to grow strategically to reach a pupil roll of around 10,000 in the future.

Since 2014, PACT has specialised in taking on failing schools with a plan to improve them to secure excellent outcomes for pupils and achieve at least ‘Good’ rating by Ofsted at the first inspection after academisation. On average a new school is successfully supported each academic year.

PACT works closely with Aston Villa FC and is the first primary school hub and is working towards becoming an EAL Centre of Excellence. It seeks to become a School Direct placement for trainee teachers.

Many of the individual schools within the Trust have quality marks and awards in ICT, Inclusion, Science, ICT and RE. Heathfield, one of the Trust’s schools, is currently the highest ranked school in Birmingham for pupil progress. The Trust plans to open a resource base at at least one of its sites to support the increasing number of SEN children within its schools.

Plans for the future

The key challenges for the board over the next 12-24 months are:

1. Successful planning and opening of the secondary free school;
2. Ensuring sustainability and efficient financial management;
3. Maintaining standards during a period of growth;
4. Expansion of the trust as a sponsor for ‘Inadequate’ schools.

Trust ethos & values

‘United we are world class’.

http://www.pact.bham.sch.uk/index.php/9-latest-news/37-welcome-from-our-ceo

Role summary Number of positions advertised: 3 Roles 1 & 2 – Trustee/Non-Executive Director

Trustees – or non-executive directors - are both charity trustees and company directors of the academy trust. The main responsibilities of the role are to hold to support, challenge and hold to account the executive and senior leadership team and ensure compliance with the trust’s charitable objectives and with company and charity law.

Non-executive directors are responsible for maintaining stability and the management of a dynamic structure. The role also includes contributing to financial planning for sustainability and potential growth, and holding the CEO/CFO to account.

Each academy has separate committees in place that focus on Teaching & Learning and school-specific safeguarding. School based Senior Leadership Teams (SLTs) also focus on Teaching & Learning whilst a Central Support Team lead on all elements of HR, finance, pastoral, estates, health & safety, safeguarding, ICT, sports/wellbeing and data protection across the trust.

Person specification

The competencies required for this role include:

Essential (due to multiple roles, candidates may be accepted who possess one or more of the skills below)

• HR
• Legal/ Compliance
• Finance

Desirable

• Branding/ Marketing
• Restructuring
• Non-executive/ Trustee
• Succession Planning
• Growth management
• Change management

The trust seeks up to two individuals with a strong and demonstrable background in the corporate sphere, with particular focus on corporate governance. A confident communicator, preferably with prior experience in the area of law and/or HR, it is also desirable for candidates to have a sound grasp and understanding of the importance of financial processes in a non-profit or charity environment.

Able to work well as part of a team, the successful candidate/s will be confident in providing positive challenge and acting as a ‘critical friend’ to the executive team, scrutinising performance and ensuring accountability.

Awareness of, and willingness to adhere to, the Nolan Principles of Public Life is essential, as is the commitment to maintain good attendance at board meetings.

Time commitment

10 hours /month minimum. Usually 4 meetings per year  - availability for occasional extraordinary meetings may be required

Role 3 – Member

A member is able to alter the trust’s Articles of Association and appoint (or remove) trustees/directors where necessary. They provide independent oversight to the work of the board of trustees in order to ensure suitable accountability for its decision making and strategy. At PACT the members are expected to be signatories for the academy trust, to attend two meetings per year, and to add to the already broad skillset within the existing team of members.

Person specification

The competencies required for this role include:

Essential

• Non-executive/ Trustee
• Corporate Governance
• Legal/ Compliance

Desirable

• Turnaround
• Risk
• Succession Planning
• Growth management
• Change management

As a member at The Prince Albert Community Trust (PACT), the successful candidate is required to demonstrate a track record in corporate governance, ideally with experience of working at board level in a medium or largescale organisation. Experience of holding executives to account and contributing to strategic direction is essential, along with experience of managing budgets and scrutinising data and performance. Prior experience as a trustee or non-executive director is essential in order to provide a good understanding of the roles and responsibilities and to hold the board to account.

  Time commitment

One meeting per term (approximately two hours).

  Location of board meetings and trust website

Unity House, 27 Trinity Road, Aston, Birmingham, B6 6AJ.

http://www.pact.bham.sch.uk/

Governance structure

http://www.pact.bham.sch.uk/index.php/information/board-of-trustees

Background on academy trusts

Academy schools, which are charities run independently of local authority control, now account for 74% of secondary schools and 31% of primaries – and their number is growing all the time.

Many of these schools are grouped together as multi-academy trusts (MATs). There are currently 832 multi academy trusts of 3+ schools. If the schools are to fulfil their potential, the trusts need non-executives (known in charity law as trustees) to bring a wide range of skills and experience to help guide strategy, ensure their ambitions can be soundly financed and keep their schools up to the mark delivering for their pupils.

“Academy boards must be ambitious for all children and young people and infused with a passion for education and a commitment to continuous school improvement that enables the best possible outcomes. Governance must be grounded in reality as defined by both high-quality objective data and a full understanding of the views and needs of pupils/students, staff, parents, carers and local communities. It should be driven by inquisitive, independent minds and through conversations focused on the key strategic issues which are conducted with humility, good judgement, resilience and determination.” 
Source: Governance Handbook, Department for Education (2017)

Trusteeship is a voluntary, unpaid role for people who have the energy and skills to make a real contribution to shaping the future of our schools. You do not need to have any specialist knowledge of education. 

Applications

Academy Ambassadors is a non-profit programme which recruits senior business leaders and professionals as volunteer non-executive directors onto the boards of multi-academy trusts. If you are interested in applying for the role please send your CV and a short expression of interest detailing which role you are applying for to academyambassadors@newschoolsnetwork.org. Please note: candidates should live within reasonable travelling distance of the trust and/or have a link with the region. For more information, please call 0207 952 8556 or visit www.academyambassadors.org.

Key dates

We strongly recommend applying as early as you can to have the best possible chance of being considered as we may change the closing date if we have received sufficient applications. Applicants should be aware of the following key dates in the recruitment process 

Deadline for applications: Friday 19^th April 2019