Non-Executive Director X 3

Success for All Educational Trust

The Success for All Educational Trust (SFAET) is an exciting new trust based in the London Borough of Havering. Three new board members with senior financial, HR and legal expertise are sought to support the trust in their plans for expansion. Board meetings are held at Redden Court School, Romford.

About the trust

The Success for All Educational Trust (SFAET) is a local community trust with three comprehensive secondary schools in London Borough of Havering. Between the 3 schools we have approximately 2000 students, over 200 staff and an operating budget £16 million. All of the schools are truly comprehensive schools in terms of their intake with specialist provision in Redden Court for autistic students .

The trust evolved from Redden Court School which became an academy sponsor based on continued academic success. Redden Court School is a mixed 11-16 comprehensive school of 800 pupils. In February 2017, they welcomed the Royal Liberty School, an 11-16 boys school of 550 students, into the trust. Both schools have a Good Ofsted rating. More recently, Sanders School, a mixed 11-16 school of 650 pupils, joined the trust and is being supported by SFAET to improve standards for students. There are conversations currently with a local Primary, Junior and Infant schools with a view to bringing feeder schools into the trust.

The schools within the trust subscribe to the Havering Learning Partnership which provides a collaborative service for school improvement and CPD for staff. The trust also has links with Havering College who are a service provider for Apprenticeships and works with Higher Education Providers: Goldsmiths (University of London), University of East London and London Metropolitan University to support teacher training. The trust also works with the Havering Teacher Training Partnership to support teacher training and recruitment through Schools Direct and school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) training placement.

The Trust is part of  PIXl and SSAT to support development of Pedagogy and keep up to date with best practice.

Plans for the future

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

1. Growth: To grow the trust aligned to the vision to deliver efficiency and improved services that are core to all schools within the Trust.
2. Student numbers: To oversee the expansion of two schools and ensure increasing numbers of students are attending all schools within the trust in order to secure financial viability.
3. Standards: To deliver best possible teaching and learning and breadth of curriculum to enable students to achieve success and best possible outcomes.

Trust ethos & values

SFAET believes in the value and potential of every student and are determined to remove barriers to their success. They are committed to high standards of achievement - not just academically, but in a broader sense, so that young people develop values that will lead to success in life.  The trust’s growth plans are based on building a local community education hub.

Role summary Number of positions advertised:

3

Trustees – or non-executive directors - are both charity trustees and company directors of the academy trust; the role is to hold to account the executive and senior leadership team. The board of trustees manages the business of the academy trust and may exercise all the powers of the trust. The trustees ensure compliance with the trust’s charitable objects and with company and charity law.

Role 1 – Trustee/Non-Executive Director (Finance)

The successful candidate will provide strategic oversight, approving and monitoring budgets, sign off annual financial reports. They will review risk and ensure policy is aligned to the needs of the trust. Trustees will need to consider variations on set budget as changes may occur within the trust and agree any restructure as part of consultations and staff changes. The competencies required for this role include:

Essential

• Qualified Accountant
• CFO/ Finance
• Change Management
• Risk

Desirable

 

• Audit Committee Chair
• Growth Management

Finance: Candidates should have senior experience and knowledge of budget management, ability to set the strategic financial direction of the trust and to make decisions that link to corporate values and vision. They would welcome applicants with experience of adding other companies in to the organisation and supporting change management.

Role 2 – Trustee/Non-Executive Director (HR)

The role demands senior Human Resources experience as many staff will TUPE in to the trust. Trustees will support the strategic direction of the trust and help grow HR policy and procedure to bring other schools into the trust and add experience and knowledge to help the operational leaders deliver this. The competencies required for this role include:

Essential

• HR
• Growth Management
• Restructuring

Desirable

 

• Succession Planning
• Legal/Compliance
• Turnaround

HR: This individual will have knowledge and experience of Human Resource management and employment law with experience of reviewing policy and procedure and supporting the transfer of employees in to an organisation. They will be able to demonstrate strong organisational and cultural strong change skills management and restructuring experience aligned to policy.

Role 3 – Trustee/Non-Executive Director (Project Management - Legal)

The role requires knowledge of law to support the trust and provide strategic direction for legal advice. Particular areas of interest include employment law, contract law and law in relation to real estate and property. The competencies required for this role include:

Essential

• Experienced Project manager
• Entrepreneurial approach

 

 

Desirable

 

• Legal/Compliance
• Real estate/Property

 

 

Project Management: The successful individual will have project management experience with an understanding of either contract, employment or real estate law. They will ideally also have an understanding of real estate/property law as the trust has a suite of buildings that require maintenance and be able to provide strategic direction to add to the capital building stock that sits within the trust

Time commitment

5 hours /month minimum.

Location of board meetings and trust website

Board meetings are held at Redden Court School, Romford, Essex, RM3 0TS.

Please see: www.sfaet.co.uk for more information.

Governance structure

Please see https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Groups/Group/Details/16518

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 7^th June 2019