Non-Executive Director X 2

Richmond West School Trust (RWST)

Richmond West Schools Trust contains two co-education secondary schools in South West London and is committed to stabilising and raising education standards across the local community for all its students. Board meetings are held on a rotational basis at Hampton High and Twickenham School. The trust seeks two non-executive directors with skills to support the Trust.

About the trust

Richmond West Schools Trust (RWST) is a multi-academy trust (MAT): Twickenham School has 550 students on roll and Hampton High has 650 students on roll.

Twickenham School was judged Requires Improvement (RI) by Ofsted in May 2018 in a report which acknowledged the improvements made in 18 months since the previous Ofsted judgement of Inadequate. Ofsted highly commended the school leadership and judged Leadership & Management, and, Behaviour as Good.

Hampton High was judged Good by Ofsted in March 2019 following a dramatic improvement in students’ exam results. This Ofsted judgement is testament to the hard work of students and staff and represents the start of a positive trajectory for the school and trust. Hampton High reached a zero Progress 8 score in 2018, confirming that its performance is in line with national averages and representing a foundation on which to generate further improvement in standards.

Hampton High has 15.7% students who receive free school meals and Twickenham School has 12.5%. The proportion of students who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is also above the national and local averages. 

The trust has adopted a collaborative operating model with school improvement support provided by outstanding schools; Waldegrave School and Orleans Park School and has a part-time CEO (two days a week).  What unites all schools is a commitment to providing a disciplined, safe and structured school environment, which nurtures a strong culture of learning.

The Trust offers a broad, balanced and challenging curriculum with a strong focus on the acquisition of skills for learning, literacy, numeracy, social and cultural development, employment and citizenship. The Trust is focussed on delivering strong leadership from governors, senior leaders, middle leaders and teachers and on the best possible results and life chances for all its students.

Plans for the future

The key challenges for the board over the next 12-18 months are:

1. Delivery of school improvement: the trust’s priority is to ensure rapid progress for all student groups with a focus on disadvantaged and SEND students. The target is for both schools to reach a P8 of zero and thus in line with national averages. 
2. Low student numbers: the trust has low student numbers, particularly at Twickenham School in Year 7 as a consequence of legacy difficulties including an Inadequate (Special Measures) Ofsted judgement in 2016. Both schools are gaining a better reputation locally and Hampton High is full (180 pupils) in Year 7 for September 2019 and pupil intake numbers at Twickenham school have increased to 140; maximum possible annual entry is 180.  It remains a target for both schools to be full in year 7 in September 2020.
3. Budgetary pressure: as with all secondary schools, the trust faces a challenge in terms of budget and balancing the needs of school improvement against budgetary realities at both schools. Appropriate financial controls are in place and the trust enjoys the continued support of the Department for Education for its financial recovery plan as it works to deliver a balanced budget in line with Education and Skills Funding Agency expectations. Income for the trust is £ 8,400,400.  
4. Cross trust working: with the trust increasingly able to demonstrate school improvement capability, it is looking towards the future. Initial focus will be on further developing cross-trust working to ensure sustainability and to prepare for future growth.

Trust ethos & values

RWST has the highest possible ambition for its schools and students. There is a strong focus on teaching, learning and leadership and on deploying shared expertise to ensure that the Trust is constantly striving for improvement. It is the trust’s belief that every child deserves the best quality education.

By working together, with support from other schools in the borough, RWST will have a positive influence on the educational provision for its local area to ensure all local students are able to attend a good or outstanding school of their choice.

The trust completed a visioning exercise involving all stakeholders, which can be encapsulated as “aspire together, learn together, achieve together”. Discussions started on the next phase to embed school improvements, improve outcomes so both schools are judged Good by Ofsted by the end of 2020. Work continues to ensure that a two school trust is financially sustainable in the long-term and has the potential to grow.

Role summary Number of positions advertised: 2

Role 1 & 2 – Trustee/Non-Executive Director

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.

In the interests of safeguarding, all trustee appointments would be subject to an enhanced disclosure and barring service check.

The competencies required for these roles include:

Desirable

• Branding/Marketing/Business Development OR
• Property/Estate Management OR
• Human Resources/Restructuring OR
• 
  Additional
• School Improvement
• Safeguarding

 

 

Person Specification

RWST are looking for Trustees who have a range of experience and are committed to improving schools locally. 

Branding/Marketing/Business Development: The ideal candidate will have senior experience in branding, marketing, communications & business development within a business background. Candidates will be expected to scrutinise and advise on a strategic marketing plan to increase student numbers and to generate positive local coverage and awareness of the trust and its schools in order to build numbers on roll at both schools.

Property/Estates Management: The Trust welcomes applicants with corporate experience of estates, property, facilities management, health & safety monitoring. Candidates should have excellent interpersonal skills, senior level experience of management of health & safety within a workplace and be proactive.

Human Resources/Restructuring: The Trust welcomes applicants with a background in HR, employment law & restructuring; preferably with experience at a senior or director level in education and/or commercial sectors to support the Trust’s responsibilities as employers. This role will have a particular focus on supporting/challenging the executives to enable suitable succession planning and ensuring systems are appropriate as new schools join the trust.

Additional skills and experience of MAT trusteeship, School Improvement & Safeguarding for both roles would be highly advantageous.

Person specification

Every trustee is expected to abide by the trust’s code of conduct and the seven principles of public life set out by Lord Nolan: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.

The Competency Framework for Governance (DfE) 2017 details the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for effective governance: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/583733/Competency_framework_for_governance_.pdf

Time commitment

Six board meetings per year (twelve hours in total).

Up to Four committee meetings per year (eight hours in total).

Plus ad hoc hours per month to work on specific initiatives.

Location of board meetings and trust website

Board meetings rotate between Hampton High (Hanworth Rd, Hampton TW12 3HB) and Twickenham School (Percy Road, Twickenham, Middlesex TW2 6JW).  For more information on the trust, please see: https://www.rwst.co.uk/

Governance structure

For governance structure of the trust and brief biographies of trustees, please see the bottom of the trust’s website home page: https://www.rwst.co.uk/

Background on academy trusts

Academy schools, which are charities run independently of local authority control, now account for 69% of secondary schools and 33% 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 900 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.

“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 (2019)

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 22^nd November