Board Chair and Trustee roles at The Green School Trust

Are you a Finance or General Leadership professional looking to make a difference to the education sector by joining an academy trust board? The Green School Trust in Isleworth seeks two non-executive directors/Trustees to join its board, one of whom should be prepared to take on the role of chair. Board meetings are held at TW7 5BB when safe to do so.

The Academy Ambassadors programme brings the expertise of the business world onto boards at single-academy and multi-academy trusts (SATs and MATs) throughout the country to raise standards of education and improve the life chances of young people, which is critical to our social and economic success.

The opportunity

The Green School Trust was established in 2013 as a Multi-Academy Trust in order to expand the work of The Green School for Girls and create similar opportunities for boys to attend a Church of England multi - faith school in the London Borough of Hounslow. In September 2017 the trust opened The Green School for Boys which is situated across the road from the Green School for Girls. The Green School for Boys is growing year on year to become a 5 form entry comprehensive school with a Sixth Form.
The Green School for Girls was established in 1795 and has 945 pupils, whilst The Green School for Boys was established in 2017 and currently has 510 pupils in years 7-10, but aims to develop to a full capacity of 1050 pupils, with both schools looking to offer sixth form education after the planned growth concludes. The Girls’ school was rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in September 2011, and The Boys’ school was rated ‘good’ by Ofsted in February 2020.
The trust’s community is broadly in-line with national averages in terms of deprivation, with the percentage of students eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) sitting at 17.9% for the Girls’ school, 22.5% for the Boys’. There are also 73.63% and 44.31% of students at the Girls’ and Boys’ schools respectively, studying English as an Additional Language (EAL).

The board seeks two business leaders with experience in:

For the Trustee/Chair role:

• Strategic Leadership/Management
• Education Policy

For the Trustee role:

• Accounting/Financial Accountability

Trustees are appointed by the Trust’s company members, including the Bishop of Kensington and the London Diocesan Board for Schools, for four year terms. All Trustees are expected to have an understanding of, and support for, Christian faith and practice.

As a key member of the board you will support the trust in achieving the following over the next 12 – 24 months:

• Recovery –  The trust is currently working through the effects of Covid-19, in particular student and staff well-being. Alongside this, the trust is looking towards effective and successful transition for September 2021 at all phases of education in the schools, along with robust, transparent and fair assessment of public examinations for 2021.
• Finance – aiming for a balanced budget whilst addressing additional support needs of staff and students and significant renewal and maintenance risks in the Girls’ school.
• Maintaining student numbers entering at Y7, and continuing the Sixth form growth by ensuring the trust’s ethos remains embedded across both schools – with caring reputation and marketing to ensure community knowledge of opportunities and the new facilities for the Boys’ school and Sixth form

Future plans
‘Maximise use of new buildings (Boys’ school and Sixth form block) for both students and lettings. Grow the Trust where opportunities arise in line with the Trust ethos. Development of the training arm of the Trust with shared practice across both schools and collaboration with Best Practice Network to develop Early Career Teacher and CPD provision.

What’s involved?

The Chair leads the board of non-executive directors, or trustees, managing its business while providing an element of leadership for the organisation as a whole. The role is to hold to account the executive and senior leadership team, most specifically the CEO. The Chair needs to ensure that the board is able to deal with problems and related proposals professionally, both in terms of the skills of the trustees and the way in which it conducts its business. S/he will have a key role to play in recruiting and inducting new trustees.

The Chair also provides strategic leadership and governance for the trust. They are responsible for the safeguarding and education of pupils, as well as for setting and monitoring performance benchmarks.

Board governance in education is a strategic, ‘eyes on, hands off’ commitment which at The Green School Trust involves attending six board meetings per year/10 hours’ time per month.

Both the Chair and Trustee will be responsible for:

• 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; and
• Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent

As an Academy Ambassador, you will join our ambassador network which provides resources, guidance, networking events and webinars to support you in your role.

All roles are pro bono.

People from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

What next?

Please register your interest now to be considered for the role. 

Please be aware the closing date may change if we have received sufficient applications.