Governing Board | First Federation

The First Federation Trust Board of Directors

Role

There is one board of directors which is the governing body for all the schools within the First Federation Trust.

The board of directors has three core functions:

Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
Holding the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to account for the educational performance of the Trust schools and their pupils, and the performance management of its staff; and
Overseeing the financial performance of the schools and making sure the Trust money is well spent.

The board of directors recognises that the CEO is responsible for the implementation of policy, day-to-day management of the Trust schools and the implementation of the curriculum.

The board of directors meets four times a year: in September to elect the Chair and agree principles of delegation, and then at the end of each term.

Composition

There are up to eleven positions on the board: the CEO, six foundation directors, and up to four co-opted directors. Directors are appointed as follows:

Foundation directors: five positions appointed by EDEN (Exeter Diocesan Network of Education) and one position appointed by Salisbury DBE (Diocesan Board of Education). EDEN and Salisbury DBE are both Foundation Members of the First Federation Trust.
Co-opted directors: appointed by the directors

There are two parent representatives on each hub board.

Committees

There is currently two main committees of the board of directors with delegated power: the Education committee and the Strategic & Audit Committee.

The Education committee meets termly. Its remit is:

To regularly review the success of the Trust strategic plan and the schools school improvement plans with a particular focus on outcomes for vulnerable children, and to plan for the year ahead.
To monitor the progress and impact of the Pupil Premium project lead action plan.
To review the leadership and governance structures of the Trust to ensure they are still fit for purpose and make recommendations for appropriate changes to the board of directors
To consider recommendations made by the hub / transition boards and act on the key points raised by them.
To review the yearly cycle of decision making for recommendation to the board of directors.
To ensure that the Trust educational/child-related policies comply with statutory requirements
To ensure that the necessary structure is in place to implement safeguarding policies and procedures, and to monitor their effectiveness.

The Strategic & Audit committee meets 10 times a year. Its remit is:

To plan for the year ahead, ensuring resources are used and targeted appropriately.
To review the leadership and governance structures of the Trust to ensure they are still fit for purpose and make recommendations for appropriate changes to the board of directors
To act on requests from schools interested in joining the Trust, ensure due diligence is conducted and make recommendations to the board of directors as to the expected impact on the Trust in accordance with the agreed growth policy.
To review the yearly cycle of decision making for recommendation to the board of directors.
To establish and review a governance code of conduct.
To ensure that Trust non educational/non child related policies comply with statutory requirements.
To offer additional support to the CEO on difficult and sensitive issues.
To monitor Finance, Personnel and Health & Safety matters and ensure they fit with the strategic plan for the First Federation Trust and that resources are deployed efficiently
To establish and review a code of conduct for the board of directors
To act as an audit committee as defined by the Academies Financial Handbook to ensure propriety and value for money
To offer additional support to the Chief Executive Officer on difficult and sensitive issues

There are three other committees of the board of directors with delegated powers – the Admissions Committee, the Pupil/Staff Discipline Committee and the Appeals Committee – which meet as needed.

Hub Boards

Hub boards have delegated responsibilities but no delegated powers. Their remit is as follows:

Educational performance:

To support and challenge the Executive Heads of Teaching & Learning for the educational performance of their hub schools and the progress made against the school specific improvement priorities;
To review detailed pupils’ progress and attainment data for the schools, and how they compare with national and Trust targets and with local, regional and national averages, for the whole schools and for specific sub-groups of pupils (e.g. Pupil Premium Children and SEN children);
To assess the impact of the Trust internal consistencies/non negotiables on school improvement, including the quality of teaching, pupils’ academic and personal development, pupils’ behaviour, pupils’ attendance and pupils' welfare (including safeguarding arrangements).

Ethos and and links with parents and the community:

To review parental and community engagement;
Where appropriate, to monitor how Church schools are maintaining and developing their Christian distinctiveness;
To monitor formal parent complaints.

Business and risk management:

To monitor the financial position of the hub schools, identify any significant variances and how/whether these can be mitigated;
To monitor key premises and staffing issues, and identify appropriate actions as necessary;
To monitor the risk register for the hub, identify any significant changes / additional to be made to the risk registers and how/whether these can be mitigated.

Reporting:

To report on the above to the Education committee, highlighting key issues, risks and successes, and making recommendations where appropriate.

Advisory groups

Advisory groups are not committees of the board of directors but are used to inform and support the work of the board.

There are two types of advisory groups:

Ethos and Community groups: one for each Federation school, composed of children, staff and members of the community, supported by the foundation directors, who help support the ethos of each school and the Christian distinctiveness of our Church schools

Parent representatives group: one for the Federation, composed from a parent elected from each Federation school.

Scheme of delegation

The document below sumarises the governance structure of the Trust and incorporate the scheme of delegation agreed by the board during their first meeting of the year.

Governance scheme of delegation 2018-19 approved