Governance
Governance in Learn-AT is important and rewarding. There are three tiers of governance.
Members
Five Trust members are the guardians of governance. The members ensure that the Trust's vision and values are protected, appoint trustees to the Board and monitor the Trust’s financial, operational and education management on an annual basis. They delegate the leadership and management of the organisation to the Trust Board.
See https://www.learnat.uk/aboutlearn-at/learn-at-members
Trustees
The second tier of governance is the Trust Board. The Trustees are accountable for the leadership and management of the Trust, which includes all of its schools. In fact, the Trust is the group of schools. Learn-AT trustees are volunteers who have a wide range of professional skills and experience which means that they are in a strong position to oversee and support the work of the Executive Team. They scrutinise the work of the Trust through four committees: Finance, School Improvement, Pay and Audit and Risk.
See https://www.learnat.uk/about-learn-at/learn-at-trustees
Local Governing Bodies
Finally, we have the local tier – our Local Governing Bodies or LGBs. LGBs are committees of the Trust Board and each school has a LGB – a group of dedicated volunteers who work on behalf of the Trust Board and use their professional skills and experience to support their local school. They provide critical friendship to school leaders – supporting and challenging them, and providing assurance to the Trust Board particularly in areas such as:
- Standards, curriculum and school ethos
- Health, safety and premises, including safeguarding
- Parental and wider community engagement
- Assurance and oversight of compliance and risk, including finance.
Each LGB elects a chair, and each LGB chair sits on the Learn-AT Chairs’ Forum, along with the Chair of the Trust Board. The Chairs’ Forum contributes to Trust strategy development and provides an important communications link between the Board and our LGBs.
Where a group of schools is led by one Executive Headteacher, their LGBs also work together, creating a ‘Local Cluster Board’ where representatives of each LGB deal with issues common to all schools in the group.
Getting involved in local governance is a rewarding way to contribute to your local community and develop your leadership and management skills at the same time.
Find out more here:
Learn-AT Governance Framework (including the Scheme of Delegation)