Academy Trust (singular)

[Northernisbest]

My son attends a primary school that is an academy but not part of a MAT.

It is also a church school.

He has been there since Year 1 and is now in Year 4. I’m quite confused about their Governance process. Whilst they have a workshop every term for parent reps to attend and bring about any concerns from other parents, they seem rather a closed shop,

For example, they do not publish minutes from their Governor’s meetings. I realise some will be confidential but I’d expect it to be published and redacted where needed. If it makes a difference the Clerk is not a member of staff or parent but does have access to the communication app used.

Also, where should matters be directed after the Governors ? I ask this as the Headteacher and Chair of Governors are clearly very friendly. Can often be seen passing the time at the busy school gate in extended and friendly conversation. (Chair is a parent in the school with a child in Year 5.) Clearly given the setting this isn’t Governor/Head discussions as parents and children within earshot. It’s great that they appear to have a friendly working relationship, but surely there should be more distance to ensure objectivity.

I ask this as recently a couple of decisions have been shared via comms as decisions made by the Head. These decisions do impact families and when a letter has been sent to the Governors, the response received gave no reasoning for decision or insight into decisions making process but merely just stated that the Head’s decision was supported. (Should be clear, a letter in the first instance was sent to the Head and the response received was “Thank you. Your concerns have been noted.”)

I realise these people are the experts in running a school. But I find it astounding that there appears to be no requirement for them to share minutes/decision making process (within reason) nor show how subjective they have been.

Am I right in thinking there is a layer of Governance missing as they aren’t part of a MAT? I realise if safeguarding issue arose, that would be OFSTED related.

For context, I sit on the Board of a small charity and we are answerable to the Charity Commission.

Thank you

I think you are firmly in the last century. The noblesse oblige governor has gone. Our secondaries get someone a bit more interesting to hand out prizes (if given) and primaries certainly don’t hand out prizes.

We do not expect governors who have careers and full time jobs to be hanging around in school and we recognise their time is valuable.As is their expertise. We have gone to great lengths to recruit suitable talent for the GBs when we co-opt. Hence we have a policy of structured visits to school to ensure governors are aware of the direction of travel in terms of their plans and responsibilities.

I’ve been a governor of 2 primary schools, 1 secondary school and was an Education Officer responsible for Governor training. I do know what good governance looks like. I still don’t expect to see a head at the gate every day. At many secondaries here, there are no parents to chat to. Yes, they might welcome dc but they have pastoral care/assistant heads to do that. Primary heads might be at the gate occasionally but not all the time and it’s not expected. I think my LA has a business approach to governance, as is required, and I’ve not been a governor within a Mat.

"I think you are firmly in the last century"

Not at all. I am a local governor of a MAT, with delegated responsibilities from the MAT board, and I network widely with other governors from across the LA e.g. at LA-run training sessions for both community school governors and academy governors. Some of the local academies are single academies, and others are in MATs. It is a forward-thinking borough that works pragmatically and collaboratively with all types of school.