Governance

Governance at Burntwood Trust

Burntwood Trust is a multi-academy trust and a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales (company number 08550180). The Trust is also an exempt charity.

The registered office is:

Burntwood Trust
Burntwood School
Burntwood Lane
London
SW17 0AQ

The Trust currently comprises:

Burntwood Trust is governed by its Members and Board of Trustees. The Trustees are both the charity trustees of Burntwood Trust and the directors of the company.

The Trust Board has overall responsibility and accountability for the Trust and its academies. It provides strategic leadership, ensures that the Trust fulfils its charitable and educational purposes, oversees the use of public funds and holds executive leaders to account.

The Trust's governance arrangements operate in accordance with its Articles of Association, Funding Agreements, Scheme of Delegation and the requirements of the Department for Education.

Our Governance Structure

Governance within Burntwood Trust operates through the following structure:

Members → Trust Board → Trust Board Committees → Local Governing Bodies

The Trust's Scheme of Delegation sets out how responsibilities and decision-making powers are distributed throughout this structure.

The Trust Board remains ultimately accountable for all decisions made on behalf of the Trust, including functions that it delegates to its committees, Local Governing Bodies or executive leaders.

Members

The Members are the guardians of the Trust's constitution. Their role includes ensuring that the charitable objects of the Trust are being fulfilled and holding the Trust Board to account for the effective governance of the Trust.

Members have a number of specific powers under the Articles of Association, including powers relating to the appointment and removal of Trustees and amendments to the Trust's Articles.

The Members meet as required, including at the Trust's Annual General Meeting.

Board of Trustees

Chair: Heather Wallace

The Board of Trustees is the Trust's principal decision-making body and is responsible for the strategic direction and overall governance of Burntwood Trust.

Its core responsibilities include:

setting the Trust's vision, ethos and strategic direction;
ensuring educational standards and outcomes are effectively overseen;
holding executive leaders to account;
overseeing the Trust's financial performance and use of public funds;
ensuring effective risk management and internal control;
ensuring the Trust meets its legal, regulatory and contractual obligations; and
maintaining effective governance across the Trust and its academies.

Trustees are accountable to the Members, the Department for Education and, more broadly, the communities served by the Trust.

The current Trust Board consists of the Trustees recorded in the Governance Composition document, with Heather Wallace serving as Chair of Trustees.

Trust Board Committees

Finance, Audit and Risk Committee

Chair: Christopher Peacock

The Finance, Audit and Risk Committee supports the Trust Board in fulfilling its responsibilities for financial governance, audit, assurance, risk management and internal control.

Its responsibilities include scrutinising financial performance, budgets and forecasts; overseeing internal and external audit arrangements; reviewing the Trust's risk management arrangements; and providing assurance to the Trust Board regarding the effectiveness of financial and other internal controls.

Standards and Performance Committee

Chair: Neena Mehrotra

The Standards and Performance Committee supports the Trust Board in its oversight of educational standards and performance across the Trust.

It scrutinises educational outcomes, curriculum quality and other key measures of academy performance and provides challenge and assurance to the Trust Board regarding the quality of education across the Trust.

Local Governance

The Trust Board has established a Local Governing Body (LGB) for each academy.

Local Governing Bodies are committees of the Trust Board and operate within the authority delegated to them through the Trust's Scheme of Delegation. They provide local oversight, support and challenge to academy leadership and provide an important link between the Trust Board and each academy's community.

The Trust Board remains ultimately accountable for the governance of all academies within Burntwood Trust.

Burntwood School Local Governing Body

Chair: Marcia Cooke

The Burntwood School LGB currently comprises:

Marcia Cooke, Angela Graham, Alam Khan, Rameeza Khan, Pari Patel, Naila Luqman, Ann Jarvis, Kazi Islam and Helen Shorrock (Principal).

Garratt Park School Local Governing Body

Chair: Shirley Newman

The Garratt Park School LGB currently comprises:

Shirley Newman, Charlotte Furniss, Sarah Harrison, Paul Jordan, Rollo Wright, Fatima Hashmi, Lauren Godfrey, Tommy Powell and Jason Gregory.

Governance Transparency

Burntwood Trust is committed to openness, accountability and transparency in its governance arrangements.

In accordance with the Academy Trust Handbook, the Trust publishes information about its governance arrangements, including:

the structure and remit of the Members, Trust Board, committees and Local Governing Bodies;
the Scheme of Delegation;
details of Members, Trustees and Local Governors;
the Register of Business and Financial Interests;
Trustee attendance at Trust Board and committee meetings for the previous academic year; and
Local Governor attendance at Local Governing Body meetings for the previous academic year.

Governance

Governance Documents

Financial Information

Policies