SAPIENTIA EDUCATION TRUST

GOVERNANCE SEPTEMBER 2020

INTRODUCTION

This document lays out the governance structures for the Sapientia Education Trust (SET)

MEMBERS AND TRUSTEES

Membership of the SET Board is in accordance with the funding agreement the College signed with the Secretary of State in March 2016 when the SET was established.  A breakdown of the Members and Trustees is as follows:

Members:  There are five members, one of whom is also a Trustee

Trustees:  there are nine trustees, one of whom is also a member.  One Trustee is employed by SET, that person being the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

MEETINGS, BOARD COMMITTEE AND LOCAL GOVERNING BODY

The Board meets at least twice termly including once in December each year for the Annual General Meeting. 

The Board has established Committees that sit between the Board and the Local Governing Body of each school in the Trust.  The Committees are:

• Finance
• Infrastructure
• Standards
• Human Resources and Remuneration
• Audit and Risk

Trustees make up the majority membership of each Committee in accordance with the Academies Finance Handbook.  A list of Committee membership is shown on the SET website.

The Board retains Local Governing Bodies (LGB) at each of the Schools that belong to the Trust and has agreed Terms of Reference and a Scheme of Delegation for each Local Governing Body.  These are reviewed on an annual basis.

The Headteacher and Chair of each LGB will be invited to Board meetings from time to time to discuss their individual school.  The Chair of each LGB is invited to attend the Standards Committee meetings.

COMPLIANCE

The Board of Trustees have a programme of compliance as follows:

• External Review of Governance (first one completed in 2018 and a further review every three years thereafter).
• Annual external audit of accounts.
• Internal Audit programme carried out by professional auditor.
• External Quality of Assurance (QA) of education throughout the school year.
• Annual external review of Data Protection procedures