Governance Structure

Great Oak Multi Academy Trust

Great Oak Multi Academy Trust is structured in accordance with its Memorandum and Articles of Association. There are three levels of governance within Great Oak Multi Academy Trust: the Members, The Trust Board of Directors, and the governors who make up the Local Governing Body for each academy in the Trust.

Members

The Trust comprises 3 Members. The Members are accountable to the DfE and have ultimate responsibility for the Trust achieving its charitable objectives. They sign off the Articles of Association and have the power to appoint and remove the directors. The Members include representation from the Diocese of Chelmsford. The majority of the Members are independent of the directors to provide challenge and scrutiny to the Board.

Directors/Trustees

The directors set the strategic direction for the MAT and are accountable to the Secretary of State for the performance of the schools within it. This is set out in a legal document known as the ‘funding agreement’. As charity trustees, they must also ensure that they are complying with charity law requirements. High calibre directors are appointed for their skills, knowledge or experience as needed by the Board.

The Trust Board of Directors has three core functions:

1 Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction

2 Holding the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to account for the educational performance of the

Trust schools and their pupils, and the performance management of staff

3 Overseeing the financial performance of the schools and making sure its money is well spent

The Trust Board meets at least four times a year: the first meeting in the autumn to elect the Chair and agree the Scheme of Delegation whereby governance functions are delegated to governors and committees.

Audit and Risk Committee

The Trust Board has an Audit and Risk Committee which has the responsibility for monitoring the Trust’s overall financial condition. Their role includes monitoring the probity of the financial systems and monitoring expenditure for probity and value. The Audit and Risk committee membership includes 2 external members to enhance the scrutiny and challenge of its work; the committee meets 3 times per year and report their findings into the Trust Board meetings.

Local Governing Bodies

Each school within the MAT has its own local governing body (LGB) which is a committee of the Trust Board of Directors. Local governing bodies have the governance functions delegated to them by the Trust Board for their particular school and are accountable to the Board.

Local Governing Bodies oversee different functions of the schools within the trust, including the monitoring of: School Improvement and Standards; Safeguarding; Premises and Health & Safety; Finance; Special Educational Needs; Early Years, Curriculum; Parent & Community links and Personnel. The details of the chair and members of the LGBs are available on each of the school websites. To support their work each LGB has two committees: Finance and Premises; Teaching and Learning.

Our directors and local governors come from a wide variety of backgrounds; from finance, legal, corporate business and education, with representation from parents, the parish and the local community. The term of office of directors is four years, apart from the CEO who is ex-officio.

The governance structure in place within the MAT delegates the 'business' matters of running a school to the Trust Board and administrative team, enabling the Headteachers to focus on teaching, learning and school improvement. Systems are in place for centralised HR processes; financial planning and internal control; premises management; and the reporting and benchmarking of school performance data.

Great Oak Multi Academy Trust Members

Member		Date appointed	Date stepped down
Elizabeth Barker	Chair of Directors	06.09.2023
CDET	Chelmsford Diocese Board of Education	01.01.2017
Andrew Taylor	Chair of Directors	01.01.2017	05.09.2023
Reverend Alex Jeewan	CDET Team Vicar for the Saffron Walden and Villages Team Ministry	04.05.2020

Great Oak Multi Academy Trust Board of Directors

September 2024 - August 2025

Name	Type	Office	Term	Date stepped down	Number of possible Full Directors’ Meetings	Number of Full Directors’ Meetings attended	Member of Audit and Risk Committee
Elizabeth Barker	Appointed by Members	Chair	16/11/2026		1	1
Catherine Blostone			10/09/2028		1	1
Gary Benn	Foundation		31/08/2025		1	0	Yes
Paul Gray	Appointed by Trust		10/02/2026		1	0	Yes (Chair)
Sarah Mitchell	CEO	CEO Executive Headteacher	Ex-Officio		1	1
Wassim Mughal	Appointed by Members		03/09/2027		1	1	Yes
Kate Porch	Appointed by Members		19/09/2027		1	1

Ursula Lyons		Audit and Risk Committee Independent member
Samantha Wilks		Audit and Risk Committee Independent member

Tom Bennett

Clerk to the Directors