Governance

We believe in transparency and accountability within our academies and between each Academy and the Trust. The Board will provide support and challenge as required, with the aim of enabling each Academy to work towards earned autonomy.

We aim to develop a culture of diversity, equality and inclusion in which all those connected to Shaw Education Trust feel proud of their identityand ability to participate fully in school life.

Across our multi-academy trust, our governance roles are composed of approximately 85% white British, 5% minority ethnic background* and 10% wishing not to share their information.

*Similar to pupil data, any individual who is of any origin other than white British, is defined as being of minority ethnic background.

 

Governance | General Documents

Updated: 23/10/2023 766 KB

Local governance and accountability is secured through our system of Academy Councils, with the Trust Board retaining overall legal control of its academies in line with Department for Education and Education Funding Agency expectations.

Our three levels of governance

1. Members 

Our Trust Members are ‘guardians of the governance of the Trust’ (NGA). They are tasked with assessing if the Board of Trustees is performing well and ensuring that the charitable object is being fulfilled. Whilst they have a limited and distinct role, it is nevertheless an important one.

Our members are as follows:

Member

Date appointed

Relevant Business or Pecuniary Interests

Chris Luck

20/5/2019

Employee of Shaw Trust

Paul Baldwin

10/12/2018

Trustee Shaw Trust

David Bateson OBE

10/12/2018

Director of D Bateson Education Consultancy Ltd.

Dr Mike Nussbaum 

21/12/2020

Trustee Shaw Trust

Mike Hawker 26/01/2022 None

2. Trust Board

The Shaw Education Trust Board and its sub-committees, are responsible for delivering the three core governance functions, making key decisions and conducting the business of the Trust.

Board of Trustees

Andrew Meehan

Andrew Meehan

Chair

Andy is a graduate of Oxford University, a Chartered Accountant and for 30 years enjoyed an executive career mainly in the retail sector, having had roles as Finance Director and Chief Executive of several companies including Selfridges, Mothercare and Co-operative Retail Services. Since 2006 he has had a portfolio of chairmanships and non-executive directorships across commercial, public and charity sectors. These include University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Fortnum and Mason and several private equity backed businesses. In addition to SET he is currently chairman of Ramsdens Holdings PLC, Polyco Healthline Group and New English Teas.

David Bateson OBE

David Bateson OBE

Vice Chair

David Bateson OBE holds a portfolio of roles as a chair, trustee, consultant and a National Leader in Education across educational phases. He retired from 20 years of headship in two all-age, all-ability and all-disability day and residential schools. His schools were awarded 6 outstanding Ofsted day inspections and 6 outstanding residential ones. His last school gained national and international recognition as an outward-facing centre of expertise, holding multiple statuses including those of Teaching School, Leadership and Innovation, Leading Edge, Beacon and Specialist School. The school supported many pupils in mainstream and worked with universities and hospitals as a training provider. Leadership was described as ‘visionary’ by HMCI. David combined executive headship with a variety of roles in special and mainstream education as an Ofsted inspector, a National Leader in Education commissioned to improve schools and a headteacher appraiser. He chaired regional, local and national special and mainstream education groups and had the opportunity to work with the National College for Teaching and Learning as a Professional Partner and Leadership Consultant as well as with various OECD, DfE, Cabinet and Foreign Office groups. He has spoken at and chaired numerous conferences and at the Royal Society and the Royal College of Nursing. He had opportunities to make educational visits to, and receive visits from, many countries. He currently chairs the National SEND Forum. Recent work includes performance management, training and improvement work in schools; writing a SEND framework for a major MAT; national research across mainstream and special schools partnerships sponsored by the Laurel Trust; and bespoke leadership development and curriculum work in London, Birmingham and Northampton. David remains passionate about serving all children and young people and their families but especially those with special educational needs and disabilities. He is proud of his involvement with Shaw Education Trust since its inception. David writes and records songs, is a member of Sheffield Theatres and enjoys family and travelling.

Annamarie Hassall MBE

Annamarie Hassall MBE

Annamarie is Chief Executive of Nasen (National Association for Special Educational Needs) the UKs leading charity for championing those working with and for, children and young people with SEND and learning differences. With a growing International membership, nasen provides information, resources and training, uniting schools and individuals with a professional interest in supporting an inclusive education. Prior to joining nasen, Annamarie worked at the National Children’s Bureau, influencing system change and bringing the voices of children, young people and parents to influence quality children’s services. With a career in public services, Annamarie has held local, national and government advisory roles that span the breadth of children’s social care, early years and SEND. A qualified and registered social worker, Annamarie was awarded an MBE for her work with children and families. Annamarie has Non-Executive Director roles as a Trustee at a Multi-Academy Trust and of a UK based charity with interest in pathways to education, training and employment for young people and adults.

Cathy Stevens

Cathy Stevens

Cathy is an ex-Army officer who has subsequently spent over 20 years working in the Facilities and Property Management Sector. With an MBA in Construction and Real Estate, she has held senior positions in a number of FTSE 100 organisations delivering facilities, health and safety, and property projects across a wide range of complex and challenging portfolios, in the UK and throughout Europe. She is a keen advocate of robust compliance arrangements, whilst ensuring buildings meet the best needs of their users. Although having never directly worked in education before, Cathy worked in a number of training roles in the forces and has a deep appreciation in the benefit of a great education. Having recently returned to her native North Staffordshire she is well located to support our school portfolio.

Helen Walker

Helen Walker

As Global Operations Director, Helen leads RM’s software development, operations and business administration services. She’s passionate about technology - its potential to improve teaching, learning and assessment; to remove barriers to learning and to increase access to education. With a career that started in teaching, several government education agencies, a senior civil servant in Department for Education (DfE) and now a leading global edtech provider, she’s focused on improving educational outcomes. As a leader, she has record of securing Board level engagement to innovate business models, to secure efficiencies and to improve user services. She’s experienced in digital transformation at scale - exploiting and optimising cloud environments, designing great user services and building digital capability. She is committed to building diverse teams and creating an inclusive culture. She’s experienced in building capability across security operations, cloud engineering and architecture, DevOps and programme and project delivery and creates strategic partnerships with suppliers and externals. With a sharp focus on achieving commercial outcomes and value for money, she secures efficiencies and reduces the cost to serve.

John Norman

John Norman

John Norman spent 40 years in airport management, including time on the boards of Gatwick and Stansted airports, as HR director. The latter roles introduced him to the work of the third sector, particularly related to the long term unemployed. He was the architect of Stansted airport's employment strategy which promoted work at the airport to people who were unemployed in East London boroughs. John also served on the board of East Thames Housing Group for 10 years, chairing their East Potential subsidiary. He retired from airport management in 2008 and has since served on the board of Poplar HARCA, chairing the Audit and Risk and Finance committees. He also joined the board of London Youth and Career Development Group, which later merged with Shaw Trust. Other roles undertaken have included time on Essex Learning Skills Council and working with the Children's Trust (Tadworth) on their Hand of Hope Appeal. Whilst with Shaw Trust, John led a group to examine the feasibility of the organisation becoming a Multi Academy Trust Sponsor and subsequently gained the necessary approval and consents to do so, leading to the formation of Shaw Education Trust.

Jo Morgan

Jo Morgan

Chief Executive Officer | Shaw Education Trust

Jo joined the Trust from Ofsted where she worked as the Regional Director for the North West and National Director for Initial Teacher Education and held the status of Her Majesty’s Inspector. Jo held three secondary headships: leading out of special measures, accelerating performance to outstanding; gaining Teaching School status and delivery of academisation. Jo worked extensively in a strategic role in the Greater Manchester Challenge. A proven systems leader, Jo has supported a large number of schools to accelerate improvement. Jo has delivered programmes for the National College, worked with local authorities and provided advice to the Department of Education. Her portfolio of experience spans all phases, all sectors and all contexts. Jo continues as National Leader of Education and a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching; working to generate capacity and talent within the profession. Jo regularly contributes to conferences, training programmes and networks, in order to support leadership development.

Stephen Pegge

Stephen Pegge

Stephen Pegge has a distinguished career in finance including leading residential training for a major bank and has served on several boards of commercial, charity and government organisations including the national centre for work experience. He is currently Managing Director of UK Finance, a director of UK Business Angels Association, a director and trustee of Shaw Trust and director of the Business Banking Resolution Service. Stephen chaired PRIME Cymru for nine years, a charity to provide for employment, education and support in Wales, established by HM the King who was president.

Neil Tinegate

Neil Tinegate

Neil has over 25 years’ executive experience predominantly in retail and consumer goods sectors. He held senior and board level digital and commercial roles in a range of corporate structures from global PLCs to private equity backed and AIM listed growth companies. With digital transformation as a specialism, he played lead roles in the teams that transformed Argos in the UK and Heineken across Europe. Alongside his role at Shaw Education Trust, Neil is an advisor to a range of corporate clients and a Non-Executive Director at Shepherds Friendly Society.

Governance | Trustee Documents

Updated: 10/01/2024 10 KB
Updated: 28/02/2023 10 KB

3. Local Academy Councils

Accountability is a key part of our values and, as such, our local governance model is vital to this. We have two models operating across our schools as follows:

  1. Academy Councils (ACs)
  2. SET and Local Boards (SLBs)

Academy Councils offer a more traditional model of local governance, with an appointed membership board working regularly with schools under our scheme of delegation.  ACs will cover both Resources and Education, Standards and Performance and also will have parents as members.

SET and Local Boards have two aspects: Education, Standards and Performance Committees (known as Progress Boards) and Resources Committees (known as Team Around the School Boards) which are run by and made up of SET Central Team specialists. Our duty to engage parents in decision making is met through the Local Advisory Boards (LABs) which are made up of school staff, parents and members of the local community.

 

Within Shaw Education Trust our function of governance at local level is:

“To be responsible for supporting and challenging our Academy and Trust leaders, ensuring that decisions made at a local level are for the benefit of pupils, and directly linked to the strategic vision of the Academy and Trust. To ensure these decisions consider the views of our other stakeholders (parents, staff and local community) and effective communication exists between all. These decisions centre mainly around areas of educational standards & provision, and operational functions, as detailed in the Scheme of Delegation.”

 

BECOMING AN ACADEMY COUNCILLOR

Anyone interested in becoming an Academy Councillor in The Shaw Education Trust should view our brochure or read our document on Induction for new Councillors (below). We'd love to hear from interested adults who wish to help make a difference to young people's lives.

Governance | Academy Councillor Documents

Updated: 15/02/2023 1.18 MB
Updated: 15/02/2023 252 KB

Meet our awesome Academy Councillors