School Governor/Academy Trustee - Brentford School for Girls

Brentford School for Girls is a secondary school and single academy trust located in Brentford, in the London Borough of Hounslow. We pride ourselves on providing our girls and young women with an excellent quality of education, and the opportunity to develop the broader skills required to be successful in a dynamic and changing world. We are a small school with a strong “family feel” and a diverse West London community.

We are seeking up to three new Trustees/Governors to serve on our Governing Board, ideally with finance, accounting, legal and/or HR experience.

Our Governing Board consists of Academy Trustees who are volunteers. The Charity Commission defines trustees as the people responsible for governing a charity and directing how it is managed and run. The purpose of the board of trustees is to provide:

•    Strategic leadership of the academy trust
Your role is to help set and embed the trust’s vision and strategy, and use these to monitor how the trust and its schools are progressing towards your strategic goals

•    Accountability and assurance
Ensuring the board has robust oversight of the operations and performance of the trust, including education, pupil welfare and finance. You monitor these areas and hold leaders to account for performance and compliance

•    Engagement
The board has strategic oversight of relationships with Trust stakeholders: parents/carers, pupils, staff, local communities. You ensure your school and trust are communicating with and involving these groups, so decision-making is supported by meaningful engagement

Responsibilities: 

•    Develop the trust’s vision and strategy and set the trust’s strategic aims and objectives
•    Establish a culture of high educational standards that promotes staff and pupil wellbeing
•    Make sure all pupils have access to a broad and balanced curriculum
•    Monitor provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
•    Monitor educational performance of the trust, using a range of data sources
•    Ensure stakeholders (parents/carers, pupils, staff etc) informed and consulted as appropriate
•    Approve the budget for the academy trust; monitor and evaluate trust financial performance 
•    Approve and review trust policies, and hold staff to account for their implementation
•    Ensure the trust complies with legal requirements, and statutory policies/documents are in place
•    Ensure the trust complies with laws that apply to charities/companies, and its funding agreement
•    Carry out the appointment and performance management of the principal/chief executive
•    Be a source of challenge and support to the principal/chief executive
•    Monitor and evaluate the trust’s staffing structure(s)
•    Monitor health and safety in the academy/across the trust

Benefits and Skills you can Gain:
•    Board-level experience, with a chance to lead on specific link areas, committee or chairing roles
•    Strategic planning – annual and longer term
•    Holding Senior Leaders to account, providing the right balance of challenge and support
•    Finance, and oversight of a £multi-million academy trust budget
•    HR and performance management 
•    Board-level communication and teamwork
•    Decision-making, problem solving and analysis

Additional information:
Academies are both charities and companies limited by guarantee. Academy trustees are therefore both charity trustees and company directors and must comply with company and charity law. 

We encourage applications from all members of society, regardless of background, gender, ethnicity, disability or age (as long as you're over 18).

What skills do I need?

Essential:
•    Excellent communication, critical listening and the ability to ask effective questions
•    Strategic thinking and problem solving skills
•    Analysis and data literacy skills
•    Commitment to uphold The 7 Principles of Public Life and BSfG Governor Code of Conduct 

Desirable:
•    Finance skills, (e.g. accountancy, banking, P&L, corporate or commercial finance)
•    Legal expertise, particularly knowledge of charity or company law
•    HR experience
•    Advanced data literacy
•    Knowledge of education
•    Marketing and communications skills
•    Leadership and management skills
•    Risk management skills

When do I need to be available?

	Morning	Afternoon	Evening
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

Details

Trustees must attend at least 3 Full Governing Board meetings per year: termly in person at Brentford School for Girls (Thurs at 6.30pm), plus one in-school strategy afternoon in September each year. Preparation for meetings involves reading papers and preparing questions for leaders. Each trustee also sits on a committee, and may become a Link Governor for an area they have knowledge of, or interest in. Our current committees are: HR & Pay Committee, Premises & Finance Committee and Achievement, Progress & Pupil Welfare Committee. Each committee meets remotely on Microsoft Teams once a term. Trustees also visit the school for monitoring purposes at least twice per year. They are additionally encouraged to attend school events e.g. Open Evening, Arts Festival, School Concerts/Productions.

Where does this role take place?