Governance
New Generation Schools Trust is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales (Company number 07963778) and also an exempt charity.
New Generation Schools Trust (NGST) is a small Multi-Acadamy Trust (MAT) including schools in Sidcup and Southampton. A MAT is one legal entity running more than one school.
As a MAT, there are three elements to the governance of NGST schools – Members, a Board of Trustees and a number of committees, including what we call ‘Local School Councils’. Local governance is delivered on behalf of the Trust via Local School Councils and Trust-wide governance is delivered via the board of Trustees and the central team, employed on their behalf.
Members are akin to the shareholders of a company. Ideally this would be a small group of people, no less than 3 and up to 5, with the majority neither being Trustees or Local School Council members. No paid employee may be a Member and at least one should be entirely independent of any school in the MAT. Members have a largely strategic over-arching ‘hands-off’ role; they can control how the company operates through changes to the Articles of Associate and Trustee appointments. Members set strategic vision in collaboration with the Board of trustees. The vision and the underlying values establish the fundamental rationale of the MAT. Members would conduct the AGM – to be held at least once every 15 months where final accounts and an annual report is presented to them. The Members sign the funding agreements, receive reports from the Trust and ensure the work of the Trust is in line with its objects and articles of association.
Legal responsibility for all NGST schools lies with the board of Trustees and not with Local School Councils. The more onerous tasks of governance such as setting budgets, writing policies, and establishing legal compliance sit with the board of Trustees, freeing Local School Council members to focus their energy on actually delivering the vision and ethos of the school.
The Trust Board is permitted to exercise all the powers of the Academy Trust. The trustees determine whether to delegate any governance functions and have the right to review and adapt its governance structure at any time, which includes removing delegation.
The Trust Board is led by the Chair of the Trust and meets four times a year. The Board currently has 6 Trustees. Trustees are appointed for 4 years per term and the Chair of the Trustees is elected on an annual basis.
Local School Councils exist to challenge and support the school in delivering the vision of the Trust and to ensure each school has a distinct local identity that is relevant to and reflective of the community they serve.
There are currently two Board committees focusing on Finance and Audit as well as Education and Standards. Committees meet a minimum of four times a year. The Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee is Paul Williams and the Chair of the Education and Standards Committee is Dan Rouse. The Trust also has a Policy Working Group made up of Trustees and the school Principals that assesses all Trust and school policies and prioritises their production and/or review as necessary. The Working Group assigns policies to appropriate parties within the Trust to be written or updated as required.
The committees are made up of Trustees and key employees (and later, Chairs of the Local School Councils) from across the Trust. This structure will continue to grow in line with the growth of the Trust, and we will increase the number of committees to allow the Trust to continue to govern effectively.
Please see the 'Our Board and Members' page for further information.
The Trust's schedule of delegation is provided below. If you would like any further information please contact our Trust office.