The Thomas Hardye School Governance

Our Local Governing Body consists of a group of enthusiastic and committed people who volunteer to work in partnership with the school staff to shape the future of the school and to decide the key issues that will help staff to raise standards.

We are particularly fortunate that we have a wide cross section of skills and experience among our governors with representation from parents, staff and members of the community.

Our school is part of Wessex Multi Academy Trust; a single entity established to undertake a strategic collaboration to improve and maintain high educational standards across a number of schools. Our responsibilities as Local Governors are delegated to us by the Board of Trustees for the MAT and these are contained in the Scheme of Delegation.

For more information about governance in Wessex Multi Academy Trust, please click here

More about Wessex Multi Academy Trust Governance

WMAT has three layers of governance. This is to ensure robust leadership, full accountability and to meet the requirements of the Memorandum, Articles of Association and Funding Agreements, which are statutory documents entered into with the Secretary of State for Education. The three layers are: Members, Trustees/Directors and Local Governors. The governance roles are all unpaid, voluntary roles.

Members: The Members are accountable to the Department for Education 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/or remove Trustees. There are five Members of the WMAT and they presently meet termly with the AGM taking place in January.

Trustees/Directors: The Directors set the strategic direction for the MAT and are accountable to the Secretary of State for the performance of schools within it. As charity trustees, they must also ensure that they are complying with charity law requirements. The Directors are appointed for their skills, knowledge or experience and fulfil the four core governance functions:

• Ensuring the clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction.
• Holding the Chief Executive Officer to account for the educational performance of the Trust schools and their pupils and the performance management of its staff.
• Overseeing the financial performance of the Trust and making sure its money is well spent.
• Ensuring the voice of stakeholders is heard.

The Scheme of Delegation details the powers delegated to the different bodies involved in the governance of the MAT and sets out who is responsible for making which decisions within the Trust. WMAT presently has seven Directors that meet monthly during term time.

Local Governing Body: Each school has its own Local Governing Body (LGB) which is a committee of the Trust Board of Directors. The LGB is made up of community representatives and elected parent and staff representatives, with the skills and experience that enable them to support the Directors and Headteachers by adding local context and challenge. This is to ensure that each school offers the very best provision. The LGB have governance functions delegated to them by the Trust Board of Directors for their particular school via the Scheme of Delegation and are accountable to the Trust Board of Directors.

Executive Leadership Team: The Executive Leadership Team are the operational management team of the MAT, employed to ensure excellent education and effective deployment of resources for all schools within the MAT.

Meeting Attendance 2023/24