Chair of Governors

at  Ormiston Academies Trust

ROLE OF THE CHAIR

The chair of governors plays a pivotal role in the leadership of an academy, taking on many roles such as leader, confidante and critical friend; ‘critical’ in the sense of their responsibility for monitoring and evaluating the school’s effectiveness, asking challenging questions and pressing for improvement; ‘friend’ to promote the interests of the academy and its students.
Ormiston Academies Trust (OAT) believes that good governance and an effective governing body is vital for the successful operation of an academy. The chair has an important part to play in this by ensuring the governing body works as a cohesive team, setting the vision and ethos of the academy whilst challenging and supporting the senior leadership team and contributing to the strategic leadership of the academy.

KEY DUTIES

The chair of governors will:

• Be responsible for ensuring, on behalf of the Trust, that the LGB is discharging all its delegated responsibilities for the academy within the law and in accordance with statutory guidance.
• Ensure that the LGB also discharges its duties in accordance with OAT corporate policies and strategic vision.
• Ensure that OAT policies and corporate decisions are implemented as directed by the OAT executive team.
• Promote and support the values and policies of OAT with governors, staff, parents, students, community members and academy partner
• Abide by OAT confidentiality requirements at all times.
• Promote, support and implement good governance practice.
• Alert the appropriate contact at OAT at the earliest opportunity regarding any matter or incident that may bring public attention to the MAT (positive or negative) and/or which requires OAT support/intervention.
• Discuss with the OAT regional ED any specific issues with reference to the academy’s budget, admissions, staffing and school improvement targets.
• Attend any planned OAT chair forums and training sessions as appropriate
• Take responsibility for keeping up to date with both local and national developments in education and governance.
• Ensure that all governors and the clerk attend any OAT briefings and training as required/appropriate and that they are keeping themselves up to date with both local and national developments in education and governance.
• Actively participate in OAT’s Delivering Excellence Framework (appraisal process for principals), led by the ED.
• Work with OAT to agree a succession plan for the role of chair of the governing body by identifying and developing leadership talent from within the LGB, knowing where strengths lie and performance needs development.
• Endeavour to foster a culture of diversity, equality and inclusion, so that the LGB recognises and reflects the unique communities it serves by recruiting governors with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, and actively works to support and retain those members.
• Ensure there is fair and effective delegation in place with equal access to opportunity based upon skill and knowledge.
• Treat sensitive or confidential OAT information within the confidentiality requirements of the Trust.
• Establish effective committee structures and membership that reflects the strategic direction of the academy and has the right people with the right skills in the right place.
• Co-operate with other agencies to support academy improvement and to ensure the well-being of children in the community.
• Appropriately delegate roles and tasks, encouraging all governors to support and contribute to the work of the governing body and to concentrate on their strategic role, in particular the priorities identified in the academy development plan (ADP).
• Represent the governing body in its dealings with external parties and be a loyal advocate for the academy
• Encourage all members of the governing body to undertake appropriate training, especially induction training for anyone new to governance
• Participate in the recruitment of the academy principal