THE HARRIS FEDERATION

(Interview: 22/10/14)

A case study showing a large multi- trust (MAT) with a cluster-based organisational structure. The central board set the overall direction for the Trust and local governing bodies are responsible for the day-to-day governance of schools.

Background

The Harris Federation was founded by Lord Harris of when, in 2003, Lord Harris approached Sir Dan Moynihan, an outstanding headteacher, to lead the city technology college in Crystal Palace. Sir Dan quickly transformed the school, receiving an ‘outstanding’ rating in 2004. Due to this success and the desire to improve the educational standards for more students, the Harris Federation took on two more failing schools in the area and turned them into academies. After establishing a MAT structure in 2006, the Trust now governs 35 schools in close geographical proximity across comprising primaries, secondaries a sixth- form college and a pupil referral unit.

After growing to five schools, it became apparent that Sir Dan could no longer be the full time head of just one school and he was made the permanent Chief Executive of the Harris Federation.

Harris’ vision is to achieve the best possible outcomes for students within their schools and they do this through a tight geographical model.

Structure

Initially (during 2004/5), each academy existed as a part of its own trust with an overseeing central board and members. However, in 2006 Harris moved to a MAT structure and has grown steadily since. They introduced two subcommittees from the main board; finance and general purposes, and audit as well as giving Local Governing Bodies (LGBs) the power to run clusters of schools.

Harris ensures schools are a maximum of 90 minutes away from each other so that they can maintain a strong local focus, easier communication and share best practice. This also enables a number of the LGBs to oversee two schools with the ability to grow. This is decided on a case by case basis. Sir Dan notes that “when Harris takes on a new school, previously in difficulty, we can absorb them into an existing and successful cluster and extend the local board’s responsibilities rather than finding a completely new board of governors.” This ensures continuity and consistency in the quality of governance.

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THE HARRIS FEDERATION

Board Members

“Just as headteachers are held to account, we hold governors accountable for their performance and contributions in board meetings.” - Sir Dan Moynihan, CEO Harris.

In addition to 4 members, Harris has 19 trustees (one of whom is also a member). Most are either retired or current businesspeople with significant business experience enabling them to provide advice on technical matters from legal contracts to accounting and HR.

Harris operates with a strong central board that focuses on the Federation as a whole. Small and effective LGBs govern clusters of schools and use their local knowledge to hold their schools to account, raise standards and achieve excellence.

Harris has found that LGBs with too heavy a focus on representation rather than on expertise and effectiveness can render them less effective. LGBs tend to have 12 to 14 members. This includes two elected parents and a staff member. All other governors are sponsor-appointed governors.

Sir Dan notes that “Harris seeks individuals who are willing to be a ‘critical friend’” and that the majority of governors are business professionals familiar with questioning and challenging as part of their daily lives. This ensures that governors are providing a useful set of skills as well as providing the correct level of support for their academies.

Harris regularly recruits through a governance one stop shop1 which they have found to be an effective way to recruit professionals who have the necessary business acumen (e.g. lawyers).

All local governors are interviewed by the CEO, the most talented of which often assume the role of chair and may be selected to sit on the central board. The central board also monitors LGB meetings to ensure all governors are attending regularly and contributing effectively. Board members that do not attend regularly or contribute in meetings are replaced

Harris runs regular governor training sessions with courses once a month on topics ranging from data interpretation to safeguarding. Principals are actively trained on how to manage and work with LGBs ensuring that governors are presented with timely, useful and manageable information.

1 SGOSS – the governor recruitment charity provides a service whereby governing bodies recruit highly skilled new governors, particularly from the world of work. This service is available, free of charge, to all types of school, including academies.

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THE HARRIS FEDERATION

Schemes of Delegation and Reporting

Central Board

The central board meet termly and are charged with setting the Trust’s vision and policies, maintaining strategic oversight and ensuring that the LGBs perform to the highest standard. They receive recommendations on key issues from the finance and general purposes subcommittees to ensure that Harris as a whole is operating in compliance with regulation. Following recommendations from LGBs and two subcommittees, the central board are also charged with approving budgets for each local board.

LGBs

LGBs also meet termly and will each report their schools’ data to the central subcommittees. They are responsible for the implementation of the central board’s policies, and priorities (which are set collectively by chairmen of governors) and are expected to question, challenge, support and hold academy leadership to account. The LGBs are responsible for ensuring that the academies within their cluster are meeting attainment expectations and raising standards. In addition, they hire the schools’ staff but are only responsible for recommending (rather than approving) the budget; this is set by the central board. In practice no budget to date has been altered. The responsibilities delegated to LGBs are the same throughout the chain.

As many of the chairs of the LGBs also sit on the central board, there remains a strong focus on the schools and the quality of education children are receiving. Governors are held to account and are expected to contribute as part of their role as a ‘critical friend’. The strong connection between the LGBs and the central board means that all aspects of governance are constantly scrutinised.

LGBs should provide highly effective challenge and support to academies. Their model is to operate with a relatively small governing body with as few subcommittees as possible.

Subcommittees

The subcommittees will meet a short time before the central board, who also meet termly, to amalgamate and prepare papers. They are responsible for making technical recommendations to the central board on key issues. This ensures that that the central board can receive accurate, school-specific data whilst still maintaining a strategic overview of the Federation.

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THE HARRIS FEDERATION

Reviews

The success of the Federation, including assessing the effectiveness of their governance structure, is measured on the outcomes for children and Harris conducts regular reviews of governance to quickly highlight any issues with current arrangements.

Key learning points:

 Governors should be equipped with the necessary skills to be effective either through training provided or career background  Governors should be held to account in a MAT system in the same way that schools are and should be changed if they are not willing to contribute.  Have tight systems and controls for managing your finances.

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