Castle School Education Trust (CSET)

Castle School Education Trust (CSET) in South Gloucestershire currently oversees four large secondary schools and three primary schools. The board is establishing a trust leadership team to continue to lead improvement and provide capacity for future growth. CSET seeks two non-executive directors with expertise in finance and education leadership to help shape the forward vision that takes the trust to the next level. Board meetings are held at 5pm across the schools in South Gloucestershire.

About the trust CSET is a multi-academy trust formed in 2013 by The Castle School in Thornbury. The trust is responsible for four secondary schools and three primary schools employing 600 staff and with a budget of £26 million and 5,000 pupils. All seven schools are geographically clustered within the area of South Gloucestershire. The trust is keen to emphasise the importance of each of the schools within their local community and works collaboratively with a wide range of partners within the local area and across the region to ensure a high quality of education and support for the pupils and their communities. One of the schools was built as a brand-new Academy to serve a new housing development. The vision which underpinned the founding of the school was for the community to become a Learning Village. Four of the schools originally joined the Trust as sponsored Academies. In the first six years the trust has made significant progress in improving standards in our sponsored academies, as well as developing and embedding new ways of working as a collaborative group of schools. All primary provision within CSET is now judged by Ofsted to be good or better. Although two of the secondary schools have sustained good Ofsted judgements over time and one school has been removed from Special Measures, the trust recognise that there remain some performance issues particularly for disadvantaged students which need to continue to be addressed and is a particular point of focus.

The trust has reorganised and strengthened its organisation over the last year. The board has recently undertaken a rigorous analysis of skills and expertise, resulting in the appointment of seven new trustees under the leadership of a new Chair. To secure continued improvement, the trust commissioned the Ambition Institute to lead a review of the trust at all levels in December 2019. The review was very positive about the progress which has been made by the trust and gave some clear recommendations to help accelerate that progress. The trust has created a Trust Leadership Team by appointing a Director of Finance and Operations and a Director of Education to support the CEO. The trust is in the process of standardising and centralising services to ensure that the trust is effective and efficient and that our pupils receive the maximum benefit.

This is an exciting time for the trust, recently securing £14 million capital funding for Castle and Marlwood Schools which will enable the trust to modernise and update facilities including the joint Sixth Form provision. The primary schools are rapidly expanding and CSET is actively pursuing opportunities to support additional schools and develop new provision in the area.

Plans for the future

Short term priorities for the trust are: - Re-connection as pupils and staff return to school in the autumn. - Fully re-opening all schools but being flexible. - Retaining the benefits of blended learning and use of technology.

Academy Ambassadors © 2020 Medium term priorities for the trust are: 1. Quality of Education: CSET aims to work collaboratively to strengthen all the schools within the trust, foster outstanding professional development for all staff and provide an education for our students which goes beyond that which any school could provide in isolation. 2. Organisational Development and Growth: To support its drive for school improvement the trust has recently appointed a new Director of Finance, Director of Education and Director of Strategy. CSET are actively pursuing opportunities to support additional schools and develop new provision in the area. 3. Estates Management: the trust, recently securing £14 million capital funding for Castle and Marlwood schools which will enable the trust to modernise and update facilities including the joint Sixth Form provision.

Trust ethos & values The trust’s mission is to provide high quality, whole education in a caring environment. They aim to establish and maintain a collaborative network among schools, both within and outside of the trust, who share their values, in order to provide excellent outcomes for all students that no school can achieve alone. They have a strong belief in the importance of collective responsibility for the success of all children in their community and ensure a deep-rooted and continued commitment to inclusive education. More information can be found on the trust’s website:

Role summary Number of positions advertised: 2

Roles 1- 2 Trustee/Non-Executive Director

Trustees – or non-executive directors - are both charity trustees and company directors of the academy trust. The core functions of their role are: ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction; holding executive leaders to account for the educational and financial performance of a charitable company funded by the public purse.

The board of trustees manages the business of the academy trust and may exercise all the powers of the trust in compliance with its charitable objects, company and charity law.

Non-executive directors will be responsible for maintaining stability and the management of a dynamic structure. The role also includes contributing to financial planning for sustainability and potential growth, and holding the CEO/CFO to account.

Code of Conduct Every trustee is expected to abide by the trust’s code of conduct and the seven principles of public life set out by Lord Nolan: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.

The Competency Framework for Governance (DfE) 2017 details the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for effective governance:

Essential Desirable - CFO / Director of Finance - Executive leadership in a complex organisation with multiple sites &/or subsidiaries - Business Development / Change / Turnaround - HR - Audit & Risk - Property and Estates Management - Marketing / Media / PR - Charity law and governance

The strategic expertise required for role 2 includes:

Essential Desirable - Education Leadership at an executive level within a - Data analysis large academy trust &/or across multiple schools - Research Expertise i.e. NLE - Charity law and governance - Extensive expertise of school education in England - Change Management

Time commitment 6 hours /month minimum. Number of board meetings 6/year. 6 committee meetings per year.

Location of board meetings and trust website The board meets 6 times a year (termly) and the three committees also meet termly. Board meetings are held at 5pm at the Partnership Centre, Mangotsfield School, 2 Rodway Hill, Emersons Green, Bristol BS16 9LH. For more information please see the trust website http://cset.co.uk

Governance structure http://cset.co.uk/Directors/Board-of-Directors/ The Board has 3 Committees which meet also termly: - Governance and Standards - Finance and Resources - Audit and Risk Assurance The scheme of delegation is outlined in summary in the Quick Reference Table of Governance Responsibilities November 2019, as published on the website http://cset.co.uk/Directors/Board-of-Directors/

Background on academy trusts Academy schools, which are charities run independently of local authority control, now account for 74% of secondary schools and 31% of primaries – and their number is growing all the time.

Many of these schools are grouped together as multi-academy trusts (MATs). There are currently 900 multi academy trusts of 3+ schools. If the schools are to fulfil their potential, the trusts need non-executives (known in charity law as trustees) to bring a wide range of skills and experience to help guide strategy, ensure their ambitions can be soundly financed and keep their schools up to the mark delivering for their pupils.

Trusteeship is a voluntary, unpaid role for people who have the energy and skills to make a real contribution to shaping the future of our schools. You do not need to have any specialist knowledge of education.

Applications Academy Ambassadors is a non-profit programme which recruits senior business leaders and professionals as volunteer non-executive directors onto the boards of multi-academy trusts.

If you are interested in applying for the role please click on the register now button.

In the interests of safeguarding and in accordance with DfE requirements, all trustee appointments will be subject to an enhanced disclosure and barring service check.

Please note: candidates should live within reasonable travelling distance of the trust and/or have a link with the region. For more information, please call 0207 952 8556 or visit www.academyambassadors.org.

Key dates: application deadline 3 September 2020 We strongly recommend applying as early as you can to have the best possible chance of being considered as we may change the closing date if we have received sufficient applications.