Candidate Brief

Chief Executive Officer Federation

F 1

Contents

Message from the Chair ...... p.4 About Federation ...... p.5 The Role and Key Responsibilities ...... p.6 How to Apply ...... p.8

2 “We are determined to be a high performing and successful Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) that delivers the very best educational experience for pupils” Dr Jeremy Reynolds: Chair, Sharnbrook Academy Federation

3 Message from the Chair, Dr Jeremy Reynolds

The Sharnbrook Academy Federation (SAF) is driven by a moral purpose to act in the best interests of the children educated within its academies.

We are determined to be a high performing and successful Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) that delivers the very best educational experience for pupils from early years to post-16 and so improve the life chances of all of them.

We believe that every child has the right to access a great education. This means a commitment to working collaboratively and effectively using everyone’s strengths to meet a common aim. We are also committed to ensuring that the academies and all staff are well managed with a clear business model delivering the efficiency, effectiveness and challenge required to ensure that academy improvement is at the forefront of everything we do.

Following the decision of Iain Denning to retire as Chief Executive, we now seek to appoint a Chief Executive Officer to lead the executive team and work closely with the Principals, key staff and trustees. This appointment will be for an initial six month period but with the possibility of extension. We will welcome applications from a range of backgrounds who are able to demonstrate excellent leadership and management experience and the confidence to take us forward during a time of challenge and change in the world of education.

4 About Sharnbrook Academy Federation

Sharnbrook Academy Federation (SAF) is a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT), a charitable trust and a company limited by guarantee based in . It exists to provide an outstanding education for all of its pupils, putting their progress at the heart of everything it does.

Formed in 2009 with its initial group of Sharnbrook Upper School, Harrold Priory and Lincroft Middle School, SAF has grown to become a successful and locally based MAT comprising of two secondary (Sharnbrook Academy and ) and three primary academies (Great Ouse Primary Academy; Harrold Primary Academy and Oakley Primary Academy) with plans for further expansion. SAF also runs an initial teacher training arm and a trading company: SAF MAT Trading Limited.

MATs and academies that work together collaboratively are in the best position to improve education for all the children in their care and to provide an outstanding educational experience for each individual pupil and SAF strives to build effective network partnerships to inform and strengthen its practices with other high performing MATs, academies and practitioners locally and nationally. Sharing best practice is a key focus for SAF.

SAF has a passion for seeing all its children succeed and is guided in all its decision-making by one question, “Is this in the best interests of children?” – with one group of children educated across a number of sites and we seek to ensure parity and consistency of our offer to all of them. This question does not just relate to academic attainment. It also underpins the strong duty of care to ensure that children’s wellbeing and self-esteem as learners and citizens are nurtured and supported by strong pastoral and ancillary systems.

SAF expects that colleagues will strive for excellence in every aspect of their work and will act with integrity in any professional context both within SAF and as ambassadors for SAF with stakeholders.

5 Each academy is supported in its work by a local governing body (LGB) made up of representatives from key stakeholder groups. The SAF Board delegates certain powers and duties to the LGB but retains accountability at all times. The LGB monitors the performance of each academy in terms of standards, progress and outcomes as well as acting as a critical friend to the Academy Principal, providing robust challenge where appropriate. SAF removes the statutory and financial responsibilities that can divert so much time and energy from academy life by dealing with them centrally.

The MAT Board has three areas of work. It 1. remains accountable for standards in the MAT as a whole with powers of intervention if high standards are not maintained; 2. is responsible for the finances of the MAT; 3. sets the overall strategy and direction of the organisation. The ambition is to be a known and respected educational leader, recognised for excellent student outcomes and the impact of its educational collaboration.

Leadership and Governance Structure

As a Charitable Trust, the Board of SAF complies with charity and company law requirements. The Board has three core functions: • to remain accountable for standards in the MAT as a whole. It retains powers of intervention if high standards are not maintained; • to be responsible for the finances, ensuring the financial probity and setting the strategic direction of the Trust; • to be responsible for all the academies within the Trust. The Board delegates functions to committees through a Scheme of Delegation.

To meet its strategic objectives, the Trust will ensure that:

1. pupil outcomes are continuously improving and exceeding previous performance and national expectations; 2. structures for governance and leadership of the Trust are clear and directly impact on the quality of provision within the MAT; 3. high quality professional development underpins its development; 4. facilities on all sites are developed to enable the academies to thrive as centres of learning in the 21st Century; 5. it has a sustainable growth plan.

The Role and Key Responsibilities

Reporting to the Chair and Board of Trustees, the Chief Executive Officer is the Trust’s Accounting Officer and will lead the SAF Executive Team which comprises: Fiona Sanders-Hewitt (Chief Financial Officer); Tracy Bannister (Governance and Operations Director and Company Secretary) and Peter Rose (Director of Education and Learning). Other key responsibilities are to:

6 • be responsible for the overall health, sustainability and development of Sharnbrook Academy Federation (The Trust), its funding and managing all the Trust’s relationship with stakeholders and statutory bodies; • build and manage effective professional relationships with all stakeholders at executive level to support the aims and values of the Trust; • manage all Principals and ensure each academy is able to demonstrate continuous improvement structure for all pupils across the Trust academies and to work with them to prepare for Ofsted inspections (during 2020-21 there will be one inspection and one secondary), working closely with the Director of Education; • provide high quality leadership and management of all the Trust’s functions to enable the Trust to run smoothly, efficiently and effectively in the delivery of its core aims; • ensure that the Federation and its local governing bodies adhere to Ofsted expectations of governance through working closely with the Governance and Operations Director and Company Secretary; • ensure that Safeguarding and Child Protection are constantly monitored and that any required actions are taken promptly and in consultation with the Chair and trustees; • work with the CFO to ensure sound financial management across the Trust so that public money is safeguarded at all times and used appropriately, economically, efficiently and effectively; • develop effective mechanisms and processes to plan, monitor and review all financial aspects undertaken by the Trust in order to deliver effective reporting to a variety of stakeholders both internally and externally; • keep the Trust Board up to date with the latest inspection and safeguarding changes, statutory requirements as well as provide briefings on performance, strategy and outlook where appropriate; • work with the CFO to ensure that Trust Accounts (including those for all associated organisations) are prepared in timely fashion; • work with the Trust board and executive team to develop the Trust’s three year plan as well as assessing future partners for the expansion of the Trust and, should the Trust reach that stage, to carry out the early stages of any partnership agreed; • assess broader opportunities for expansion of the trust, including partnerships with other trusts and opportunities for individual schools to join SAF.

The Candidate: Skills and Experience

The ideal candidate will be an experienced educational leader with experience of leading an academy or MAT.

They will also demonstrate clear evidence of:

• managing both teaching and support staff across different sites, ideally with familiarity with sector specific financial processes (possibly through membership of a school or MAT board); • an ability to adapt systems and processes to incorporates the current and ongoing challenges presented by Covid-19 to ensure the safety of staff and pupils;

7 • communicating effectively and clearly at a senior level within an educational setting with a board and executive team; • excellent strategic planning skills and the ability to engage well at all levels of an organisation and to secure the best outcomes from all; • strong evidence-based decision-making skills through engaging with key stakeholders in planning processes; • able to work to deadlines and engage and involve others in a timely way, both in terms of direct reports and the wider SAF team; • team working, a commitment to personal professional development and that of others and a commitment to the wider community.

Terms and Conditions

This is an interim role which will be offered for an initial six month period, with the possibility of extension by mutual agreement. The role will ideally be full time but the board would consider a 0.8 contract for the right candidate.

For the foreseeable future, the role may be partly home based and working remotely via Zoom and Teams will be important requirements.

The salary is likely to be in the range £100-120,000 depending on experience.

How to Apply

Sharnbrook Academy Federation has retained Wild Search to advise them on this appointment. To discuss the role, requirements and your possible candidature further please contact Edward Wild or Amy Wevill on 0207 233 2230 or by email: [email protected] to arrange a call.

To apply, please email the following Word documents to [email protected]:

1. Your current CV (including names and contact details of three referees, none of whom will be contacted without your prior consent and only after shortlisting), including other appointments currently held or applications pending;

2. A short covering note of 750-800 words setting out your interest and experience and its relevance to the role.

Sharnbrook Academy Federation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff to share this commitment. Applicants will undergo appropriate child protection screening including checks with past employers, the Disclosure and Barring Service and the list of those prohibited from teaching or working within the profession.

The deadline for applications is 12 noon on 8th September.

Following a shortlisting meeting, candidates who are shortlisted will be notified immediately. Interviews will be held during the week beginning 14th September and it is hoped that the appointed candidate will be able to start work on 1st October.

8