In this blog, Emma Hawker – Vice Chair at Southend East Community Academy Trust – shares her insights on preparing for the role of academy trustee. From understanding the academy trust’s structure to building connections across schools, Emma offers practical advice she found invaluable along the way.
For me, becoming an academy trustee was a huge privilege. Knowing I was being trusted to take on an important role that could positively impact thousands of people in my local community was both exhilarating and intimidating. Even though I had already sat on the academy committee of one of schools in the academy trust, I knew there was still a lot I had to learn. Nearly two years on, I am still learning. I believe I will continue to do so throughout every term I serve.
This is my first recommendation in preparing for role:
Learn about the trust’s structure and culture
I knew I wanted to learn more about how the academy trust was organised and interacted with each school. While I knew about some of this as a local school governor, I didn’t know if it was the same across all the schools.
I started by familiarising myself with the academy trust’s vision, strategy and priorities. I complemented this by reading key documents such as the strategic plan, an organisational structure chart, and the scheme of delegation. This helped me to understand how the academy trust recognised and responded effectively to each school’s specific challenges and strengths. By learning more about the values and intentions of the academy trust, it helped me understand what my role would look like in supporting this.
It also helped me understand different roles and responsibilities individuals held across the trust. I was able to have conversations and ask questions about how and why we do things the way we do. This gave me insight into decision making and delegation across the academy trust.
The Governors for Schools Trustee Recruitment Service eLearning ‘Becoming a Trustee’, developed with the Confederation of School Trusts, talks about the kind of documents that can help you get to know your academy trust. This eLearning piece is freely available to all.
My reading and research, alongside the conversations I’d had, encouraged me to understand the needs of the school communities better. This leads me to my second recommendation:
Understand and engage with school communities across the trust in your role as an academy trustee
The thing I was most apprehensive about was knowing each school well enough to carry out my role effectively. This was unlike my local governance role, where all my focus was on one school. I needed to know the needs and priorities of each school so I could provide effective challenge and scrutiny.
I started by meeting with members of the executive team and visiting the schools as I was able to. Wherever possible, I would encourage anyone starting out to have conversations with the local board of governors at each academy. They will know that school very well and will help you understand the dynamic between the academy trust board and the local boards, as well as how they can function effectively together.
My academy trust is unique. Our schools are close together, yet they serve very different communities. Each community has distinct needs. Understanding these differences helps me analyse performance and attendance data effectively. Equipped with this knowledge, I can ask trust leaders the right questions. This ensures each school receives the support it needs.
Additional support for prospective academy trustees
The Governors for Schools Trustee Recruitment Service eLearning ‘The First 100 days as a Trustee’, developed with the Confederation of School Trusts, provides further clarity on the kind of data academy trustees need to use to get a picture of what is happening across the academy trust, and how it can be used to provide effective challenge. This eLearning piece is available to all academy trustees appointed via the Trustee Recruitment Service.
One additional benefit of spending more time with school and trust leaders, and the executive team, is that it created opportunities for me to learn how my skills and insight could best support the work of the academy trust. This leads me to my third recommendation…
Work with the board and the executive team to understand how you can have the most impact
No one knows the academy trust better than those who are at the heart of it every day. I feel very fortunate that the trust staff are very dedicated and work extremely hard for all pupils and staff. We also have a fantastic governance professional who’s very good at effectively developing governance across the trust. Part of this involves working with academy trustees to ensure everyone is best placed to use their skills and insights. Having open and frank conversations about areas in which I felt more comfortable and areas I felt less confident made sure I ended up with the right committee and link responsibilities. It opened up opportunities for me to learn from my more experienced academy trustee colleagues. Access to training and support also made me feel more capable of having impact in my role.
The ‘Becoming a Trustee’ eLearning provides some great insight into why it’s so important to have trustees with a variety of skills on the board. Even though you may not realise it, you could have a lot to offer an academy trust board. Find out more about the role and if it’s right for you by completing the Becoming a trustee eLearning.