What is a Multi-Academy Trust?

Chorus Education Trust in a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT), which is a charity and company limited by guarantee. A MAT is a single entity established to undertake a strategic collaboration to improve and maintain high educational standards across a number of schools. A group of schools form a single MAT which has overarching responsibility for their governance. The MAT is accountable for the performance of each school in the group, although each can still have their own governing body which operates subject to delegation of power from the MAT.

 

Members

The Members determine the ethos and purpose of the Trust (i.e. the provision of education) and the way it will be governed (which is in the Articles of Association) and will have a right (not an obligation) to participate in governance by appointing and removing Trustees. They also have a right to receive the Trustees’ annual report and accounts and to attend general meetings of the Trust.

You can see a full list of our Members here.

 

Trustees

The Trustees of the Academy Trust are those people responsible for the carrying out of the business of the Trust, i.e. the running of the academies, though management responsibility will be delegated further still to a management board or leadership group made up of executive officers (such as the Executive Headteacher) and the headteachers of the academies. The Trustees are also  the Directors of the Trust, given the Trust is a company, and will be under a fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the Trust. 

Chair of Board of Trustees: John Jex

You can see a full list of our Trustees here.

Trustee Committees

The Trustees manage their work through the following committees:

• Audit and Risk Committee (Chair: Steve Shaw)
• Finance and Resources Committee (Chair: Tony Saunders)
• Quality of Education Committee (Chair: Zoe Sullivan)
• Safeguarding and Inclusion Committee (Chair: Nicola Shearstone)
• South Yorkshire Teaching Hub Committee (Chair: Chris Fox)

Terms of reference for all trustee committees are available in the Terms of Reference for Trust Board Committees document.

 

Local Governing Bodies

Each school within the Trust has its own Local Governing Body. Their powers depend on the Scheme of Delegation agreed with the Trust, which details the decision making powers they have. You can view the details of our Scheme of Delegation here.

In Chorus Trust we believe in 'earned autonomy'. So if a school is doing well, why would we want to change it? Therefore, schools that are Ofsted-rated as 'Good' or 'Outstanding' will have a wide range of powers. Other schools will have more limited powers but would agree an action plan with the Trust to help them achieve a higher rating and an increased range of powers in the future.

You can see a full list of our schools and their Local Governing Bodies here.

You can read more about the terms of reference for our Local Governing Bodies here.