Governing board

Board of Directors

Role

There is one board of directors (also called trustees) which is the governing body for all the schools within the First Federation Trust. Directors are volunteers.

In trusts, the purpose of governance is to provide:

strategic leadership
accountability and assurance
strategic engagement

The board of directors has collective accountability and strategic responsibility for the trust. It has a focus on ensuring the trust delivers an excellent education to pupils while maintaining effective financial management and must ensure compliance with:

the trust’s charitable objects
regulatory, contractual and statutory requirements (including responsibility for safeguarding and SEND)
their funding agreement

The board of directors recognises that the CEO is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Trust schools and the implementation of policies and the curriculum.

The board of directors meets six times a year and is chaired by Mr Alex Walmsley.

The National Governance Association (NGA) has a short film to explain the role of trustees & governance boards here.

Composition

The composition of the board is as follows:

Foundation directors: at least six positions, no fewer than three appointed by EDEN (Exeter Diocesan Network of Education), no fewer than two appointed by Salisbury DBE (Diocesan Board of Education) and at least one appointed by Bath & Wells DBE. EDEN, Salisbury DBE and Bath & Wells DBE both Foundation Members of the First Federation Trust.
The CEO (appointed as director by the Members)
Two co-opted directors: appointed by directors who are now themselves co-opted director

There must be a majority of Foundation directors on the board. When the Trust adopted new articles in March 2025, it was agreed that current Foundation directors would finish their term of office and the composition of the board would evolve to meet the March 2025 articles Foundation appointment structure over time.

The board has chosen to have parental representation at hub board level. There are parent hub council members from each school on each hub board.

Delegation

The board has chosen to delegate responsibilities (and in some cases, decision powers) to a number of committees, whose remit is explained below. You can find the agreed governance scheme of delegation at the bottom of this page.

Committees

There are currently three main committees of the board of directors with delegated power: the Education committee, the Strategic & Finance Committee and the Audit & Risk Committee.

The Education committee meets five times a year and focus on school improvement, curriculum and inclusion. It is chaired by Mrs Ann Denner. Its remit is:

To regularly review the success of the Trust strategic plan and the schools school improvement plans with a particular focus on outcomes for vulnerable children, and to plan for the year ahead.
To monitor the progress and impact of the Trust school improvement team, in particular around Maths, English, Pupil Premium, SEMH and SEND.
To review the leadership and governance structures of the Trust to ensure they are still fit for purpose and make recommendations for appropriate changes to the board of directors
To consider recommendations made by the hub boards and act on the key points raised by them.
To review the yearly cycle of decision making for recommendation to the board of directors.
To ensure that the Trust educational/child-related policies comply with statutory requirements.

The Strategic & Finance committee meets half termly and focus on strategic planning and resources. It it chaired by Mr Alex Walmsley. Its remit is:

To plan for the year ahead, ensuring resources are used and targeted appropriately.
To review the leadership and governance structures of the Trust to ensure they are still fit for purpose and make recommendations for appropriate changes to the board of directors, in particular to ensure directors have the right standards to achieve a good level of financial health and resources management, in the line with the DfE school resource management self-assessment tool.
To act on requests from schools interested in joining the Trust, ensure due diligence is conducted and make recommendations to the board of directors as to the expected impact on the Trust in accordance with the agreed growth policy.
To review the yearly cycle of decision making for recommendation to the board of directors.
To ensure that Trust non educational/non child related policies comply with statutory requirements.
To monitor Finance, HR and Health & Safety matters and ensure they fit with the strategic plan for the First Federation Trust and that resources are deployed efficiently
To act ensure value for money

The Audit & Risk committee meets termly and focus on internal scrutiny and risk management. It is chaired by Mr Mike Williams. Its remit is:

To act as the Audit Committee for the trust, as defined by the Academy Trust Handbook
To liaise with external and internal auditors, in particular to agree an appropriate programme of internal scrutiny and ensure recommendations from audit reports are implemented.
To ensure information that affects funding submitted by the Trust to the DfE is accurate and in compliance with the funding criteria
To report to the board of directors on significant audit matters.

There are four other committees of the board of directors with delegated powers, which are named according with their remit: the Admissions Committee (chair: Mr Alexander Walmsley), the Executive Remuneration and Performance Management Committee (chair: Mr Alexander Walmsley),the Pupil/Staff Discipline Committee (chair appointed for each meeting o ensure availability and impartiality) and the Complaints/Appeals Committee (chair appointed for each meeting o ensure availability and impartiality) – which meet as needed

Hub Boards

Hub boards have delegated responsibilities but no delegated powers. Their remit is as follows:

Educational performance

To support and challenge trust executive educational leaders for the educational performance of the hub schools and the progress made against the schools’ improvement plans.
To monitor the quality and ambition of the schools’ curriculum, and to consider evidence about how effectively the curriculum is achieving its aims for all pupils.
To review and monitor detailed pupils’ attainment data for the hub schools, and how they compare with national & trust targets and with local, regional and national averages, for the whole schools and for specific sub-groups of pupils (e.g. Pupil Premium children and SEN children).
To monitor the impact of specific funding such as Pupil Premium, additional SEND funding and tutoring on pupils’ progress and attainment.
To monitor pupil attendance and the impact of the actions taken by schools to improve it.
To assess the impact of the trust support on school improvement, including the quality of teaching; the quality and impact of the curriculum; pupils’ academic and personal development, pupils’ behaviour, pupils’ attendance and pupils’ welfare (including the effectiveness of safeguarding procedures).

Ethos and links with parents and the community

To review parental and community engagement (e.g. monitor the outcome of parent forums and how these are followed up)
Where appropriate, to monitor how Church schools are maintaining and developing their Christian distinctiveness and progress against their SIAMS action plan

Risk management

To highlight any new or increasing risks around educational and community matters so that they can be mitigated

You can find more information about the Hub Boards, including chairs, membership, attendance and register of interests here.

Local Academy Committees

These are for schools that wish to retain a local governance body and/or which the board believes would benefit from having a local governance body.

They have delegated responsibilities but no delegated powers. Their role is to be an advocate for the pupils and the school, to be knowledgeable about the key strengths and areas needing improvement at the school, including the curriculum, to monitor the progress made against the school improvement plan, to contribute to the school ethos and to monitor engagement with parents, staff and the wider local community.

Information about Local Academy Committees is available on the relevant schools' websites.

Other advisory groups

Advisory groups are used to inform and support the work of the board. They are not committees of the board of directors.

Ethos groups: please find more information about these groups here.

Parent Council: one for the Trust, composed from at least one parent elected from each Trust school. Please find more information about parent council members here.

Scheme of delegation

The document below summarises the governance structure of the Trust and incorporate the scheme of delegation agreed by the board during their first meeting of the year.