ODBE is involved with the governance of over 20 Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) serving schools across the diocese. It is usual for the ODBE to be a corporate member in all MATs with Church Articles and appoint trustees to the Board of Directors. Each MAT has a ODBE link person to represent the corporate ODBE at member meetings to review the work of the MAT. We seek to strike the right balance of understanding the strengths and development issues but not getting involved in the operational work of the trust.
There are two usual governance models for church MATs, the first is a minority model where ODBE appoints 25% of directors to replicate the voluntary controlled model of school and secondly the majority model, to replicate the voluntary aided model of school, where ODBE appoints a majority of members and directors. Typically VC schools join minority church MATs and VA schools join majority church MATs, although there are some variations and quite a few VC schools have joined majority church MATs.
We continue to ensure that there is a good spread of church MATs across the diocese and ODBE has formed two diocesan MATs itself – Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust (ODST) covering Oxfordshire and parts of Berkshire and Oxford Diocesan Bucks Schools Trust (ODBST) which covers Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes.
If your school is thinking of becoming an academy please get in contact with us at an early stage as formal ODBE consent is required prior to any conversion.
We are ready to support schools which may receive a directive academy order and are required to convert into a sponsored academy.
We ensure that ODBE’s governor appointment policy and procedures are compatible with the differing appointment routes for Directors and LGB governors as set out in the individual articles. We have developed bespoke packages of support for individual MATs to meet their specific needs and priorities, which could include school improvement work, preparation for SIAMS inspections or completing building projects. We ensure support is provided by our highly experienced adviser team for the appointment of headteachers and CEOs within recruitment processes as allowed for within the individual articles.
Contact
Gordon Joyner - Deputy Director
email Gordon Joyner tel: 07801 884401