Knowleswood Primary
School and Nursery

Governance with Exceed Academies Trust

Governance within Exceed Academies Trust

There are three layers of governance within Exceed Academies Trust:

• Members – responsible only for fundamental decisions such as changing the constitution of the academy trust.
• Trustees (Directors) – have ultimate responsibility for making strategic decisions about the day to day running of all the schools in the Trust.
• Governors – support the Trustees by monitoring and challenging the performance of each school at a local level.

Each school has a Local Advisory Board (in some cases a more focussed interim board will be implemented to support rapid improvement), which has delegated responsibility for monitoring the day to day running of the school. The LAB is made up of the Governors of the school. Some Governors are appointed by the Trustees whilst others are elected by parents or carers of pupils at the school or by staff. A LAB usually includes:

• A representative of the Trust;
• The Headteacher;
• 2 Parent Governors;
• 2 Staff Governors;
• 3 Trust Appointed Governors (“Co-opted Governors”).

For further information about governance within Exceed Academies Trust please visit the Trust’s website by clicking here.

Our School’s Interim Education Board

Before joining Exceed Academies Trust, the school was part of a Federation with one governing board overseeing two schools. When Knowleswood joined Exceed in May 2023, it was agreed that the arrangement would continue, however, in March 2024, the Board of Trustees took the decision that one board overseeing two schools was not supporting Knowleswood effectively and that an Interim Education Board (IEB) would be implemented for the school consisting of skilled professionals to provide interim expertise and high-quality governance which will support future improvement at all levels at the school and promote high standards of educational achievement. The IEB will perform the functions of governors until such time there is evidence of sustained improvement and sufficient capacity at senior leadership level for the school to continue to improve. At this point, arrangements will be made to transition towards a Local Advisory Board as referred to above.

 

Our governors act as the critical friend of the headteacher and senior leadership team, and provide support and challenge to ensure effective running of the school.  Their key responsibilities include:

• ensuring the quality of educational provision;
• challenging and monitoring the performance of the school;
• ensuring good financial health and probity;
• supporting the SLT in management of staff.

 

In order to fulfil these responsibilities, our IEB will:

• help the school to set high standards by planning for the school’s future and setting targets for school improvement;
• keep the pressure up on school improvement by monitoring and evaluating the progress the school is making towards it’s set aims and objectives;
• be a critical friend to the school, offering support and advice;
• help the school respond to the needs of parents and the community;
• make the school accountable to the public for what it does;
• work with the school on planning, developing policies and keeping these under review;
• exercise its responsibilities and powers in partnership with the headteacher and staff;
• not intervene in the day-to-day management of the school unless there are weaknesses in the school, when it then has a duty to take action.

 

Details of the membership of our Interim Education Board including when they were appointed, their term of office, who appointed them, any relevant business and pecuniary interests and record of attendance over the last academic year can be found on the ‘register of interests’ link.

 

You can contact the Chair of our Interim Education Board via the school by calling 01274 778177 or emailing office@knowleswood.co.uk, or via the Trust’s Governance Team by emailing info@exceedacademiestrust.co.uk.

 

Interested in Being a Governor?

If you feel you could make a positive contribution to the work of our Local Advisory Board, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact our Clerk, who will provide further advice and information, by emailing info@exceedacademiestrust.co.uk.

Current IEB Members and Attendance