Governance structure
At Oak Learning Partnership we believe that strong governance helps create the best possible environment for children to learn, grow and thrive. As a registered charity, committed to delivering high-quality education across our family of schools, we are guided by a strong sense of public accountability and a clear focus on improving outcomes for all our pupils. Our governance structure ensures transparency, integrity and effective oversight across every aspect of our work. The trust board sets the strategic direction of the trust, ensures resources are used wisely and holds our senior leadership team to account for educational performance and operational excellence.
Everything we do is driven by our mission to improve outcomes for pupils. We are proud to serve our communities and uphold the principles of good governance, always acting in the best interests of our pupils, staff and stakeholders. To support this, we provide high-quality training, guidance and recruitment for governance roles, helping to build a strong, skilled team of individuals who share our commitment to putting children first.
The way we operate as a trust is guided by a number of key documents. Our Articles of Association set out our internal structure and how we are governed. The Master Funding Agreement is our legal contract with the Secretary of State for Education, which outlines the terms under which we run our schools. We also have a Scheme of Delegation, which clearly defines the roles and responsibilities at every level of leadership and governance within the trust.
Committees
Due to the scale of the organisation, it is important that there is a committee that has a detailed focus on the key areas of finance, compliance and risk. The finance, risk and audit committee meets a minimum of twice a year.
Key duties
- Consider policies and procedures to ensure that the partnership maintains proper accounts and related records
- Consider and monitor the partnership’s financial plans to ensure they reflect the strategic plan
- Appoint external auditors
- Provide oversight on internal controls and receive annual internal audit reports
- Receive and monitor strategic risk registers
Each of our schools has a local governance committee. Members of this committee are appointed by the CEO and the executive team and all appointments are ratified by trustees. The LGCs support our headteachers and report to trustees via the educational standards committee.
The LGCs have a specific focus on the quality of education at each school. They support the headteacher and leadership team to devise and monitor the priorities for school improvement, as laid down in the school development plan.
Across the school year the LGCs meet three times and focus on the following areas:
- Quality of the curriculum, teaching and pupil outcomes
- Quality of pupil behaviour and personal development
- Attendance
- Quality of leadership and management
- Safeguarding
- Pupil premium strategy
- Stakeholder engagement
There is a fourth meeting to work with the school leaders to develop the school development plan for the next 12 months.
The LGCs report to trustees on these areas using the LGC report to trustees following each of their meetings. The meeting cycle defines when particular items need to be scrutinised and is one of the key components in ensuring that LGCs carry out their role effectively. The LGC meetings and reports are used to identify areas for LGC members to monitor in their school visits through the LGC Monitoring Protocol.
You can download a full copy of the LGC Handbook here.
The educational standards committee oversees the teaching and learning in each of our schools, looking at pupils' standards and progress and the leadership and management in each of the schools.
Across the academic year the committee meets three times, following the release of data from the schools and the receipt of the reports from the local governance committees. The committee also works closely with the executive leaders responsible for school improvement.