Established in 2012, Community Academies Trust (CAT) is a multi academy trust comprising 13 primary schools and five secondary schools across three hubs: Tamworth and Lichfield, Warwick and Stratford, and Telford. CAT is well established and known for taking on schools in areas of deprivation and driving a journey of school improvement.

The name Community Academies Trust is derived from the Trust’s main focus and ambition — excellent community education. The Trust is committed to preserving local school identity and ethos, and to adopt strategies for school improvement that build on and enhance local reputation, raise standards and respond to the needs and aspirations of those we serve.

Having grown significantly in recent years, CAT is likely to grow further still but will also focus on a period of relative consolidation following Covid-19. CAT has a strong and established central function, with a team of 18 supporting the trust schools across the realms of finance, operations, estates, data protection, HR and Health and Safety. Over the next years, the Trust hopes to further develop its HR and IT offer.

The Trustees of Community Academies Trust are responsible for ensuring that high standards of corporate governance are maintained. They exercise their powers and functions with a view to fulfilling a largely strategic role in the running of the Academies addressing matters such as:

• Managing a budget of over £50m and monitoring performance
• Creating new approaches to re-engineer schools so that they can remain effective and improve in a challenging financial environment.
• Using the power of education to provide opportunities for children in our most deprived communities
• Ensuring children with special education needs are not left behind
• Working across several local authorities; accounting for a variety of previous practices
• Dealing with the challenges of sponsoring and working with new schools
• Managing the trust’s large portfolio of land and buildings
• Policy development and strategic development
• Ensuring compliance with legal requirements
• Establishing and maintaining effective internal controls
• Setting the Academies' standards of conduct and values
• Assessing and managing risk

Trustees are responsible for setting general policy, adopting an annual plan and budget, monitoring the Academies by the use of the budget and the strategic development plan and making major decisions about the direction of the Academies, capital expenditure and senior staff appointments.

Any appointments to the Board will be subject to DBS and other clearances in line with Department for Education requirements

Community Academies Trust is looking for at least two new Trustees with senior-level, strategic business development and leadership experience to join its Board of Trustees.

With an annual income of over £50m, multiple sites and a diverse range of stakeholders, CAT is a large and complex organisation. Candidates will therefore bring senior-level experience of leading an organisation (or division of an organisation) of a similar or larger scale and complexity. They will bring broad, strategic and commercial leadership experience and the ability to be able to step back and view the big picture. The successful candidate may have overseen substantial growth, and will hold or have held a senior leadership position within a commercial, public sector or charitable organisation.

Applicants will be able to provide scrutiny and robust challenge where necessary, unafraid to ask the difficult questions where necessary, as well as providing a broad, strategic view on matters which come before the Board. Above all, candidates will be aligned with the Trust’s values and bring a passion for transforming the lives of children, and helping them to overcome any barriers that they face.

Ideally these individuals would have some connection to the Midlands and be personally motivated by providing education to the least advantaged.

A list of existing Trustees can be found here. 

There are six Board meetings per year, each of which last for 2.5 hours and currently take place on Wednesday morning — going forward roughly half will be in person meetings and half virtual. Trustees are also expected to join a committee which meets between three and six times per year virtually, again taking place on Wednesday morning. Additionally, there will be ad hoc communication with the Trust's CEO and school visits, as well as an annual strategy day. This amounts to roughly four to eight hours per month minimum. Reasonable, pre-agreed domestic expenses will be reimbursed. The appointment is for a renewable four-year term.

Location
Candidates will be UK-based.