The Diocese of Coventry Multi Academy Trust was incorporated in 2013. Highlighted as a leading diocesan trust and a model of good practice by the Department for Education in 2016, the Trust is now home to nineteen academies spread across the Diocese of Coventry. This makes it one of the 150 largest multi-academy trusts in the country.

The core mission of the Trust is to build a better future for all within its academies, who in turn will positively impact their communities. Each academy is an inclusive environment supporting pupils from all faiths and none, reflecting the communities each academy serves. The Trust is fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all its pupils and staff, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Its vision, “together, pursuing life in all its fullness”, is represented within the Trust's academies as embracing excellence and academic rigour, and offering opportunities for children to realise their potential and flourish.

The Trust has achieved significant successes since its incorporation. The most recent academy joined in February 2021 and this grew the Trust to 19 Church of England academies, 4,500 children and 800 members of staff across the Diocese of Coventry. The Trust's team has delivered growth and tangible academy improvement, evidenced by the Ofsted ratings. An academy has never dropped an Ofsted grade under its management and the Trust's most recent SIAMS inspections resulted in one excellent and one good judgement.

As the Trust looks to the future, it aims to develop an outstanding school improvement service. The Trust’s Deputy CEO - Education is developing a long-term strategic plan which aims to ultimately reduce exclusions, ensure a consistent, equitable and sustainable offer in every academy, enabling all pupils to access a broad, balanced, and rich curriculum and support staff-wellbeing and professional development. The project will focus on development of SEND provision, inclusion, a recovery curriculum following Covid-19, staff wellbeing and staff training. The Trust will also look to build partnerships with credible organisations locally and nationally.

As the Trust's central support structure and pupil numbers continue to grow, its Board has recently signed off a new strategy. This is an exciting time for the new Director to join the Trust as it is on the verge of another period of growth and reviewing its school improvement offer.

Directors of a multi academy trust fulfil the role of both Directors under company law and Trustees under charity law.

In short, their responsibilities are to work closely with the Chief Executive Officer to:

• Ensure that there is clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
• Hold executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the Trust and its pupils and the performance management of staff
• Oversee the financial performance of the Trust, making sure its money is well spent
• Ensure that the voices of stakeholders are heard
• Ensure compliance

Directors must monitor the priorities that have been set to ensure that progress is being made by:

• Measuring the Trust’s impact and progress towards its strategic objectives
• Ensuring that the required policies and procedures are in place and the Trust is operating effectively in line with these policies
• Holding the senior executive leader to account for standards, financial probity and compliance with agreed policies
• Evaluating relevant data and feedback provided by senior executive leaders and external reporting on all aspects of trust performance
• Asking challenging questions of the senior executive leaders in order to hold them to account
• Ensuring that there are policies and procedures in place to deal with complaints effectively

The Diocese of Coventry Multi Academy Trust is looking for a new Director with a background in special education needs.

The individual will have expertise in the area of special education needs and disabilities. This could, for example, be from experience as a Head of a Special Education School, an Inclusion Lead at a large academy trust, or from having researched this area, as an educational psychologist. They will look at the ongoing work at the multi-academy trust through this expert lens and support and challenge the executive in inclusion matters.

Additionally, the new Director will be comfortable with high levels of accountability for the progress of over 4,000 children. Above all else, this person will care about young people and aspire to make them outstanding citizens, and should at least be sympathetic to the values of the Church of England, and understand the ethos of the Trust.

This role is unremunerated, and reasonable, pre-agreed domestic travel expenses will be reimbursed. There are six Board meetings annually which take place on a Wednesday morning. This person will be expected to sit on the Education and Ethos committee, which holds an additional six meetings per year which take place on a Monday evening. All Board and Committee meetings are currently held virtually. Going forwards, most meetings will be virtual but it is likely that two of the Board meetings per year will be in person. There is also an AGM which takes place in-person in December. The appointment is for a four-year term, which can be renewed at the discretion of the Board.