Future Academies is an educational charity and multi-academy trust which is committed to helping young people succeed in life by setting them up with the best possible education. The Trust was established to improve the life chances of children through an education built on the importance of knowledge-rich teaching by subject experts and an outstanding extra-curricular programme subsidised by the charity, Future. This family of schools has built a reputation for achieving the highest standards for, and raising the aspiration of, all its pupils. Future Academies believes that the culturally literate are able to overcome social barriers and for this reason its schools are committed to knowledge, aspiration and respect.

Built around a family of schools in south Westminster, White City and Hertfordshire, Future Academies currently runs seven secondary schools and three primaries, educating nearly 7,000 pupils in total. Future’s core vision is of an excellent knowledge-rich curriculum, strong teacher training and an extensive education enrichment programme. Its knowledge-rich curriculum is supported by a Curriculum Centre which employs 15 people and develops its own extensive teaching materials to support teachers within and outside of Future Academies. Recently, the Department for Education awarded Future Academies the prestigious £4m Latin for Excellence programme which it will roll out across multiple schools. As Ofsted increasingly focuses on a coherent, sequenced curriculum, Future Academies' work on its curriculum has been very well received.

Future Academies also runs a successful SCITT (School Centred Initial Teacher Training) called Future Teacher Training which recruits high-quality subject specialist graduates. Future Teacher Training has been rated the best in the South of England by the Good Teaching Guide. Many of the teachers which it trains are placed in the Trust’s schools and others including the West London Free School and Westminster City School, and many of these have gone on to be rapidly promoted into leadership positions.

Following a period of growth, a new Chief Executive is due to be appointed and now is an exciting time to join the Future Academies Board of Trustees.

The Trustees of Future Academies 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:

• Policy development and strategic development
• Ensuring sound management and administration of the relevant academies
• Ensuring compliance with legal requirements
• Establishing and maintaining effective internal controls
• Managing resources and monitoring performance
• Helping the Academies to be responsive to the needs of parents, carers and the community
• Setting the Academies' standards of conduct and values as well
• 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.

Strategic Business Development

With an annual income of over £50m, multiple sites and a diverse range of stakeholders, Future Academies is a large and complex organisation. The successful candidate 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 will have overseen substantial growth, and have held a position at the CEO or Managing Director-level. It is also expected that the successful candidate will join the Finance Committee.

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.

HR

The successful candidate will have experience at a strategic level and will bring strong leadership and drive to the Board. They will be able to support and challenge the Board and senior staff, and be able to understand some of the challenges facing the education sector. 

Applicants will advise on various strategic HR and people-related issues as the Trust seeks to develop its strategy for growth and the successful candidate will be able to take a broad view of the development of the Trust as a whole, not just its HR function. 

Candidates could come from the commercial, government, education or non-profit sectors but, most importantly, 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. Previous board-level experience would be desirable.

Marketing / Communications

The successful candidate will be able to take a broad view on efforts to market curriculum materials, including the Latin for Excellence Programme, and advise the Board and Executive on external marketing, including recruitment of staff, as well as internal communication with staff and parents. This person will ideally bring a commercial mindset and be a natural big-picture thinker and innovator. They may bring experience of digital marketing. Previous board-level experience would be desirable. 

As well as sitting on the main Trust Board, this individual will join the Future Teacher Training steering group and offer a balance of support and challenge to the leaders of the SCITT, particular around issues such as their strategy for marketing to potential candidates for the programme as well as schools who take on graduates.  

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.

A list of existing Trustees can be found here. 

There are four Board meetings per year, each of which last for two and a half hours. Trustees are also normally expected to serve one of the Board's committees, which also meet four times per year. The Strategic Business Development Trustee will sit on the Finance Committee, and will be expected to engage in ad hoc communication with the Trust's CEO, and the HR Trustee will be expected to engage in ad hoc communication with the Trust's COO and HR lead. Finally, the Marketing / Communications Trustee will be expected to serve on the Future Teacher Training steering group. This meets three times per year for an hour and a half with a few additional sessions a year for the senior team on marketing / communications generally.

Location

Meetings will take place in person in Pimlico. Candidates will be UK-based.