Governance

The Inspire Learning Partnership is a charitable Trust and we are accountable for:

The educational outcomes and welfare of all children attending our schools
The livelihoods of our employees
The prudent management of tax payers money; and
The stewardship of public buildings and land

The quality and effectiveness of our governance is pivotal to ensuring all of those resources are used most effectively in delivering learning opportunities for children and best value to the tax payer.

At the heart of governance in a charity like The Inspire Learning Partnership is the non-executive team, made up entirely of volunteers. These individuals bring their experiences, judgement and accept accountability not for personal material benefit but for the greater public good and in particular to improve the life chances of the pupils in our schools. They fully subscribe to the Nolan Principles for Public Life and the Ethical Leadership Framework.

The law places accountability for the educational outcomes and financial diligence of the Trust firmly with the Trustees and the CEO as Accounting Officer. However, a fundamental principle for us is that effective governance is best delivered as close as possible to the point of impact of decisions. For this reason we have developed a governance structure that delegates significant accountability to our Academy Councils. These bodies provide the overview and scrutiny of the management and governance of our academies. In essence they are responsible for Safeguarding, Standards and Stakeholders.

The purpose of these pages on our website is to provide clarity on the structure by which the different elements of governance work together for the benefit of the whole Trust. We have based our model on our experience and the successes and lessons learned by our predecessors. I have no doubt we will have further lessons to learn over the years as we use this model of effective governance in practice. We will review the details of these governance arrangements annually as a family of Governors: Academy Councillors, Trustees and Members.

Governance Structure

More details about duties and responsibility of our governance can found in the Governance Charter

Memorandum and Articles of Association

More details can be found in the Articles of Association document

Scheme of Delegation

More details can be found in the Scheme of Delegation document

Members of the Trust

The Inspire Learning Partnership has “Members” who are best viewed as guardians of the constitution, changing the Articles if necessary and ensuring the charitable object is fulfilled. The Members appoint some of the Trustees and can exercise reserve powers to appoint and remove Trustees. It is, however, anticipated that this power will rarely, if ever, be exercised. The Academy Trust will ordinarily have at least five Members.

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Current Members
Name	Date of Appointment
Rob Shaw	13.12.23	Worked for ExxonMobil for nearly 38 years and has over 20 years' experience in capital projects and budget management before retiring in 2019. Has a degree in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Business Administration.
Matthew Treagus	01.10.2014	Runs own business as a business consultant specialising in digital channels. Particular interest in supporting the Trust with its business strategy and customer service and has considerable experience in this field
Aldred Drummond	28.09.2016	Extensive experience in residential property and redevelopment. Prior involvement with other Academies Local to the area with a keen long term interest in the success of the local community.
Dr. Fiona Aubrey-Smith	18.01.2017	Experience in school leadership, local authority, advisory work and national and international education consultancy. Sits on a number of education boards in a non-executive director role, Has a regular column for Headteacher Update magazine. Regular contributor to conference panels, books, reports and publications about education and education technology.
Professor Mark E. Smith	01.05.2021	President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton, having joined 1^st October 2019 from Lancaster University where he was Vice-Chancellor for eight years Plays a role in various sector bodies including the current Chair of UCEA, the employers’ association for universities. Mark is also a member of the HESA and HEFCW Boards, chairing the latter’s Research Wales Committee. He is the Senior Independent Member of the Council of the EPSRC, a Council member of the All-Party Parliamentary University Group and a Trustee and Board Member of Jisc. Mark chaired the national review of A-level content 2013-14. He is also a Professor of Magnetic Resonance, a Member of the Ampère Society’s Prize Committee and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. Mark was awarded a CBE in 2019 for his services to Higher Education and Research.

Board of Trustees

The corporate management and trustee responsibility for the actions of the company is vested in the “Trustees” of the Academy Trust (together, referred to as "the Trust Board"), who are company directors registered with Companies House.

The Trustees are personally responsible for the actions of the Academy Trust and the Academies and are accountable to the Members, to the Secretary of State for Education and to the wider community for the quality of the education received by all pupils of the Academies and for the expenditure of public money.

The Trustees are required, as trustees and pursuant to the Funding Agreements, to have systems in place through which they can assure themselves of the quality, safety and good practice of the affairs of the Academy Trust.

Name	Role	Date of Appointment	Term of Office	Appointed by	Trustee Profile
Robert Shaw	Chair of Trustee, Member of: Audit & Risk Committee Pay Committee Business & Finance Committee Remuneration Committee	13/12/2023 as Chair 01/03/2020 as Trustee	4 years	Members	Click for more information about Robert
Christopher Seaton	Vice Chair of Trust Board Member of: People & Culture Committee	01.09.2021	4 years	Members	Click for more information about Christopher
Claire Lowe	Chief Executive Officer	03.09.2014	4 years	Members	Click for more information about Claire
Lyndon Clark	Chair of the Business & Finance Committee Member of: Audit & Risk Committee	25.06.2018 Reappointed for a second term of office on 01.09.2022	4 years	Members	Click for more information about Lyndon
Alex Scott	Safeguarding Trustee Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee Member of: People & Culture Committee	01.09.2021	4 years	Members	Click for more information about Alex
Dr James Adams	Chair of the Education Performance & Standards Committee Member of: Audit & Risk Committee	01.09.2022	4 years	Members	Click for more information about James
Mark Fry	Member of: Business & Finance Committee	31.03.2023	4 years	Members	Click for more information about Mark
Louise Johnson	Member of: Education Performance & Standards Committee	06.02.2024	4 years	Members	Click for more information about Louise

Past Trustees (in the past 12 months)

Name	Date of Appointment	Term Of Office	Appointed by	Date of Resignation
Mr. Tim Sunderland	01.10.2014	9 Years	Members	07.12.2023
Tina Daniel	01.09.2021	3 Years	Members	31.08.2024
Samantha Roberts	01.09.2021	3 Years	Members	31.08.2024

Local Academy Councils

The role of a Local Councillor within a Multi-Academy Trust is an important one.

In developing our governance arrangements, the Trust Board has sought to ensure that the responsibility to govern is vested in those closest to the impact of decision making and that such responsibility matches the capacity of those assuming responsibility.

The Trust Board establishes Local Academy Councils for the Academies, for the most part made up of individuals drawn from the Academy’s community, both as elected and appointed members.

The Local Councillors are accountable to the Trust Board (who in turn are accountable to the Department for Education) as well as to the communities they serve.

Academy Council Structure

Academy Council Structure for Governing a Single School
Type of Member	Number	Term of Office	How they are elected
CEO	1	Indefinite	Ex-officio
Principal of relevant Academy	1	Indefinite	Ex-officio
Co-opted Councillor (including Chair and Vice-Chair)	Up to 4	4 years	By The Inspire Learning Partnership Board of Trustees resolution. The Board will take into account any representations made by the Academy Council when considering the re-election of the co-opted Councillor.
Teaching staff Academy Councillor	1	2 years	Teacher election – secret ballot to be organised by the relevant Academy
Support staff Academy Councillor	1	2 years	Support staff election – secret ballot to be organised by the relevant Academy
Parent Academy Councillor	2	4 years	Parent election – secret ballot to be organised by the relevant Academy
Clerk to the Academy Council	1	Indefinite	To be appointed by the Central Team recruitment processes
Academy Council Structure for Governing Multiple Schools
CEO	1	Indefinite	Ex-officio
Executive Principal/Principals and their chosen representatives	Up to the number of schools represented	Indefinite	Ex-officio
Co-opted Councillor (including Chair and Vice Chair)	Up to 4	4 years	By The Inspire Learning Partnership Board of Trustees resolution. The Board will take into account any representations made by the Academy Council when considering the re-election of the co-opted Councillor.
Teaching staff Academy Councillor	Up to 2	2 years	Teacher election – secret ballot to be organised by the relevant Academy
Support staff Academy Councillor	Up to 2	2 years	Support staff election – secret ballot to be organised by the relevant Academy
Parent Academy Councillor	Up to 4	4 years	Parent election – secret ballot to be organised by the relevant Academy
Clerk to the Academy Council	1	Indefinite	To be appointed by the Central Team recruitment processes

Academy Councils within the Trust

Blackfield and Fawley Academy Council
Kanes Hill and St Monica Academy Council
Hightown Interim Executive Board

If you are interested in becoming an Academy Councillor, click here to download an application form and return it to the respective school.

Register of Interests

ilp register of business and pecuiniary interests.pdf

Funding Agreements

Annual Reports and Financial Statements

Gender Pay Gap Report

Gender Pay Gap Report Mar 24

Dates of Board and Committee Meetings 2024 - 2025

Full Board
Meeting 1: Thursday 5 September 2024
Meeting 2: Monday 14 October 2024
Meeting 3: Monday 9 December 2024
Meeting 4: Monday 10 February 2025
Meeting 5: Monday 31 March 2025
Meeting 6: Monday 19 May 2025
Meeting 7: Monday 14 July 2025

Audit & Risk Committee
Meeting 1: Monday 18 November 2024
Meeting 2: Monday 24 February 2025
Meeting 3: Monday 23 June 2025

Business & Finance Committee
Meeting 1: Tuesday 12 November 2024
Meeting 2: Tuesday 28 January 2025
Meeting 3: Tuesday 11 March 2025
Meeting 4: Tuesday 17 June 2025

Education Performance and Standards Committee
Meeting 1: Friday 20 September 2024
Meeting 2: Friday 17 January 2025
Meeting 3: Thursday 1 May 2025
Meeting 4: Friday 11 July 2025

People and Culture Committee
Meeting 1: Monday 11 November 2024
Meeting 2: Monday 10 March 2025
Meeting 3: Monday 9 June 2025