About the trust

Barton Court Academy Trust (BCAT) consists of two secondary schools, Barton Court Grammar School, an 11 -18yrs, mixed selective school, rated Outstanding by Ofsted and The Charles Dickens School, an 11-16yrs mixed non-selective school rated Requires Improvement. The trust has been selected to open a secondary free school, a non-selective, 11 – 18yrs school in Canterbury on the former Chaucer School site with a view to opening to Year 7 between 2019 – 2021.

The Charles Dickens School joined the multi-academy trust on 1 March 2017. The trust has over 2000 students 15.8% has free school meals, 7.7% have English as an additional language and 9.65% have special education needs. There is a budget of £9.8 million.

Plans for the future

1. To continue significant and sustained support, challenge and rapid improvement at The Charles Dickens School. To improve to an Ofsted graded Good at the next inspection due within two years.
2. For Barton Court Grammar School to maintain its Ofsted Outstanding status and continue to attract and retain students to its sixth form.
3. To open the free school whilst continuing to provide executive and operational leadership to existing schools. BCAT has extended its leadership team for phase one of expansion but will need to recruit and retain additional senior leaders including an executive layer for future expansion including the free school.

Role summary

Number of positions advertised:

2

Roles 1-2 – Trustee/Non-Executive Director

We require a non-executive director/Trustee to join our already established and experienced Board of Directors to add additional capacity as the Trust grows in size. Ideally, candidates will have experience in Secondary Education with expertise in its practical application to provide additional support and challenge from a different perspective.

Trustees – or non-executive directors - are both charity trustees and company directors of the academy trust. The core functions of their role are: ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction; holding executive leaders to account for the educational and financial performance of a charitable company funded by the public purse.

The board of trustees manages the business of the academy trust and may exercise all the powers of the trust in compliance with its charitable objects, company and charity law.

In the interests of safeguarding, all trustee appointments would be subject to an enhanced disclosure and barring service check.

Person specification

Every trustee is expected to abide by the trust’s code of conduct and the seven principles of public life set out by Lord Nolan: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.

The Competency Framework for Governance (DfE) 2017 details the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for effective governance: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/583733/Competency_framework_for_governance_.pdf

The strategic expertise required for this role includes:

Essential (due to multiple roles, candidates may be accepted who possess one or more of the skills below)

Corporate Governance

Non-executive/ Trustee

Desirable

Growth Management

Succession Planning

Role 1 spec: Education Leadership - Secondary Head level or higher.

Time commitment

8 hours /month minimum.

Role 2 – Trustee/Non-Executive Director

The board require a non-executive director/trustee to join our already established and experienced Board of Directors and to Chair our Finance and Audit and Risk committees. Potential candidates will be experienced accountants/auditors capable of offering support, scrutiny and challenge to the Trust Finance Manager and the executive leadership team.

Person specification

The strategic expertise required for this role includes:

Essential

Audit

CFO/ Finance

Qualified Accountant

Desirable

Corporate Governance

Growth Management

Legal/ Compliance

The board welcomes applicants from audit and finance backgrounds, qualified accountants and ideally with experience or knowledge of school finance.

Time commitment

8 hours /month minimum.

Location of board meetings and trust website

Board meetings will be held at Barton Court Grammar School, Longport, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 1PH.