At the centre of improving the experience and outcomes of school pupils is a group of passionate and generous volunteers. As a charitable organisation, NEAT Academy Trust relies on volunteers to be involved in our governance as non-executive directors and governors to help ensure our young people get the best out of their education. The NEAT governance team brings together governors and non-executive directors from diverse backgrounds to play a crucial role in helping to ensure pupils are well-prepared for the next stage in their lives, whether that’s education, employment or training.
Our volunteers tell us they want to make a difference in their community, to give something back away from their day job while gaining valuable experience or to be involved in their children’s education.
What do governance volunteers do?
Check out the following video here: https://youtu.be/h8mjmTPf0v4
Governors and non-executive Directors bring valuable personal knowledge and skill sets to be ‘critical friends’ to our schools.Some know the local community well and offer insight into what it’s like to live and work there and what life is like for our pupils.
Others might bring business skills and an external perspective; they can be sounding boards or bring focus to the future of our pupils and the world of work.
The experiences, insights, and background of our volunteers, whatever they may be, help us better reflect the needs of our pupils, helping children get the best out of education and hit their career aspirations.
“The thing that really stands out for me about being a non-executive Director at NEAT is that everyone feels like we’re all going in the same direction, and there’s a real energy and passion and commitment to improving the lives of young people in the areas that we work in. There’s a great sense of collaboration between all of the schools as well. I think that sharing of knowledge is really important in innovation, and it’s great to witness that and to be part of it.”
Nadia Iftkhar, NEAT Academy Trust Board Director
The governance structure and role
As a multi-academy trust, NEAT has three tiers of governance: Local Governing Committees (school governors), a Board of Directors (trustees), and Members. Members have a largely hands-off role; they ensure the board of directors are doing their jobs effectively. As a mixed multi-academy trust, including schools with and without a religious character, our members include those representing the Church of England alongside those grounded in the communities the trust serves.
The board of directors oversees the trust as a whole. They focus on the performance of all schools and the budget, ensuring pupils get the best education possible.
Local governing committee members (governors) are the eyes and ears of the board, getting to know a school well to understand the strengths and areas for improvement. They do this by talking to pupils, parents and staff about their experiences, comparing this with what the performance data and school leaders say for a rounded picture of the school. Governors share valuable insights with the board to allow trustees to understand how well the school serves pupils and performs.
Local Governing Committee Members (governors), non-executive Directors, and Members have different roles but work together to focus on four key areas:
- Vision and strategy – vision for the future and plans to achieve
- Performance – support and challenge leaders about the performance of the trust and its schools so children get the best education experience
- Resources – oversee the trust’s financial performance and ensure money is well spent
- Engagement – listen to and report to the stakeholders, pupils, parents, staff and wider community
Get involved to support the future of children and the community
Insights, background and experience from a diverse range of people help shape educational outcomes and pupil experience. As a multi-academy trust with eight schools, there are often opportunities to be involved with NEAT as school governor or non-executive director.
Governance volunteers at NEAT describe the experience with a sense of being ‘in it together’ and sharing a commitment to improve the education and prospects of children in our communities.
If you’re looking for ways to become involved in your community, to share your experience, expertise, insight and background to inform improved outcomes for young people, we’d love to hear from you.
Complete our expression of interest form and we’ll provide you with more details and opportunity to have a chat or take a look further. As a governance volunteer at NEAT you’ll get support at each stage with an induction and development programme that includes:
- face-to-face and e-learning development sessions
- opportunity for training and development to learn new skills for personal and professional development
- mentoring from other governors/non-executive directors
- the chance to network locally and nationally with a range of volunteers and education specialists
“Come and see us, you don’t have to be a governor straight away, you can come in and have a look and see what we’re about. Our school wants to better the lives of the children in school and their education and I think we do a really good job. NEAT is a great place to be a governor because we’re friendly and we want to be approachable. We want to do what we can to better the lives and education of the children. We’re trying to reach out to the community, to involve the parents and the people around us, and make it more of not just the NEAT school but a NEAT community.”
Kelly Sherriffs – NEAT Local Governing Committee Member (parent governor)
You can find out more about Governing within NEAT by:
- reading our governor information
- learning about the governance structure and meet other volunteers in our NEAT Governing YouTube Videos