We believe that our primary accountability is to the pupils, parents and local communities served by our academies. Local governance plays an important part in linking our Board of Trustees to those local communities and providing support for our Principals on a day-to-day basis.

During 2023-24, we have been reviewing our approach in this area and we will be putting in place some new structures during 2024-25.

Our Board of Trustees retains accountability for each of our academies in the meantime, alongside our extensive executive governance.

While we are reviewing our approach, many of our academies retain an individual Academy Advisory Council (AAC).

We ask each of our academies to ensure they have in place an effective parental and community engagement strategy, and where we have AACs, their members provide valuable local input to the work of the academy.

Details of the work of our AACs are included on individual academy websites.

The following are deemed to form a part of the formal local layer of Trust governance:

• All members of an Academy Advisory Council in any academy where one exists
• All parents/carers and/or community representatives who are identified as having a specific role within an academy’s parental and community engagement strategy (this status will be granted at the discretion of the Trust Board’s People Committee on the advice of the Corporate Affairs Director and/or the Chief Education Officers).