Our Governance

Falcon Education Academies Trust has been established with a governance and leadership structure based on the Department for Education (DfE) model for multi academy trusts.

We have a Board of Trustees, which is accountable to the Department for Education (DfE) for;

  • Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
  • Holding executive leaders to account for the educational and wider performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff; and
  • Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.

Our Trustees have been chosen for their individual and combined skills and expertise across education, school standards, pupil support and safeguarding, finance, HR, strategy, risk management, compliance and asset management.

Falcon Education Academies Trust is both a company and a charity because legally it is a Company Limited by Guarantee with charitable exemption. This legal status means that any surpluses must be re-invested back into our member academies and cannot be taken as profit or dividend.

The Trust must also comply with the terms of the agreements it has with the Secretary of State for Education and the regulation published by the Department for Education and Education & Skills Funding Agency.

Structure:

Currently, the trust has 3 members but is seeking to broaden this to 5, in line with current recommendations.  The Trust Board itself comprises 6 trustees, beneath which sits the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee (FARC), and individual Academy Councils of each school, all of which meet once every half-term to provide regular scrutiny and support to the Executive Team and academy’ Principals.

The trust has a Scheme of Delegated Authority (SoDA) which sets out the responsibilities of all governing groups and the Executive Team, plus a Financial Scheme of Delegation detailing the powers afforded to these to make decisions on spending. Due to the fact the trust is made up of challenging schools, delegated authority in relation to finance and staffing is limited at Academy Council level, but as schools improve and prepare to move out of the trust, greater autonomy may be reviewed.  Our long-term goals are to create schools with strong leadership and governance who can then sustain high levels of performance so that they remain successful organisations throughout their time with the trust and long into the future.

Please find details of the trust Scheme of Delegation and Financial Scheme of Delegation, Governance Structure and Central Structure:

Scheme of Delegated Authority and Financial Scheme of Delegation

Governance Structure

Central Structure
Copies of other key statutory, legal and regulatory documents and information are published here: