Meet the Trustees (governors)
Welcome to our Trustees (Governors)' section
All to Note:
On 1st March 2024, the Board of Trustees of Ash Field Academy unanimously approved that the academy should join the Discovery Trust.
Link to the Discovery Trust: Home - Discovery (discoverytrust.org)
The academy is slowly harmonising itself with the scheme of delegation and governance regulations of the Discovery Trust and anticipates moving to an Advisory Board of that trust in September 2024. Information on this area of the website will be updated as this harmonisation progresses.
Welcome to this section of our website where you can find out more about our trustees (school governors) and their role.
Being a trustee is a voluntary position but it is an incredibly worthwhile role. There is certainly much reward in assisting the school to deliver a high-quality education to pupils and in promoting their welfare.
Governing bodies (trustees) work closely together, and with the Principal, and are responsible for a wide range of strategic matters including ensuring pupils receive high-quality education, setting the aims and objectives for the school, planning for future development and improvement of the school, and for the robust accountability, oversight and assurance of the school’s educational and financial performance.
Together with the Principal and other members of the senior leadership team, trustees work to ensure that Ash Field Academy achieves its vision to provide exceptional education and care/support so every pupil reaches their potential. Trustees are actively involved in all areas of the school and bring a range of skills and experience from their personal and professional lives.
The Governors Handbook (issued by the Department of Education) states that a governing body has three core functions:
• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
• Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation (school) and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff; and
• Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation (school) and making sure its money is well spent.
The document below provides further information about the role of the governing body (board of trustees).
Trustee Recruitment
Information on how to join our board of Trustees can be found within the Trustee advertisement PDF below.
Any PDF document can be translated into another language by Google Translator, a link to the translator and instructions on how to use it can be found in our policies section, by clicking on the link below:
Our Full Governing Board (Board of Trustees) comprises of a Chair, Vice-Chair and other trustees (governors).
These include an ex-officio trustee (the Principal), parent trustees, and co-opted trustees.
Full details of the structure of the academy up to 1 March 2024 can be found in the academy's former Articles of Association which are published on the Funding section of the website.
The academy joined the Discovery Trust on 1 March 2024 and is slowly progressing full implementation of the Discovery Trust's scheme of delegation which is detailed below.
Information regarding current trustees (governors) is given below.
The Resources, Audit and Risk Committee operated until 1 March 2024, its remit was around finance and audit in addition to delegated responsibility for resources, such as staffing and premises. The delegated authority of this committee is outlined within the academy's former Scheme of Delegation which is detailed below.
The responsibility for the financial affairs of the academy moved to the Board of Trustees of Discovery Trust on 1 March 2024 and the scheme of delegation for Discovery Trust is detailed below.
Scheme of Delegation
Ash Field Academy joined the Discovery Trust on 1 March 2024, the Board of Trustees is slowly harmonising itself with the Trust's scheme of delegation and anticipates the move to an Advisory Board will be completed by the new academic year.
External Review of Governance Report July 2022
The Board of Trustees (Governing body) commissioned this external review of governance during 2021-22 from the National Governance Association (NGA) which represents governing bodies at a national level. Trustees wanted to gain an independent view of their current effectiveness and to support the next stage of their development as a board of trustees in the areas of governance arrangements and strategic leadership of Ash Field Academy Trust.
Information on the National Governance Association (NGA) can be found on their website via the link below.
Chair of Trustees (Governors)
| DanielSlavin | dslavin@ashfield.leicester.sch.uk
Please direct any written correspondence to:
Chair of Trustees Ash Field Academy Broad Avenue Leicester LE5 4PY |
Governance Professional | Mark Shaw |
mshaw@ashfield.leicester.sch.uk
|
Trustee (Governors) Details for the 2023-24 Academic Year
Trustees Name | Role/s and Responsibilities | Business Name | Nature of Business | Nature of Interest | Post Began |
Dr Daniel Slavin Trustee | Trust-appointed Trustee / Governor
Chair of Trustees
Committee Chair of RAR (30.10.23)
Link Governor Responsibilities: Careers | General Medical Council | Registered | 26/10/21 | |
Tracey Lawrence (Prefers Tracey) | Principal Trustee (Governor)
| Little Beam Foundation
Little Beam Ltd
Chartered Teaching Council
The Childrens Hospital School | Charity
Publishing
Education
Education | Trustee
Director
Member
Governor | 25/05/2023 |
Dr Rachael Straub Trustee | Parent Trustee (Governor)
Link Governor Responsibilities Pupil Premium |
|
|
| 06/05/2021 |
Susan Orme (Prefers Sue) Trustee | Parent Trustee (Governor)
| Tyson Spraybooth Services |
| Director | 09/12/2022 |
Susanne Francis (Prefers Sue) Trustee | Vice Chair of Trustees
Co-opted Trustee (Governor)Resources, Audit & Risk
Link Governor responsibilities: Resi | Rosebank Services Ltd
Woodland Grange Primary School | Property Developer
Education | Managing Director
Governor | 28/09/2020 |
Denese Daley-Cole Trustee | Member Appointed Trustee (Governor) | 11/12/23 |
Ex-Governors' Details (retained for one year after the date of resignation)
Governor's NameXXXXXXXXXXXX | Role/sXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX | Business Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | Nature of Businessxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | Nature of Interest | Post Began |
Tracey Lawrence (Member of staff) | Accounting Officer | As recorded above | As recorded above | As recorded above | Ended 01.03.24 |
Nicola Edwards (Member of staff) | Chief Financial Officer | None | None | None | Ended 01.03.24 |
Shafraz Nizam | Trustee / Governor
Link Governor responsibilities: IT / Technology / Data Protection / GDPRV | Aero Cyber Aero Cyber Reality West Bromich Building Society NDA Community Services | Cyber security and cloud consultancy Real Estate Land Security Architect | Director Director Director Trustee | 20/01/2023 Resigned 31/03/2024 |
Kathy Inskip | Chair of Trustees / Governors Community Governor Resource Audit and Risk
Link governor responsibilities - Attendance Artsmark Safeguarding Children Looker After Resi Improvement Plan SIP Priority Independence | None | None | None | 30/11/2008 01/12/2012 02/12/2016 06/11/2020 Resigned 28/03/2024 |
Catherine Gough | Trustee / Staff Governor | Frozen Light Theatre | The Arts Company (Charity) | Trustee / Company Director | 16/12/2019 Resigned 23/08/2023 |
Barry Moore | Trustee / Governor Link Governor: Residential | None | None | None | 31/10/2014 Resigned 23/08/2023 |
Members Details
Members Name | Role/s and Responsibilities | Business Name
| Nature of Business | Nature of Interest | Post Began |
William Shepherd Prefers (Will) | Member of the Academy Trust | Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
ILLIFE Media Group Ltd KM Media Group Ltd ILLIFE Media Publishing Ltd KENT Online Ltd KM Direct Ltd Cherry Holt Holdings Ltd | Institute
Media Group Media Publishing Media
Media Property | Member MCIMA
Director
Director
Director Director Director Director | 11.05.21
|
Kathryn Inskip Prefers (Kathy) | Member of the Academy Trust
| None
| None
| None
| 12.03.12
|
Allan Dunsmore | Member of the Academy Trust | None | None | None | 06.12.13 |
Miles Carter
| Member of the Academy Trust
| Connected Learning
John Milton Academy Trust MEC Consultants
ICAEW
| Trustee
Member
Consultant
Life Member | Trustee
Member
SRMA which is accredited by DfE
Member | 02.07.22 |
Company Officers
Name xxxxx | Role | Responsibility |
Chief Executive Officer Discovery Trust | Accounting Officer | Moved to Discovery Trust on 01.03.24 |
Board of Trustees Discovery Trust | Chief Financial Officer | Moved to Discovery Trust on 01.03.24 |
Companies House Registration No. 07988444.
Meeting Agendas 2023-2024 Academic Year (Current)
Meeting Agendas 2022-2023 Academic Year (Previous)
Trustee (governors) Meeting Attendance The Academic Year 2023/24
Trustees Nameaaaaaa | 14/09/23 FGB01 | 09/11/23 FGB02 | 18/01/24 FGB03 | 07/03/24 FGB04 | 25/04/24 FGB05 | 27/08/24 FGB06 | 11/12/23 AGM | 30/10/23 RAR01 | 08/02/24 RAR02 | 16/05/24 RAR03 | 27/06/24 RAR04 |
K Inskip | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
T Lawrence (Principal) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |||
S Francis (Vice Chair) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
R Straub | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||
D Slavin (Chair) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |||
S Orme | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |||||
S Nizam | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | ||||||
D Daley Cole | Yes | Yes | |||||||||
Members Name | |||||||||||
M Carter | No | ||||||||||
W Shepherd | Yes | ||||||||||
K Inskip | Yes | ||||||||||
A Dunsmore | Yes | ||||||||||
Governance Professional | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FGB - Full Trustees (governors) Board Meeting
RAR - Resources, Audit and Risk Committee Meeting
(Please note: Governors with Grey Zones are not members of the RAR Committee)
Governors' Meeting Attendance Previous Academic Year
Governors Attendance Record for the Previous 2 Years
Some words from a few of our Trustee (governors) on why they are doing their roles:
Sue Francis
Hello, I am Sue Francis and I have been a governor at Ash Field for nineteen years. Before retiring I worked as a Business Manager at a county primary school, where I worked for 25 years, including several years in the classroom. I was also a governor there for 18 years so, I believe, I have useful experience to offer Ash Field.
It took very little time for me to realise what a special place Ash Field is and it is a pleasure and privilege for me to be able to work with staff and pupils. |
Daniel Slavin
My name is Daniel Slavin, I joined the board in October 2021. I am a Junior Doctor working in the East Midlands.
Outside of medicine, I have an interest in inter-professional working and believe strongly in the power of education.
Ash Field Academy is clearly a place where education and opportunity for our pupils is at the heart of what the school is trying to achieve and I look forward to the opportunity to support the school going forward. |
Sue Orme
Hello, I am Sue Orme and this is the second time I have volunteered to be a Parent Governor at Ash Field Academy.
I remain equally passionate about helping to support the academy, its pupils, and its families.
I am a Director of a Company I own with my husband, which manufactures and sells equipment to the motor trade,
I love traveling and cruising on the family's narrow boat. |
Rachael Straub
Hello, I am Rachael Straub and I have been a Parent Governor since 2021. I trained as a research scientist, worked in university grants administration, and spent ten years as a manager with Citizens Advice. I'm now a full-time carer for my daughter.
I thought I knew Ash Field fairly well, but I've learnt so much since becoming a governor. It really is an amazing school with staff and students who work incredibly hard to achieve their best. |