The Audit & Risk Committee met again on the 21st of May, this time giving the OWN Trust’s next CEO a sense of how we govern risk. Reports were provided on key areas, and we discussed a significant number of positive aspects around audit and risk.

Despite the positives, we have decided to increase the risk score related to Peterborough’s fall in birth rates, particularly with respect to our future funding. As we have mentioned before, the OWN Trust teams are continually having to balance limited funds to keep the schools running smoothly and, for a final time as the outgoing Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee, I would like to applaud them for the amazing job they do. The Trust is continually looking for grants to make permanent improvements, but they are in short supply and so prioritisation is becoming a critical skill, enabled by some in-depth reporting.