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OWN Trust Board Meeting 10.12.24

At its last meeting, the Board of Trustees discussed the annual audit of accounts, CIF bids, staff absence and sickness and said farewell to the Governance and Compliance Manager, Jan Neish, who is retiring.

The December meeting of the trust board has a main agenda item for receiving the annual audit of accounts. Our thanks go to Tracey Richardson for the rigorous and professional manner in which Azets conducts our review each year, for which trustees wished to pass on very sincere and grateful thanks. The process of audit is very rigorous, but the reporting process always allows us to reflect on what we could do better – even though the report this year does not identify any issues to cause concern.


Of course, some issues affect all schools, such as how to best invest our funds without being accused of not exhausting these every year on day-to-day budgets. This is quite a tightrope to tread since academy trusts need reserves for forward planning and sustainability.
Trustees looked at CIF (Condition Improvement Funds) bids that will ensure our buildings stay sound in the light of infrastructure issues that are usually beyond a trust’s reserves. Buildings deteriorate over time and the government intends this fund to be used to keep buildings in good, safe working order. A new range of bids is being made with the help of a specialist company that has expertise in this area. We have been unsuccessful in these bids in previous years.


We discussed staff absence and sickness, which is a concern for many trusts and schools. OWN trust complies with the Burgundy and Green books for sickness absence for teachers and support staff. However, the trust has to manage the sickness levels of all staff across the trust and this is something trustees will be investigating very closely in the next two terms.


Trustees reported on their visits to schools. We discussed how their role as trustees and their visits had a different focus from that of governors. As a small trust, we are fortunate that trustees are not unknown to the schools – but this remains an area that we must improve on. As chair of trustees, I visit every school at least once per half-term and meet with a range of stakeholders, but this is not the norm for trusts. Over the next two terms, I will be working closely with trustees and governors to create alignment in our visits so we can monitor how our strategy is being implemented, how policies are implemented, and how we can identify our strengths and areas for development.


To improve communication between trustees and governors, I will be making regular contact with updates to all parties.


Sadly, this term marks the retirement of Jan Neish as our Governance and Compliance Manager. Our board meeting marked Jan’s retirement with fulsome thanks, a card, and present. Jan has been an incredible member of our team since OWN Trust came into existence. Her knowledge and experience of school and academy governance have been invaluable over these years. It is unlikely that any one individual can be replaced to the calibre of the incumbent/retiree, but to follow Jan means following in the footsteps of a giant. OWN trust acknowledges how difficult this will be so will be working with Peterborough Local Authority over the next two terms to provide clerking with the highly respected and experienced Isabel Clark whilst we restructure our central services team. I am fortunate to have worked with Isabel in our mutual past lives and look forward to benefiting from her wisdom.

By Mary Foreman, Chair of Trustees, OWN Trust