Developing a governance structure that works for your trust

If you're leading governance in a new trust or one that's growing, you'll need to intentionally design a governance structure that works for your whole community. Learn about some of the options and how other trusts have tackled this.

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on 14 January 2025
School types: AllSchool phases: AllRef: 44899
Contents
  1. What to consider before you start
  2. What are our options?
  3. You can combine elements from more than 1 model
  4. Consult with stakeholders
  5. Seek further support from external consultants

What to consider before you start

All academy trusts are made up of at least 2 layers of governance: members and trustees (sometimes called directors because they hold legal responsibilities similar to a company director). However, individual trusts can choose to include additional layers to suit their context.

The structure that will work best for your multi-academy trust will depend on:

  • Where your trust is in its journey – is it a newly formed trust or is it an established trust that is growing rapidly, or about to merge with another?
  • How well your schools are performing:
    • If many of your schools require improvement, your trust board might prefer to retain tighter control, especially if a programme of rapid school improvement is underway
    • If your schools are generally performing well, you may prefer to delegate more decision-making to your local committees

Before you start, answer these questions:

Effective governance allows an efficient flow of