Trust community engagement

Prioritise community engagement and make sure everyone knows their role in it

Making partnership with your communities part of your vision or values means that it will flow through everything you do as a trust. Your scheme of delegation is vital, as it sets out how this will happen in practice. Make sure everyone knows who is responsible for engaging with stakeholders and reporting and acting on the results. 

How to embed your vision

Schemes of delegation in multi-academy trusts

How to approach writing/reviewing your scheme of delegation

How to embed your scheme of delegation 

Nurture effective governance at local level

Whether you call them local governing bodies, local school committees, advisory boards, academy councils or something else, your trust's local tier of governance is ideally placed to engage with stakeholders. Investing in your local governors' skills and efficacy will help them add value, and make sure stakeholder voices are heard where they're most needed.  

Make sure you're visible

As local governors and trustees, you can't engage with staff, pupils, parents/carers and wider communities if nobody knows who you are or what you do. Use our articles to raise your profile with stakeholders.

How to raise your board of trustees' visibility in your trust community

Governor/trustee biographies: template and examples

Engage with purpose

At every level of governance, you should make sure that decision-making is supported by meaningful engagement. When you engage with staff, pupils, parents/carers and the wider community, listen to these stakeholder voices and use your trust's systems to get their insights to the decision-making table.

Find support with the different forms stakeholder engagement can take: