The 3 core purposes of trust governance

Get to grips with the 3 purposes of trust governance: strategic leadership, accountability and assurance, and strategic engagement.

Last reviewed on 28 May 2024
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Contents
  1. The first purpose: strategic leadership
  2. You share this responsibility with your trust leadership team
  3. What does this look like in practice?

This article sets out the 3 core purposes of governance for trust boards, as outlined in the academy trust governance guide (section 2.2).

If you're on a maintained school board, see our other article on the 3 core functions for maintained boards.

The first purpose: strategic leadership

This involves:

  • Setting your trust's vision for high-quality and inclusive education (in line with your charitable objects)
  • Establishing and fostering the culture of your trust
  • Setting and championing your trust's strategy
  • Deciding what governance functions are delegated to the local tier

This is set out in section 1.10 of the Academy Trust Handbook.

You share this responsibility with your trust leadership team

Together, you'll create the trust's vision, distil that down to a vision statement and embed that vision across the trust.

If your board has delegated some of these functions to the local tier, they may be responsible for setting each