Governance

Rudheath Primary Academy and Nursery is part of Focus-Trust, a charitable primary schools trust based in the North West of England.

Every school in Focus-Trust is the legal responsibility of the Trust Board. This board focuses on statutory duties and delegates most day-to-day governance responsibilities to each school’s individual Local Governing Body (LGB). This means that Governors are able to concentrate on the things that really matter – educational strategy, school outcomes and aspiration.

Focus-Trust is non-denominational and does not make any profit from running its schools. Focus-Trust’s relationship with the Secretary of State is set out in the Master Funding Agreement. There are also supplemental funding agreements for each individual school in the Trust, including Rudheath Primary Academy and Nursery.

The Focus-Trust Master Funding Agreement and Rudheath Primary Academy and Nursery’s Supplementary Funding Agreement are available on the Trust website – here.

Other key statutory information, including the Focus-Trust Annual Report and Financial Statements, Articles of Association and Scheme of Delegation can be found on the Focus-Trust website - here.

Contact

Our chair of Governors can be contacted via the school office. Please address all correspondence to Bob Richmond, Chair of Governors, School Office, Rudheath Primary Academy and Nursery.

Our clerk of Governors can be contacted via the school office. Please address all correspondence to Sue Knight, Clerk of Governors, School Office, Rudheath Primary Academy and Nursery.

Scheme of Delegation

The underlying principles for this Scheme of Delegation are:

That all academies, ultimately, are in a partnership of equals irrespective of their length of membership
Focus-Trust is a registered charity and remains true to its aims and objectives.

Focus-Trust is mindful that their function is to ensure that all statutory obligations are met

Focus-Trust believes that involving governors, staff, parents and children is the best means of ensuring engagement and involvement with the local community.
Focus-Trust Board’s intention is to reflect the various governance arrangements across the trust and apply a differentiated approach to individual academies within the scheme of delegation dependent on performance and capacity.

Our Academy has a governing body. The key responsibilities of the governing body are to:

Ensuring the quality of educational provision
Evaluate pupil outcomes
Challenge and monitor performance
Take decisions about personnel management
Manage financial, physical and human resources
Raise concerns with the Chief Executive of the Focus-Trust in a timely manner

Get Information about our school - DFE

Our Governors are:

Bob Richmond (Chair of the Governors) – Re-appointed September 2023 – Meetings Attended (23-24) – 6/6
Gemma Bunkle (Focus Trust Governor) – Re-appointed May 2023 – Meetings Attended (23-24) -4/6
Andrew Ross (Principal) – Appointed September 2014 – Meetings Attended (23-24) – 6/6
Kath Shaw (Staff Governor) – Appointed Oct 2021 – Meetings Attended (23-24) – 6/6
Laura McNeil (Focus Governor) – Re-appointed Feb 2024 – Meetings Attended (23-24) -3/6
Rachel Waterman (Vice Chair of the Governors) – Re-appointed October 2022 – Meetings attended (23-24) 3/6
Eleanor Lewis (Staff Governor) - Appointed May 2023 - Meetings attended (23-24) 6/6
Gemma Gleave (Parent Governor) Appointed December 2019 Meetings attended (23-24) 1/1 - Stood down Dec 2023
Ansaf Blackmore (Parent Governor) Re-appointed December 2023 Meetings attended (23-24)5/6
Nancy Cox (Focus Trust Governor) Appointed September 2023 Meetings attended (23-24) 3/5
Simon White (Parent Governor) - Appointed by the Governing Body Board February 2024 Meetings attended (23-24) 3/4

A message from the Chair of the Governing body

Hello and welcome from your Governing body.

We volunteer as governors because we believe that every child should have a good education and the opportunity to work hard and achieve their full potential. We support and challenge the school senior leadership team to provide an environment where children enjoy their learning and make good progress.
We meet as a full Governing body twice a term but also visit the school in the daytime to get to know staff and children.

Parent Governors are elected to provide a parents’ perspective on decisions made. Presently 2 Governors have children in the school.

We continue to receive excellent support from Focus Trust in the development of our teaching staff. The Trust has also fully supported the increase in school yearly intake which will mean the end of mixed age group classes. This has resulted in the funding of additional classrooms. These are now completed and will mean there are only single age group classes across the school from September.

The school continues to develop under the leadership of the Principal, Andrew Ross, and his senior teachers. As governors we will aim to both support and challenge his team to deliver the best outcomes for all our pupils.

We are always interested in parent’s points of view so please contact us if you have any comments or suggestions.

Become a Governor

Governors play an important role in our aim to create great schools at the heart of our communities.

We want our Governing Bodies to be inclusive and reflective of the local communities we serve. We welcome governors from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences and with a broad range of skills and knowledge. There are no set qualifications for becoming a governor and you will receive all the training and support needed to fulfil the role. We ask for a commitment to attend six meetings a year plus a few school visits and to abide by our Governor Code of Conduct, based on the seven principles of public life.

If you are passionate about making a difference for children and want to play a part in creating great schools at the heart of the local community then we want to hear from you.

If you are interested in becoming a governor for our school please contact the school office on rudheath@focus-trust.co.uk.

Governor Disclosures

focus trust governance disclosure 2023.pdf