Lighthouse Multi Academy Trust

Governance Structure and attendance

Members

The Members of the Lighthodians of the governance of the Trust. They have a limited but distinct role and are essential to the integrity of the governance structure. They are the last line of defense from failures of governance and failure to uphold the Trust’s charitable purpose. Whilst it is the Trustees who are responsible for the core governance functions and conducting the business of the Trust, members have certain key powers afforded to them:

• Holding the board accountable: ensuring the Trust’s charitable objectives are being met
• Approving and signing the Memorandum and Articles of Association
• Determining the name of the Trust
• Oversight and information: They must stay informed of the trust's performance by receiving reports and audited accounts from the board of trustees. 
• Appointing and removing trustees
• Appointing and removing the external auditors
• Dissolving the Trust

  Our members

  Andrew Damon

  Paul Cain

  Pat Hunt

  Robert Trawford

  Wendy Siverns

  Member details

  Full Name	Governor Type	Date of appointment	Term of Office (End Date)	Role	Appointed or elected	Register of Business and financial  Interest	Affiliation with other educational establishments	Date stepped down
  Andrew Damon
  Paul Cain
  Pat Hunt
  Robert Trawford
  Wendy Siverns

  Members Attendance

  Trustees Responsibilities

  Subject to the provisions of the Companies Act 2006, the Trust’s Articles of Association and to any directions given by the Members by special resolution, the business of the Trust is managed by the Trustees who exercise all the powers of the academy trust. The Trustees are responsible for the overall strategic direction of the Trust, as well as holding executive leaders to account for delivering agreed priorities and ensuring the financial probity of the Trust. There are key matters that are reserved for the Trustees:

  • Responsibility for the Trust’s strategy, objectives and values
  • Ensure compliance with charity and company law
  • Approval of new schools joining the Trust
  • Approval of Trust plans, targets, budgets and capital expenditure
  • Determine, alongside the Trust Central Team, the strategic priorities of the MAT
  • Review and challenge progress of the trust against its agreed objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs)
  • Oversight of long-term financial planning, maintenance, risk mitigation, internal controls and compliance with regulations
  • Determine the funding model across the Trust and set the budgets for individual Academies
  • Approval of material acquisitions or disposal of land or buildings
  • Approval of significant changes in accounting policies or practices
  • Determine and review Trust-wide policies
  • Approval of annual accounts
  • Approval of the Scheme of Delegation and Financial Scheme of Delegation
  • The appointment of the Chair and Vice Chair of the Board and approval of the Board’s committee structure and composition, including the appointment of Committee Chairs.
  • Appointment of CEO, CFO and academy headteachers 
  • Ensuring effective safeguarding policies and procedures are in place
  •  Appoint staff at Senior Leadership Level

  The Board of Trustees is responsible for all the Academies in the Trust. It exercises its role by delegating some functions to the Local Governing Body (LGB) of each academy through an agreed Scheme of Delegation. 

  Trustees  

  
  Paul Drew - CEO
  Pat Hunt - Chair
  Michael Christoforou - Vice-Chair
  Natasha Bourne
  Neil Brown
  Helen Mallett
  Leigh Etheridge
  Duncan Whitehouse
  Adam Hicken

 Trustee details

Full Name	Governor Type	Date of appointment	Term of Office (End Date)	Role	Appointed or elected	Register of Business and financial  Interest	Affiliation with other educational establishments	Date stepped down

Sub groups of Trustees

In order to allow the Board of Trustees to focus on their core functions, some other powers and functions are delegated to committees, the Chief Executive Officer and school Headteachers. To ensure oversight, all delegated actions taken and decisions made are reported back to the Board of trustees. The committees to which the Board of Directors will delegate powers and functions to, as defined in the Scheme of Delegation, are:

Finance and Audit Committee

Pat Hunt, Paul Drew, Neil Brown, Duncan Whitehouse, and Michael Christoforou

RAISE Committee  (Education, Performance and Standards)

Paul Drew, Pat Hunt, Natasha Bourne, Helen Mallet,  Michael Christoforou and Leigh Etheridge

Pay Committee

Pat Hunt, Duncan Whitehouse, and Michael Christoforou

The constitution, membership and proceedings of these committees are determined by the Board of Trustees and clarified through Terms of Reference for each committee. The establishment, Terms of Reference, constitution and membership of all committees will be reviewed at least once every twelve months.

Trustee Attendance

Trustee Meetings

 Key -

Y - Attended      APP - Apologies Given      NAPP - No Apologies Given     R-Resigned

Date of meetings
Trustee	Tuesday 9th September 2025	Tuesday 18th November 2025	Wednesday 4th February 2026	Tuesday 17th March 2026	Tuesday 9th June 2026
Paul Drew - CEO
Pat Hunt - Chair
Michael Christoforou - Vice-Chair
Natasha Bourne
Neil Brown
Helen Mallett
Leigh Etheridge
Duncan Whitehouse
Adam Hicken

Finance and Audit Committee

Date of meetings
Trustee	Tuesday 7th October 2025	Tuesday 25th November 2025	Tuesday 13th January 2026
Paul Drew - CEO
Pat Hunt
Michael Christoforou - Chair
Neil Brown
Duncan Whitehouse

RAISE Committee  (Education, Performance and Standards)

Date of Meetings
Trustee	Tuesday 16th September 2025	Wednesday 19th November 2025	Tuesday 27th January 2026	Wednesday 22nd April2026
Paul Drew - CEO
Pat Hunt - Chair
Michael Christoforou - Vice-Chair
Natasha Bourne
Helen Mallett
Leigh Etheridge

Local Governing Body (LGB)

• There is a Local Governing Body (LGB) for each  Academy within the Lighthouse Multi Academy Trust. The core responsibility of each Local Governing Body is to:

  • Recommend, monitor and review the School Improvement Plan
  • Recommend targets for performance and hold the school leadership team to account for the delivery of KPIs
  • Ensure that the school budget is on track and money is well spent
  • Recommend, monitor and review the school’s curriculum

  We value the independence of each school, but that does not mean that schools will work in isolation from each other. Quite the contrary; we see ourselves as a family of schools with a strong commitment to each other’s success. We are stronger together and our day to day operation reflects this.

   

  Here are the names of the Chair of Governors for each academy:

  Barcroft Academy	Co chairs Harriett Wardell & Rebecca Fuller
  Beacon Academy	Sheila Hayward
  Castlefort Academy	Peter Farmer
  Field Road Academy	Seona Baker
  Lindens Academy	Danielle Howell-Smith
  Meadow View Academy	Stuart Hughes
  Moorcroft Wood Academy	Stuart Hughes
  St James Academy	Peter Farmer
  Sunshine Academy	Awaiting appointment