Governance Structure

Members

The Members of the Trust are the guardians of the governance of the Trust. They are responsible for ensuring the Trust complies with all aspects of law and regulation to it, and operates within the requirements set out in the Trust’s Articles of Association, the Academies Financial Handbook and current policy of the Department for Education and Charity Commission.

Functions

  • Members will hold the Directors accountable for ensuring that the trust’s charitable objects (as set out its Articles of Association) are met and that the income and property of the Trust shall be applied solely towards the promotion of the
  • Members will be responsible for appointing new Members and for appointing Directors as set out in the Trust’s in the Articles of
  • Members are responsible for the appointment of the Trust’s

Accountability
Accountable to the Secretary of State for Education.


Mr Zaheer Khalil

Zaheer is currently a director of a Utilities company. With a MSc in Biomedical Science, he has previously worked in the Pharmaceutical industry in roles as a Research Scientist as well as a Contract Manager. He has experience of working in the education sector through his role as Project Manager in a FE college. Zaheer has experience of governance and has been a governor at a school in Bradford. His experience and expertise of trust boards as a Non Executive Director of the NHS and currently Vice Chair of the Healthy Living Partnership Board are invaluable.

Mrs Stephanie Handsley

Stephanie is a qualified HR professional with over 17 years working in Human Resources, latterly as Head of HR for the north east and yorkshire region of NHS England. Previously Stephanie worked for Yorkshire Ambulance Service for 9 years and Calderdale Council in the Children and Young people’s service for 4 years, as a Team Leader in the HR Department for schools and has a strong understanding of educational settings. Stephanie enjoys playing golf in her leisure time and is a committee member of a local golf club.

Mr Andrew Helliwell

Andrew is a retired Chartered Surveyor having worked for 35 years in the Civil Service. Currently Andrew is the Managing Director of a local property management company. Andrew has a keen interest in cricket, he is an Umpire and an active member of Old Town Cricket Club.

Aurangzeb Akbar

Aurangzeb is a solicitor and partner in law firm in Bradford. He has over 25 years experience as a solicitor and specialises in Personal Injury. In his spare time, Aurangzeb enjoys spending time with his family.

Trustees

The Board of Trustees three core functions are as follows:

  • Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic
  • Holding the Chief Executive and the Executive Team to account for the educational performance of academies and pupils, and the performance and management of staff.
  • Overseeing the financial performance of each academy and making sure money is well spent

The Board of Trustees main responsibilities include:

  • Assessing and managing the principle risks to the Trust
  • Appointing the CEO and holding them to account for the Trust’s overall performance, and for discharging the role of the Accounting Officer
  • Ensuring that the Trust operates with prudent financial planning and remains solvent
  • Monitoring the work of the Local Governing Board

Trustees’ duties, under the Companies Act 2006, include the following:

  • Acting within their powers
  • Promoting the success of the company
  • Exercising independent judgement
  • Exercising reasonable care, skill and diligence
  • Avoiding conflicts of interest
  • Declaring an interest in proposed transactions or arrangements

 

Mr Nadim Najib (Chair of Trust/member)
Business and Finance

Nadim has over 20 years’ experience in the Financial Services industry and is currently a Business Relationship Manager for around 120 SMEs. Primarily responsible for growing his portfolio through lending and acquisition, his role also encompasses networking, data protection and adhering to strict controls as outlined by the Financial Conduct Authority. His previous experience includes line management activity, recruitment, health and safety and staff development.

Nadim has been involved with The Academy for over 5 years, having originally been elected as a Parent Governor; also chairing the Audit & Finance Committee. Nadim is a proud and active member of the local community and he, along with his three children, attended Beech Hill before moving on to secondary education.

Mr Christopher Swallow (Trustee)
Business and HR

Chris is currently the Market Leader for Barclays bank in the Halifax Cluster area. He has worked for Barclays in various roles across the business sector. He managed a team of 30 staff and has a great understanding of finance as well as Human Resources. His particular interest is in staff workload and wellbeing.

He has been a school governor for a number of years before joining the Trust.

Mrs S Hussain (CEO)

Shameem Hussain is currently Head teacher of Beech Hill School and founder of ‘The Family of Learning Trust’. Shameem became head teacher in 2014 following several years as the deputy head teacher. She has supported a range of schools and their leaders with School Improvement.

In 2016 Beech Hill School achieved Ofsted ‘Outstanding ‘and in 2017 Shameem led the academy through to gaining Multi Academy Trust status as ‘the Family of Learning Trust’. The trust sponsored Dean Field School in January 2018 and Shameem led the school through its conversion to joining the trust. This gave her, as CEO the opportunity to strategically lead the development across the MAT and Dean Field’s improvement. As CEO, her role is to strategically develop the trust, ensuring systems are in place for the trust to expand and realise the trust’s vision on ensuring that all children have the best possible start in their life. She is currently undertaking Ofsted Inspector training.

Mrs Sophie Loreen (Trustee)
Education Improvement

Sofia has a BA Hons in Early Years. Along with and her extensive experience of Early Years, Sophie has a good understanding of the statutory requirements. She joined the governing body in 2013 as a parent governor when her children attended Beech Hill. She later joined the Trust Board. As a member of the local community, she is passionate about ensuring pupils are given the best possible start in life.

Sophie is a busy mum of three teenage girls but in her spare time also volunteers at a local community centre.

Ms Lucy Bailey (Trustee)
Education Improvement

Lucy Bailey is currently a deputy headteacher working at a primary school in the Bradford local authority. In her 13 years in education she has also worked across both Kirklees and Calderdale in a range of different LA schools and academies. She has completed her NPQH and was acting Head for a term whilst the school recruited a new headteacher. Her areas of interest are school improvement with a focus on quality of education and pupil premium. She has been a SENCo for a number of years and now works as inclusion lead and teaches across the primary phases.

Tim Machin (Trustee)

Tim Machin has been a school governor at Heptonstall School for seven years and has been chair since 2019. Tim has a background in the arts as an artist, curator and researcher and has worked in this context in Higher Education for 17 years. He is currently employed at Sheffield Hallam University where he manages the University’s gallery, exhibition programme and art collection, working with the university community at all levels to curate a programme of public facing exhibitions and events, ranging from student shows to collaborations with international artists and designers. His experience here includes management of complex projects and budgets, communication and marketing, and working closely with stakeholders in the university and city.

He has degrees from the University of Oxford and University of Surrey and is undertaking a PhD at Sheffield Hallam University. His governance experience includes previous experience as a Director of the Art Sheffield Consortium and he is currently also Chair of Trustees of the Friends of Heptonstall Museum, a registered charity working to transform a closed local authority museum into a centre for literature, history, landscape and culture.


The Role Of Local Governing Boards (LGB)

The Academy Head Teachers along with their Senior Management Teams and respective LGBs are responsible for the day to day operation of each Academy.

The Family of Learning Trust recognises the important role that Local Governing Boards play in effectively managing day to day roles and responsibilities within each Academy. The local information that the LGB holds is imperative to supporting the local community and responding to issues that individual academies may face from time to time.

The Scheme of Delegation describes the framework of responsibilities and how they are delegated and distributed between the Members, the Board of Trustees and LGBs. Each Academy is afforded a degree of autonomy in order to maintain its local character. Although the Board of Trustees is ultimately accountable for the Trust as a whole, each LGB retains responsibility for:

  • Health and Safety
  • Safeguarding
  • Teaching and Learning
  • Pupil Outcomes
  • Pupil Attendance
  • Managing complaints
  • Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)
  • Pupil Premium Grant (PPG)
  • Sports Funding
  • Staff wellbeing and management of workload
  • Approve local school policies

Chair of Beech Hill School Local Governing Board: Uzma Iqbal
Chair of Dean Field Community School Local Governing Board: Doug Clark
Chair of Shirley Manor Local Governing Board: Stephen Holmes
Chair of Heptonstall Local Governing Board: Tim Machin

For further information regarding the LGBs see below