Service Provision

CEO and Accounting Officer –Steve Baragwanath – Steve has 20 years of headship experience across three academies, with a proven record of school improvement and curriculum innovation.

CFO – Ben Mawford – Ben has over 10 years experience in the Accounts and Audit of Academy Trusts 

Executive Principals – Susan Boor  – Sue has over 15 years’ experience of highly successful school leadership.

The finance manager is Marion Clare who is full-time and oversees all aspects of finance across the Trust and is very experienced from an accountancy background.  Ben Mawford is the Chief Financial Officer for the Trust and is full time and FCCA and MAAT accredited.

Each academy has an officer with responsibility for finance and purchasing.

The Trust’s Independent auditors are Duncan and Toplis and our bankers are Lloyds Bank Plc.

Academies buy in expert advice when needed from external consultants as well as using their own expertise and that of their wider professional networks. They are members of a number of Teaching Schools and use a range of SCITTs to support newly trained teachers.

The Trust adopts the local authority Safeguarding and Child protection policies. Nicola Kenyon HPA/HBA and Dr Stephen Milne UAH lead the Trust with appropriate officers and Governors in post in each academy. Governors and Trustees are provided with regular safeguarding and child protection training and training needs are reviewed on an annual basis.

The HR service is outsourced to a large national provider with expert knowledge of the education sector. We have a service contract with a provider of insurance for long-term sickness.

Outsourced to local contractor with an excellent track record.

An outsourced company provide annual reports for each Academy, with certification and software for regular monitoring.

The individual academies deal with all day-to-day communications, however if a sensitive or potential sensitive issues arises the Trust uses the University of Lincoln’s Press Office. The University makes no charge for this service.

This is responsibility of each academy, if using references to the University of Lincoln; their marketing department must be consulted.

UAH and GHA have in house provision, HPA and HBA have food purchased and delivered daily and UALS has on site provision from an outsourced company.

The Trust has the great benefit of being able to seek advice from the vast range of specialist in all areas of service provision that the university has at its disposal. It provides no direct services to the Trust, although the University provides the Governance Professional to the Board of Members and Trustees.

Each phase has the same management information system and uses the same online learning resources. All financial software is common. Expertise is shared when needed.

Buildings maintenance is the responsibility of individual site managers who work collectively when needed. Cleaning is in house in all academies. Grounds maintenance is outsourced to a company, with the exception of GHA, who provide their own staffing in their extensive grounds.

The Trust’s solicitors are Pinsent Mason LLP.

The CEO leads in managing the Academy Governors Committees and their training. Extra training which specific governor’s requests is available.