About Us
Who are we?
We are proud to be a 'home grown' Trust based in Witney, Oxfordshire. Our Trust is truly inclusive: rural, town, community, Church, primary, secondary - we are values driven which means, for us, being truly committed to improving the education of all children we serve and the ones we will never meet. Our moral imperative is to secure equity and we know our responsibility doesn't stop at the end of the school drive.
Our approach is sustainable - we do not see growth as being 'successful' in terms of numbers of schools in our Trust but in terms of improving the quality of education in existing schools. In a nutshell, no school should fall behind as a result of more schools joining the Trust. Our approach works. All Trust schools have recently been judged as 'Good' by Ofsted (2017 and 2018) and we continue to work with schools and colleagues beyond the Trust as we always have. Our schools are very different and we see that as an absolute strength. If you would like to see us in action, please get in touch. We would be delighted to show you around.
The Henry Box School
Queen Emma's Primary School
Finstock Church of England Primary
Our approach is simple
Five questions underpin 'the way we do things around here':
Governance at The MILL Academy Trust
The law places accountability for the educational outcomes and financial diligence of the Trust firmly with the Trustees and the CEO as Accounting Officer. However, a fundamental principle for us is that effective governance is best delivered as close as possible to the point of impact of decisions. For this reason, we have developed a governance structure that values the educational overview and scrutiny of local committees.
As a multi-academy trust (MAT), The MILL Academy Trust has a number of layers of governance as described below. Each plays an important part in the oversight of the Trust’s work and, whilst communication between the layers is essential, this work must be complementary and non-duplicative. This means that local committees can focus on clearly-defined areas.
Members
The Members are the guardians of The Trust’s constitution, as set out in the Articles of Association. It is their responsibility to ensure that the Trustees are pursuing the Trust’s charitable objectives and to hold the Board to account for its conduct and performance.
Trustees
The Board of Trustees has overall accountability and legal responsibility for the Trust. As non-executive directors, they are responsible for ensuring that The Trust meets its obligations as a company. As governors, they are responsible for the vision, ethos and strategic direction of the Trust as a whole; for holding the CEO and wider executive team to account for the Trust’s performance and for overseeing the financial performance and probity of the Trust. In addition, Trustees take on a ‘link’ responsibility for a Trust-wide priority such as safeguarding. The Board has four main committees (Executive; Educational Standards and Performance, Finance & Resources, Risk & Audit) in addition to a Remuneration Committee. You can find out more about the Trustees here.
Executive Team
The Executive Team is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Trust. Each executive member leads a team of professionals who support the schools in important areas such as inclusion and safeguarding. The wider central team’s support includes significant oversight of schools’ finances and HR as well as the line-management of Headteachers and estates staff.
Local Committees
Local Committee Members are volunteers, chosen for their skills, experience and insights, to whom certain responsibilities are delegated for oversight of individual schools. Local committees are not legally responsible for the schools, so committee members are able to focus on school improvement by supporting and challenging the Headteacher and the wider school leadership team.
Since local committees are drawn from the school community and will usually include parents and staff members, their input serves an essential part in informing the academy’s local strategic direction. The committee is also a supportive forum in which the Headteacher can have access to the insights of people with professional, voluntary and life experience outside the education sector.
