Why Become a Trustee?
The Trust Board plays an important role in achieving Fortis Trust’s mission of working together to make a positive goal difference for all through collaboration and innovation, enriching the lives of children and young people in Medway & Kent. Trustees meet throughout the year; carrying out a range of responsibilities driving the Trust to enable it to be as innovative as possible and aid development (learn more about the board meetings here). Their Task & Finish duties ensure that leadership is being held to account and that the information provided is accurate.
Some key responsibilities of the Trustees include ensuring the highest standards of education, strategic oversight for the Trust, ensuring strategic direction, vision and ethos, holding the executive leader to account, ensuring legal and charitable compliance and overseeing the Trust’s financial performance ensuring value for money. To uphold these responsibilities, Trustees commit to the Nolan Principles which outline ethical standards expected of public office holders. These principles are selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.
Granted, the role requires dedication and investment, but the impact is gratifying. Matt Hull, a current Trustee states:
“The Trust is so important to me; I get to see so many positive stories…It blows me away just how much work we see going on, not just Trustees themselves but every single member of staff and it comes across so brilliantly within those meetings.”
The Trust Board isn’t your typical bureaucratic group of out-of-touch people and is fully aware of the reality of the operations and the challenges faced within the education sector. Trustees make several visits to Fortis Trust provisions throughout the year to monitor and make a judgement of its progress, impact and value for money. Following a visit, their findings contribute to the meetings, providing relevant discussions and enabling informed decisions.
Current Trustees have expressed the efficiency and insightfulness of the meetings, stating they are “eye-opening” and “very structured and very organised, packed full of information”. In addition, Vice Chair of Trustees, Ian Chappell, expressed that
“[Trustee Meetings] are fluid enough to enable people to have input accordingly, to ask questions and challenge accordingly”.
It is evident from these testimonies that the Board Meetings are not only productive but also inclusive and engaging.
A big part of Fortis Trust’s ethos is to champion diversity, inclusion and equality, a sentiment that isn’t limited to our students but to our whole staff team and Trustees.
Please do not think that your race, age or background prevents you from joining the board. If you are a dedicated individual who can bring a wealth of expertise and passion, Fortis Trust will embrace you onto the board, no matter your race, background, sexuality or age (must be over 18 years but no upper age limit).
Trust boards look for people with professional backgrounds in areas such as HR, law, finance, and project management. However, skills such as negotiation, problem-solving, public speaking and leadership are also desirable. Trustees should be skilled, knowledgeable, and feel confident enough to both support and challenge the leadership of multiple schools and provisions within Fortis Trust. A full induction and training program is offered to support all new and existing Trustees to continue to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding ensuring they are effective in their roles.
If you wish to learn more about joining the Board of Trustees, visit our Governance page
Transcript (click to read)
Life here I think is relatively exciting for a trustee stroke director.
Once I walked around the school and saw the wonderful learning environment it is, I just wanted to help.
The Trust is really important for me to get to see so many positive stories.
The benefit that I get from it is to ensure that the pupils that attend get the best education and the best start in life that’s available to them.
You feel you’re contributing to development of children.
You get an opportunity to see the real coalface of how the academy or academies are working.
Transcript (click to read)
General trustees — or I believe we now call them directors — attend full board meetings. The full board meets three times a year. Then, in addition to that, we have what we call a business meeting in early September, then another meeting right at the end of the school year, which is a sort of wrap-up of what’s happened during the year.
They run to an agenda which is preset prior to the meetings. It blows me away just how much work we see is going on — not just trustees themselves, but every single member of staff — and it comes across so brilliantly within those meetings.
I also sit on the standards committee, so now chair of the standards committee. That involves looking at the provision the school makes for children’s attainment and progress, but also their well-being, their emotional health — just generally how the school meets the needs of the children.
They’re very structured, very organised. There’s always a lot of information — probably too much to read — but if you need to find out what’s going on, yeah, it’s very, very good advice. They are fluid enough to enable people to have input accordingly and ask questions and challenge accordingly.
Finance meetings are packed full of information and papers, and it really is eye-opening for how much work is going on in terms of promoting the school, in terms of delivering the best opportunities for the young people. They’re very, very packed, very informative. Lots of work must go in from school staff and the clerk, who’s got an important role in order for the meetings to be impactful.
You do networking with other trusts and trustees and directors. The experiences they’ve had and what you have can go into the pot, which will help to make it work — work as a team — which is what is the key element: that we are a team.