Agenda item

Report of the Chief Executive Officer.

Trustees considered a report of the Chief Executive Officer presenting the Strategic Plan Review and the following points were made:

·         Work was underway to review the City of London Academies Trust Strategic Plan 2016-20 and develop a new plan for the 2020-24 period, with the aim of presenting the final proposed Strategic Plan to the meeting of the Board of Trustees on 9 July 2020 for approval.

·         In considering Objective 3: Outstanding Resource Management of the draft Strategic Plan, the Chairman requested that Task 3.4 be expanded to, ‘Outstanding Estates and Facilities Management’ and that a Proposed Next Step Action be included on annual contracts management.  The Chairman further emphasised that it was critical that there was a good understanding across the Trust of the roles and responsibilities within contracts management.

·         A Trustee noted how the Trust had benefitted from its close working relationship with the City of London Corporation, particularly in accessing central services such as legal services as well as office space.  The Trustee suggested that an action on continuing to work alongside the City of London Corporation be reflected in the Strategic Plan.

·         With regard to Objective 4: Outstanding Leadership of CoLAT Expansion, the Chief Executive Officer observed that the Trust was likely to have expanded to ten academies by September 2020, and that there was a need to review the Trust’s ambitions for further expansion under Task 4.1: Examining Expansion Opportunities.  If it was decided to pursue further expansion beyond the current agreed scope of 12 academies in the longer term, it might also be necessary to review whether the CoLAT Central Team should relocate to a school premises and the financial, resource and risk implications of this.

·         In response to a question from a Trustee, the Chief Executive Officer clarified that the existing ambition of twelve academies did not include the planned alternative provision model which was being developed as a shared resource for the Trust; however, there remained issues around where the alternative provision offer could be located and consideration was being given to whether this could be accommodated within the Trust’s existing estate.

The Chief Executive Officer requested Trustees provide any further comments on the Strategic Plan to the CoLAT Central Team as they were identified. 

RESOLVED, that:

·         The agreed timeline and approach be noted; and,

·         The draft plan be amended in line with Trustee’s comments.