Agenda item

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services – to follow.

The Board considered and approved a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services on the governance of the City’s sole sponsored academies. The Chairman placed on record her appreciation for the support offered to the proposals by the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the City of London Academies Southwark.

RESOLVED, that the following recommendations be put to the Policy and Resources Committee and the Court of Common Council for approval.  

1.    The City of London will have one legal entity to continue to deliver the academies for which it is sole-sponsor and that this entity should be the City of London Academies (Southwark) (“Southwark MAT”);

2.    The City of London Primary Academy Islington (COLPAI) undertaking should be transferred to Southwark MAT and the COLPAI company be wound up and this recommendation will be made to the members of that company who are all City Corporation officers and elected Members;

3.    Consistent with (1) above the City Corporation would recommend to the Southwark MAT that the company change its name to the “City of London Academies” and that the registered office be transferred to the Guildhall;

4.    The City Corporation as sponsor exercises its rights to make the following changes to the Southwark MAT’s company members –

a.    by replacing the current members (whether by resignation or removal); and

b.    to appoint up to four new members of the company, to be the Chairman and a Deputy Chairman of the Policy Committee, and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Education Board.

5.    It be recommended to the members of the company, once appointed under 4 (b) above, that they adopt new Articles of Association effective on a named date (“the transition date”) which reflect the current Department for Education (DfE) model multi-academy trust (MAT) Articles of Association and which provide for a smaller Board of Directors/Trustees which will be responsible for the strategic direction of the company (and which provide the City Corporation as sponsor with the right to appoint and to remove up to six Directors/Trustees, the City Corporation having majority appointment rights), which Board will hold the ultimate legal accountability for the educational outcomes of the company’s academies, the management of its finances and all regulatory compliance;

6.    Subject to the company members adopting new Articles of Association as proposed, that at the transition date –

a.    the City Corporation agree to be appointed as a corporate member of the company and to appoint the Town Clerk (and his representatives appointed under the City Corporation’s Officer Scheme of Delegations) to be its authorised representative(s) for that purpose;

b.    the existing Board of Directors be removed; and

c.    the City Corporation appoint up to six Directors/Trustees to consist of two Directors/Trustees nominated by the Policy Committee, two Directors/Trustees nominated by the Education Board, and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Education Board;

7.    The Town Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Education Board be given delegated authority, in consultation with the Director of Community and Children’s Services and the Comptroller and City Solicitor, to take any other decisions relating to the above (including any negotiations with the Department for Education) necessary to implement the proposal that the City have one academy trust company to deliver its sole-sponsored academies.