Company Secretary & Executive / Governance Support Professional

To apply for this vacancy please visit:

https://mynewterm.com/jobs/16634/EDV-2025-DCT-97829

Job Overview
The De Curci Trust is seeking a highly organised governance professional to provide essential administrative and clerking support to the Board and Executive Team. The successful candidate will become part of a thriving and supportive Trust, playing a key role in maintaining high governance standards across our schools.

While experience in school governance or clerking would be advantageous, we welcome applicants from other industries with relevant administrative or PA expertise. We are committed to professional development and offer CPD opportunities, with tailored training available for the new postholder.

This role requires flexibility to meet the needs of the Board, including some evening meetings, while also offering the opportunity for home working. Specific working patterns and arrangements can be discussed at interview.

Prospective candidates are encouraged to contact the Trust for an informal discussion with the CEO or CFOO. Please contact Marie Grenfell, PA to Ms Spivey, to arrange a telephone call on 02392 379119.

Key Responsibilities Professional advisory role

• Serve as the first point of contact for any business relating to the board, committees and members, including complaints.
• Advise the board on the legal and regulatory framework for governance, including charity and company law, the Academy Trust Handbook and the trust’s articles of association and funding agreements.
• Advise trustees, members and committee chairs on terms of reference, policy and procedural matters, statutory guidance, and best practice in governance, before, during and after meetings.
• Promote awareness amongst trustees and senior executive leadership of assurance frameworks and other integrated processes of organisational control and risk management.
• Identify governance priorities and related risks, anticipate and drawing the chair’s attention to matters that may arise and propose recommended actions.
• Know where and when to access appropriate external legal advice and support.
• Provide timely, accurate and judicious advice to schools and the trust on areas such as admissions, complaints, exclusions, data protection and policies.
• Promote awareness of agreed practice in governance to the academy committees (local governing boards) and their Clerk(s), providing support and advice as necessary.

Board composition, appointments and effectiveness

• Ensure that the board and committees are properly constituted with appropriate terms of reference and an agreed code of conduct.
• Work closely with the board chair and members to ensure an appropriate mix of skills on the board.
• Support board recruitment with the board chair, with an emphasis on attracting high calibre candidates who bring diversity of thought and perspective.
• Manage new appointments and oversight of the re-appointment and retirement of board members in accordance with the articles of association, and safer recruitment requirements.
• Take primary responsibility for a detailed and thorough induction programme for new trustees, including arranging sessions with senior executive leaders, providing quality induction materials, ensuring they have access to appropriate documents, including the Academy Trust Governance Code and the trust’s internal codes of conduct, and identifying and providing training where required.
• Support the board chair with succession planning, developing and implementing regular collective and individual trustee evaluation activities to assess board effectiveness and inform next steps.

Compliance and good governance

• Lead on identifying, recording, managing and disclosing conflicts of interests and potential related party transactions.
• Advise the board on best practice in relation to its scheme of delegation for governance and support with the drafting of any updates and revisions.
• Develop and manage and maintain the trust’s board assurance framework and ensure its use as a vehicle to drive assurance, especially in key regulatory areas.
• Manage and maintain the trust’s strategic risk register and risk management arrangements in conjunction with senior executive leaders and the chair of the audit and risk committee.
• Lead on regular communication with members to ensure they have effective oversight of the board’s decisions, activities and impact.
• Ensure that trust-wide policies and other statutory information are in place and published on the website where necessary and subject to an appropriate board review process.
• Support policy owners and editors with policy drafting and revision.
• Manage the policy function of the trust’s compliance management system, ensuring that approved trust and school policies are uploaded and circulated promptly.

Clerking and administrative support

• Provide administrative support for the CEO, CFOO and board chair.
• Advise on the annual programme of work for the board, supporting the efficient flow of information and decisions, including timely preparation of agendas and distribution of board reports.
• Take minutes of board meetings and ensure follow through on action points and matters arising from previous meetings.
• Maintain up to date records for the board and committees and ensure that papers and minutes are well organised and readily accessible.
• Ensure that trustee and member information published on the Get Information About Schools, Companies House, and the trust’s own websites is accurate and up to date.
• Maintain meeting attendance records and ensure these are published on the website(s) on an annual basis.
• Facilitate coordinated trustee visits to schools and tracking and documenting post-visit feedback.

Company secretarial responsibilities

• Ensure that the trust’s company secretarial responsibilities are undertaken in accordance with Companies House statutory guidance, including statutory filings within prescribed deadlines, maintaining company and trustee documentation and records management.
• As required for projects, lead on significant change applications and liaison with the DfE on deeds of variation and changes to funding agreements.
• Assist on transfers of academies into the trust and their dissolution or mergers with other trusts
• Serve as main point of contact for legal counsel and the trust’s insurers.

Local governance

• Ensure each school has an effective and representative local committee, constituted in a manner that is consistent with the articles of association.
• Ensure that the remit of the local committee reflects the trust context and fits the needs of the trust, rather than simply replicating traditional models of school governance.
• Promote local accountability and harness the power of localism to serve the school, while avoiding duplication and blurring of lines of accountability.

Responsibilities include monitoring and continually improving:

• relationships with local committee chairs to facilitate engagement
• the effectiveness of local committees to provide intervention where necessary
• the design and implementation of annual agenda cycles and supporting documentation
• the design and delivery of induction and training for local committee members
• the flow of information between the layers of governance, including the effective implementation of a two-way communication loop to ensure local understanding of trust strategy and trust understanding of local issues e.g. the trust’s safeguarding forum
• processes for escalating matters requiring investigation and/or panel review (complaints, suspensions, exclusions and HR matters) to ensure they are efficiently and effectively arranged and clerked, in line with statutory guidance.

Safeguarding & Other Duties

• The job holder’s responsibility for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young person’s for whom s/he is responsible, or with whom s/he comes into contact will be to adhere to and ensure compliance with the relevant Trust/ School Safeguarding Child Protection Policy and Procedures at all times. If in the course of carrying out the duties of the role, the job holder identifies any instance that a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm either at school or at home, s/he must report any concerns to the School’s Designated Safeguarding Lead so that a referral can be made accordingly to the relevant third party services.
• To fully comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 etc, the School’s Health and Safety Policy and all locally agreed safe methods of work.
• At the discretion of the CEO, such other activities as may from time to time be agreed consistent with the nature of the job described above.
• To work with colleagues to achieve service plan objectives and targets.
• To participate in Employee Development schemes and Appraisal and contribute to the identification of own team development needs.

As you will be appointed to The De Curci Trust, you may be required to work in any of The De Curci Trust’s academies or in any of the schools/academies that the Trust is supporting as reasonably directed by the CEO. The ability to travel independently between DCT academies/schools is therefore desirable.

Person SpecificationKnowledge and understanding

1. Education, charity and company law, the regulatory framework for trusts and the range of compliance activities required in an academy trust.

2. The characteristics of effective governance, including the latest thinking on effective methodologies for board evaluation, growth and development and succession planning.

3. Methodologies of risk assessment, management and mitigation.

4. The principles of delegation, and the roles and responsibilities of members, trustees, and senior executive staff within a school trust.

5. The basics (at a minimum) of trust funding and financial planning.

6. The importance of good governance design that facilitates the flow of information between stakeholders, stays true to the concept of subsidiarity and provides accountability at all levels.

Skills and practice

1. Highly effective influencing and enabling skills.

2. The ability to problem-solve and anticipate issues.

3. The confidence to advise the chief executive, trust chair, and trust board, even in difficult, contentious or challenging circumstances.

4. The ability to take minutes and maintain accurate records.

5. Excellent planning and organising skills, making effective use of technology where appropriate.

6. The ability to communicate clearly and effectively, with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.

7. Ability to quality assure the work of clerks and lead a team.

8. Good knowledge and understanding of relevant ICT packages including Word / Excel / Google Suite / Microsoft teams.

9. A Clerks accreditation or equivalent would be beneficial.

Values and behaviours

1. Understanding of the importance of maintaining independence and the demonstrable ability to do so

2. A commitment to doing the right thing – even in the most challenging of circumstances.

3. The ability to be flexible and open-minded and provide accurate, honest and constructive advice and guidance.

4. Willingness to learn and develop professional knowledge and promote learning in others.

5. Ability to recognise when external support and advice is required and where to obtain it.

Appendix 1: Seven principles of public life

The seven principles of public life (also known as the Nolan Principles) apply to anyone who works as a public office-holder. This includes all those who are elected or appointed to public office, nationally and locally, and all people appointed to work in the Civil Service, local government, the police, courts and probation services, non-departmental public bodies, and in the health, education, social and care services. All public office-holders are both servants of the public and stewards of public resources. The principles also apply to all those in other sectors delivering public services, including the trustees and executive leaders of school trusts.

1. Selflessness. Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest.

2. Integrity. Holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

3. Objectivity. Holders of public office must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.

4. Accountability. Holders of public office are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.

5. Openness. Holders of public office should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing.

6. Honesty. Holders of public office should be truthful.

7. Leadership. Holders of public office should exhibit these principles in their own behaviour and treat others with respect. They should actively promote and robustly support the principles and challenge poor behaviour wherever it occurs.

Appendix 2: Academy Trust Governance Code

The Academy Trust Governance Code is a voluntary code developed by the sector that draws upon the Seven Principles of Public Life, the Charity Governance Code and relevant Department for Education guidance. It sets out the principles, desired outcomes, and recommended practice for effective governance.

• Fundamental Principle. The Academy Trust’s Directors are aware of and meet ‘The Seven Principles of Public Life’, understand the legal, regulatory and contractual obligations they must meet, and have regard to the statutory guidance issued by the Secretary of State.
• Principle 1: Delivering the Academy Trust Charitable Objects. The Academy Trust’s Articles of Association set out the Academy Trust’s charitable Objects and how those must be fulfilled. The Board is clear about its aims and ensures that they are being delivered effectively and sustainably.
• Principle 2: Leadership. The Academy Trust is led by an effective Board that provides strategic governance in line with the aims and values of the Academy Trust and engages effectively with its Members.
• Principle 3: Integrity. The Board acts with integrity, adopting values and creating a culture which helps achieve the Academy Trust’s charitable Objects. The Board is aware of the importance of public confidence and trust in Academy Trusts and their Schools, and the Board undertakes its duties accordingly.
• Principle 4: Decision making, risk and control. The Board ensures that its decision-making processes are evidence informed, rigorous and timely and that effective delegation, control, risk assessment and management systems are set up and monitored. There is effective reporting at all levels of Academy Trust governance to ensure decisions are taken at the correct level in accordance with the Articles of Association and Scheme of Delegation.
• Principle 5: Board effectiveness. The Board works as an effective team, using the appropriate balance of knowledge, skills, experiences and backgrounds to make informed decisions.
• Principle 6: Equality, diversity and inclusion. In ensuring the effective achievement of the Academy Trust’s charitable Objects, the Board has a clear, agreed and effective approach to advancing equality, diversity and inclusion throughout the Academy Trust.
• Principle 7: Openness and accountability. The Board leads the Academy Trust in being transparent and accountable. The Academy Trust is open in its work, unless there is good reason for it not to be.

Job Type: Part-time

Pay: £7,534.00-£8,112.00 per year

Expected hours: 7.5 per week

Benefits:

• Company pension
• Free parking
• On-site parking

Schedule:

• Flexitime

Work Location: In person

Application deadline: 16/06/2025
Reference ID: https://mynewterm.com/jobs/16634/EDV-2025-DCT-97829