Governance and Diversity
The Trust and its governing bodies are committed to the principles of the Equality Act and its implementation. This commitment includes an intent for our governors and directors to reflect the diversity of the local community. We welcome applications from those from a range of different backgrounds, ethnic groups, faiths or none and will take forward an application to join a school governing body to the interview stage where such an application may help address under-representation.
The Trust has made this statement for the following reasons:
- The Trust believes that diversity benefits the organisation and this includes at governance level
- By highlighting this belief we hope to encourage applications from a more diverse background
- By fast tracking applicants to the interview stage we hope to encourage application and appointment
- We are aware that the national picture of governance is an under-representation of certain groups, leading to a less diverse representation than the national or local population.
Elected posts – parent governors and staff governors:
The Trust does not interview for these posts; these are elected by the relevant group (either parents or staff). However, the statement welcoming applications is included in notification letters indicating a vacancy to the relevant group (either parents or staff)
Non-elected posts when a vacancy arises
The selection panel will interview those placed on the short list. The short list will be drawn up as follows:
- Identifying all those where there are suitable applications (ie they meet the requirements for being a governor and are not disqualified from office)
- Deciding the number to be shortlisted from this list, and considering these applications to select the necessary number
- Assess the current proportion of ethnic representation. Where this is under the local or national proportion of the population, add all suitable minority ethnic applications, if not already on the short list, to the interview list.
Expression of interests at other times
We encourage those from under-represented groups to contact us to express their interest whether a governor vacancy is advertised or not. We would then look at whether recruitment at that time was viable, ie whether it was possible to expand the governing body without detriment to the governance system and if so, follow the appointment process to a conclusion.
Who to contact:
For Trust roles and for Cheam High School governance roles please contact the
Trust HR and Cheam High School Governance team
For Oaks Park HIgh School governance roles please contact the
Oaks Park High School Governance team