Governance

Welcome | Chair of Trustees

‘I am proud to be the chair of a trust which has ‘Education Without Exception’ as its mission. All children deserve the very best, whatever school they attend. While our schools have their individual traits and personalities, they are united in our shared high expectation for all pupils. If it would not be good enough for our own relatives, it’s not good enough for pupils in our schools.

‘All Matrix schools place children at the heart of every decision. When we come to making decisions at a board meeting, we keep coming back to ‘What’s best for the kids?’.

‘I am proud to be the chair of a trust board which gets involved in the lives of our schools. I love going in as often as I can to support our hardworking leaders and teachers and provide them with constructive challenge to really get the best for every one of the children in their care.’

Sir Mark Aspinall

Members

Members of the Matrix Academy Trust ensure that the Trust acts within its charitable objectives as set out in the “Articles of Association of the Multi Academy Trust”. The members of the Academy Trust are the signatories to the “Memorandum of Association”. New members are appointed by the current members. The members are responsible for the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer and Trustees who are known as the Directors of the Trust.

Our Members: Mr Jeremy Bench, Mr Stephen Smith, Bishop Derek Webley, Keith Hoey and Jayne Pownell.

Board of Directors/Trustees

The Board of Directors/Trustees is the Governing Body for all the schools within the Matrix Academy Trust. It has three core functions: 1. To ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction of the Trust. 2. To hold the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to account for the educational performance and wellbeing of the pupils and staff taught or employed in the schools of the Trust. 3. To oversee the financial performance of the individual schools of the Matrix Academy Trust, ensuring value for money and compliance with the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s (ESFA) Academies Financial Handbook.

Chief Executive Officer

The Board of Directors, who are accountable, have delegated to the CEO the responsibility for the day to day operation of the Matrix Academy Trust. The CEO leads the Academy Trust’s Headteacher’s team and delegates responsibilities to these Headteachers, located in the individual schools, for the day to day operation of their school. The CEO is accountable to the Board of Directors for the performance of the Leadership Teams.

The CEO has overall responsibility for the operation of the Academy Trust’s financial responsibilities and ensures the Trust is run effectively. The CEO delegates this responsibility to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), who has day to day responsibility for the financial operations of the Trust.

Parent Advisory Board

The Parent Advisory Forum is vital to the success of the school. Our Forum members have an important role to fulfil that directly affects the education and wellbeing of children and improves standards throughout school.

The role of the Forums are to:

  1. Consider parent and community engagement within the School
  2. Increase parent and community engagement between the School and Trustees
  3. Represent the Trustees on Pupil Discipline Committees
  4. Report through the Headteacher to the Board of Trustees
  5. Contribute to school improvement
  6. Provide advice to Trustees

Sir Mark Aspinall | Chair of Trustees

Sir Mark has over 20 years’ experience in Law across banking, financial, media, NHS, Government and FTSE corporate sector. He has extensive HR and change management experience, recently tasked with bringing 3 Local Authority services together. Most recently Sir Mark has a Post Graduate Degree in Law and an LLM in Legal Practice. He is currently a Judge and a Governor of a local authority Primary School.

Mr Stephen Smith | Vice Chair of Trustees

Stephen has worked in the electrical industry for over forty years in management roles ranging from Production, HR, Marketing, Logistics, Commercial, and General Management. Most recently, he has spent ten years in Project Management, controlling a team which worked on a number of prestigious projects both in the U.K. and overseas. He has also acted as a Parent Governor at Barr Beacon School.

Mr Jeremy Bench | Trustee

Jeremy has lived in Walsall for the last 45 years with is wife and children who have all been educated locally. Jeremy has been involved with Matrix Academy Trust since it was established following the request of sponsorship by Etone College in Nuneaton. He currently sits on the Board of Directors for Matrix and is also chair for the Governing bodies of both Barr Beacon School and Etone College. Jeremy works as a consultant within the development and construction industry and runs his own business. He has a practical and commercial understanding of finance and has a common sense approach when making decisions. His Hobbies include Theatre, Golf, Fine Dining and Walking. Jeremy is a National Leader of Governance (NLG).

Mr Stephen White | Trustee

Stephen is Walsall born and bred and attended Queen Mary’s Grammar School. Aged 18 he moved to London as a trainee accountant in Tesco’s head office. He returned to the Black Country and has remained working there ever since. He is currently Managing Director of an engineering firm based in the Black Country. Stephen is part of a trio training to climb Kilimanjaro for charity.

Ms Tracey Goodyere | Trustee

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Mr Ian Bidmead | Trustee

Ian is a chartered accountant, specialising in audit, tax and mergers and acquisitions. He lives in Walsall with his wife and was educated at Barr Beacon School, attending between 1972 to 79 (where he also met his wife). Having disposed of his accountancy practice in 2022 he now works as a finance director for an audio production company that specialises in tours an festivals for the entertainment industry. During his time as the senior partner in practice he acted as auditor for trust academies and he has gained invaluable insight in their operations and finance.

When not lost in spreadsheets, Ian enjoys theatre, concerts, travel, films and literature, and still throws himself around a badminton court with enthusiasm.

Ms Kate Tranter | Trustee

Kate has worked in the aviation industry for over thirty years. She has held a managerial role for the past twenty seven years and has been responsible for Operations and Station Management at numerous airports across the United Kingdom. She has also acted as Parent Governor at Barr Beacon for the past two years.

Ms Kerenza Palmer | Trustee

Kerenza has over 26 years’ experience in education. She has a comprehensive understanding of SEND, Safeguarding, behaviour management and curriculum development.