HC Academy Trust

Board of Trustees: In all Academy Trusts, the individuals appointed to challenge and scrutinise the strategic direction and day to day running of the company, led by the Chief Executive Officer, have three functions:
◾They are Directors – because the MAT is a company, and;
◾They are Trustees – because the MAT is a charity, and;
◾They are Governors – because the MAT is responsible for running the schools.

This can be very confusing as the documentation used to set up the Academy Trust and the Department for Education guidance for Academies uses these three titles interchangeably, depending on the context. In HCAT, this role is simply called ‘Trustee’. Trustees are made up of a diverse range of individuals. The Members will always appoint Trustees, and Trustees have the option to appoint associate Trustees.

Our Trust Board Register of Business Interest for 2021-2022 can be accessed here – this includes for each of our trust’s members serving at any point over the past 12 months, their full names, date of appointment, date they stepped down (where applicable), and relevant business and pecuniary interests including governance roles in other educational institutions and also their attendance at meetings – Register of Business Interest HCAT 2022

Our Trust Board Register of Business Interest from September 2022 can be accessed here – Register of Business Interests Sept 2022

Click here for our Governance Arrangements that outlines the structure and remit of the trust’s members, board of trustees, committees and local governing bodies (the trust’s scheme of delegation for governance functions), and the full names of the chair of each Governing Body.

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Below are further details of the HCAT MAT Trustees.

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Alan Richards -(Independent) Alan is the Chair of the Trust. Alan is an experienced Chair of Governors in both the Primary and Secondary sector and is licensed as a National Leader of Governance by the National College of Teaching and Leadership. He is the Chair at two Teaching Schools rated as outstanding by Ofsted and is a Director of a School Improvement company based in Rotherham. Alan has a very successful track record of supporting school improvement and governor development.

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Stephen Gallagher – Stephen is the Vice Chair of the Trust. Stephen has been a Parent Governor and is currently the Chair of Governors at Ward Green Primary School for over 15 years. In the past he has also been the Chair of Governors at another school. He is a solicitor specialising in employment law. This gives him experience with HR matters, workforce planning, and legal risk management and performance management/ improvement.
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Andrew Kent – (Independent) A confident and pro-active leader with extensive experience of managing large-scale projects while devising effective strategic planning and delivering outcomes within timescales and budgets and has extensive experience of working at Board level in educational, health, and voluntary sector organisations.
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Dee Marsh – (Independent) Dee is the Director of Tykes Teaching School Alliance, she works strategically to help support and lead a sector led system of school improvement with the view that children of Barnsley and beyond receive high quality education. Previously, Dee was the Manager of a Children’s Centre providing leadership and strategic direction of a wide range of services improving the life chances of children aged 0 to 25 in a multi-agency environment.
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Margaret Gostelow – Margaret is the Chair of Governors at Horizon Community College. Educated at Surrey University and the LSE, Margaret was a social work practitioner and manager in London for 27 years before working as a children’s guardian in the family courts and chairing child protection conferences for Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council. She has been a school governor for 31 years in both primary and secondary schools and was a member of independent admission and exclusion appeal panels in London Borough Bexley for a number of years. She was vice chair of governors at the Kingstone School Barnsley, a member of the IEB at Wombwell High School, Barnsley and is currently chair of governors at Horizon Community College, Barnsley.
She was a founder member of the Barnsley Governors Association in 2010 and served a three year term as chair. She commissions and delivers governor training and organises conferences and networking events. She has experience of working in a number of voluntary/community organisations from being a member of a law centre management committee to secretary of the Parish Church Council at St Edward’s church in Barnsley.
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Adrian Fearn (Independent) – Adrian is currently the Partnership Lead across all four phases of Teacher Education at Sheffield Hallam University. He teaches Masters modules, maths and professional studies on BA and PGCE Primary and Early Years routes and is also the University Link tutor and lead tutor for School Direct clusters. ………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ian Dickinson (Independent) – Ian brings corporate experience from the finance sector to the HCAT board. Being a local Barnsley business professional he is keen to promote continued positive outcomes for our young people. Offering his perspective and ideas to ensure our continued improvement on all aspects of education.

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Trudy Morris – (Independent) – Trudy joins HCAT following a highly successful career in human resources. In her last role she held the position of Group Director of People.  Trudy is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and has a wealth of expertise in people management and organisation development gained in local government, schools, academies (and Trusts) and also the Further Education sector.  Her particular passion is in organisation culture, values, engagement and leadership.

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Mark Utley – (Independent) – Mark is a professional Chartered Management Accountant working for a global technology company who specialise in helping organisations across different industry sectors with digital transformation, technological decarbonisation, cyber risk management and outsourcing. Mark specialises in the Financial Services sector and will use his extensive experience of corporate governance and risk management to bring value to the academy in support of its strategic aims.

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Melanie John Ross – (Independent) – Melanie has significant experience in managing children’s social work and safeguarding services, as a senior leader in children’s services. She has previously served as a school governor and the designated safeguarding governor, with a background of safeguarding.

Melanie was an Executive Director of Children’s Services before recently retiring. Since retiring she is supporting sector led improvement across children’s services and supporting local children’s safeguarding partnerships. Melanie also provides execution coaching and mentoring to senior leaders.