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Governance

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Trustee Meeting Attendance (updated after the December 2023 Trustee meeting)
Westside Trustees' attendance records are exceptional.

Trustee Meetings Attended in the Last 12 Months

First Name Second Name Attended Required for
Nicholas Basden 5 5
Dominic Bolton 4 5
Caroline Clark (Chair) 5 5
Sarah Evans 5 5
Patricia  Hanley 5 5
Christina Lyons 5 5

Deborah

Grazia

Lee

Rapisarda (resigned)

5

2

5

4

 

Audit, Risk and Finance Committee Meeting Attendance (updated after the December 2023 meeting)

ARF Committee Meetings attended in the Last 12 Months  (also exceptional)

First Name Second Name Attended Required for
Nicholas Basden 3 3
Dominic Bolton 3 3
Caroline Clark 3 3

Patricia

Grazia

Hanley

Rapisarda

3

1

3

3


Important Documents

You can download our Articles of Association (our governing document) below:

Westside Articles Of Association

You can download our most recent annual report and accounts here.

Annual Report & Accounts


 

Our Members

First Name Surname Start Date Extra Information

Caroline

Clark

25/09/2018

Caroline is the Chair of Westside Academy Trust, and as such, she is an ex-officio Member.

Sarah

Evans

26/07/2006

Founder of Westside School. Currently a board member of : Westside School, London Interdisciplinary School, AP Challenge Trust, Breaking GB, and three boards in Canada.

Julian

Critchlow

23/03/2017

Advisory Partner to Bain & Company on Energy Transition and NED Nyobolt. Former Director General of Energy Transformation & Clean Growth at BEIS. Previously National Board of Business In The Community “Employment for Excluded Groups” and Global Futures Council for Energy, World Economic Forum.  

Honouree International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame

Robert

Devereux

23/03/2017

Former Trustee of Westside Academy Trust

Michael

Milner

07/12/2015

Head of the John Madejski Academy.

Former head of Senior School at Reddam House School in Berkshire. Independent Inspector for Ofsted. Former Trustee of Westside. Past Executive Principal of Wellington College Academy Trust.

Area of Expertise: Teaching and Learning

Our Trustees

Name Appointed by   Date of Appointment Date of Resignation End of Term
Caroline Clark (CHAIR) Members 25/09/2018   25/09/2026
Self-employed consultant.  Co-Founder and ex-Director of The Great Little Trading Company. Graduate of Columbia University School of Law. Areas of expertise: Business Development and Strategy, Legal
Patricia Hanley Ex Officio, as Head teacher 01/09/2020   N/A
 
Dominic Bolton Members 16/09/2014   25/09/2026
Chair of Finance and General Purposes Committee
Area of Expertise: Finance
Nicholas Basden Members 22/06/2015   25/09/2026
Self-employed Business Consultant. MBA Harvard Business School, Ex-Director of Business Development for Starbucks
Area of Expertise: Marketing, Business Development and Strategy/Financial Review
Christina Lyons Members 11/03/2019   07/03/2027

A common law barrister with expertise across a broad spectrum of practice areas including child and family law, local authority liability, public law, employment law, personal injury law and criminal law. 

Areas of expertise: Specialist advocate and litigator 

Sarah Evans Members 26/07/2015   22/07/2026
Sarah Evans is Founder of Westside School. Chair of London Interdisciplinary School Foundation, Board member of Sadler’s Wells Theatre, AP Challenge Trust, Global Council of INET, and on three advisory boards in Canada.
Area of Expertise: Finance, Management Consulting, and Management of Change.
Deborah Rhodes Members 23/11/2011   21/11/2026

Psychologist Consultant
Area of Expertise: Safeguarding

Grazia Rapisarda.                Members                                 4/10/2021                                                                                    3/10/2025

Grazia Rapisarda has twenty years' experience of working in finance. She is Head of Governance & Controls, Risk Model Control Office at Barclays. 

Please note that parents and carers were invited to apply for positions on the Board of Trustees, but no applications were received. However, two Trustees have children of compulsory school age, which means that the requirements of Article 58 in the Trust's Articles of Association are met. 

Interests and Gifts

No Trustee has received any hospitality or gifts in connection with their role as a Trustee of Westside Academy.

Updated in March 2024

Declarations of interests for all trustees, members, and trustees and members who resigned within the last 12 months are available in this spreadsheet

Declarations of interests

Governing Body

Westside Academy Trust is a charitable company, with registration number 05888220. It is an exempt charity, regulated by the Secretary of State for Education. 

The Board of Trustees of the charity is also the Board of Directors of the charitable company. 

The Trustees/Directors are the Governing Body. The Governing Body has responsibility for the strategic direction and financial accountability of the school and meets at least four times a year. Staff and advisors attend where appropriate.

The Trustees delegate management of the school to the Head teacher, within the restrictions of the financial delegations, set out in the financial procedures manual. 

The term of office for a Trustee is four years.

The Role of the Governing Body is:

Setting the strategic framework in which the school operates Setting long-term financial and organisational targets, promoting the Westside small-scale model, what we term mini-mainstream, with aspirational targets and individual support.
Setting educational targets and promoting high standards of achievement Overseeing curriculum delivery, the quality of Teaching & Learning and monitoring achievements vs targets set.
Management of the school budget Budgetary monitoring of the spending and financial performance of the school, plus the driving of fund-raising and the income gained from hiring out the school building facilities.
Ultimate responsibility for the conduct of the school To be ultimately responsible for all staffing issues, disciplinary measures, policy approvals and the general good conduct of the school.
Ensuring the safeguarding and well-being of all Westside students Monitoring well-being surveys, promoting links with both families and local community, and encouraging good tracking of students after they graduate.
 

The Audit, Risk and Finance Committee meets three times a year, reporting into the Board of Trustees. Its key functions are the preparation of annual Budgets, monitoring Westside's spending and financial performance and Premises costs.

Dominic Bolton is the Chair of this Committee.

 

To contact our governance adviser or to ask any questions about Westside governance below:

ex-Trustees

Name Appointed by Date of appointment Date of resignation End of term
Grazia Rapisarda       December 2024

 

Employees whose benefits exceeded £100k per year

The government requires each Academy Trust to publish the number of employees whose benefits exceeded £100k, in £10k bandings, for the previous year ended 31 August.

Benefits for this purpose include salary, employers’ pension contributions, other taxable benefits and termination payments.

 

For Westside Academy Trust, one member of staff received benefits exceeding £100k, in the band £100k to £110k.