Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee.
The structure is made up of Members, Trustees and Governors.
School governors and trustees have three core functions…
- Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction.
- Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff.
- Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.
Governance at NCEA Trust
There are local governing bodies for each of the Trust schools. The terms of reference for the local governing bodies are held within the Scheme of Delegation and can be downloaded below.
Key Documents
- Certificate of Incorporation and Memorandum
- Articles of Association
- Governance Code of Conduct 2024-25
- Register of Members and Trustees 2023/24
- Declaration of Interests for Members
- Declaration of Interests for the Trust Board
- NCEAT Funding Agreement
- Scheme of Delegation 2025-26
- Attendance Record – Finance Operations and Risk Committee (FORC) 2023 – 2024
- Attendance Record – NCEA Endowment Trust 2023 – 2024
- Attendance Record – NCEA Trust Board 2023 – 2024
- Attendance Record – Education Quality and Standards Committee (EQS) 2023-24
Our Members, Trustees and Committee
Click the tabs below to find out who our Members, Trustees and Committee members are.
Finance, Operations and Risk Committee (FORC)
Alison Alden (in attendance) Chief Finance Officer
| Jeff Hope – Chair of FORC |
| John Brearley |
| John Marshall |
| Fiona Nash |
| Rachel Scheffer |
| Alan Hardie (in attendance) – CEO/Accounting Officer |
Endowment Trust Committee
Alan Hardie (in attendance)CEO/Accounting OfficerAlison Alden (in attendance) Chief Finance Officer
| Alex Cox – Chair |
| Ellie Gadsby |
| Tony Hodson |
| John Marshall |
| Stephen Purvis – Associate appointed by Trustees |
Education, Quality & Standards Committee
To ensure accountability and monitoring processes are rigorous across the Trust, a committee was formed in September 2022 to oversee education quality and standards. The committee meets four times a year. On occasion, other parties may be asked to attend, such as a member of the Diocesan Joint Education Team.
| Rachel Mays | Trustee (Chair) |
| Richard Bishopp | Trustee |
| Simon Ross | Trustee |
| Alan Hardie (in attendance) | Trustee and CEO |
Local Governance
The local governing bodies (LGB) are accountable for their decisions to the Trust Board. Following the demerger of Bishop’s Primary School into five individual schools in July 2021, an additional LGB was created in September to serve the devolved schools. Warkworth C of E Primary School joined NCEA Trust in September 2020. For information on each LGB, please go to each school’s website:
- William Leech CofE Primary School governance information
- Bishop’s Primary School governance information
- Castle School governance information
- Duke’s Secondary School governance information
- Grace Darling CofE Primary School governance information
- James Knott CofE Primary School governance information
- St Michael’s C of E Primary School governance information
- Thomas Bewick CofE Primary School governance information
- Warkworth CofE Primary School governance information
Contact
The Chair of the Board of Trustees, John Brearley, may be contacted by email at governor@ncea.org.uk or in writing:
The Board of Trustees
c/o Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust
Wansbeck Workspace
Rotary Parkway
Ashington
NE63 8QZ
Alternatively, Trustees may be contacted via Lesley Dalby, Director of Governance, on 01670 613318