We believe that our primary accountability is to the pupils, parents and local communities served by our academies. Local governance plays an important part in linking our Board of Trustees to those local communities and providing support for our Principals on a day-to-day basis.

During 2023-24, we are putting in place a Regional Governance Committee (RGC) for each of our geographical 'hubs'.

Each RGC will consist of parent representatives as well as members representing key players in the local community, such as employers, charities, public services and community groups.

RGCs will:

• review the impact of GAT within their locality by considering the work of our individual academies, GAT’s corporate activity and the views of pupils, parents, families and colleagues
• provide evidenced feedback to the Trust Board so that they can triangulate their view of GAT’s performance and determine future strategic priorities
• determine ways in which RGC members and others in the locality can better support the work of our academies, including the provision of opportunities to pupils
• identify ways of enhancing GAT’s impact on the locality
• identify ways in which partners might respond to community concerns which present via our academies but cannot be solved by GAT alone
• operate as a formal committee of the Trust Board, forming panels as required by statutory guidance to consider matters such as suspensions, exclusions, complaints and admissions appeals.

While we are implementing this new structure, many of our academies retain an individual Academy Advisory Council (AAC).

We ask each of our academies to ensure they have in place an effective parental and community engagement strategy, and where we have AACs, their members provide valuable local input to the work of the academy.

Details of the work of our AACs are included on individual academy websites.

The following are deemed to form a part of the formal local layer of Trust governance:

• All members of the Regional Governance Committee, once established
• All members of an Academy Advisory Council in any academy where an RGC has not yet been established
• All parents/carers and/or community representatives who are identified as having a specific role within an academy’s parental and community engagement strategy (this status will be granted at the discretion of the Trust Board’s People Committee on the advice of the Corporate Affairs Director and/or the Chief Education Officers).