Responsibilities

Oasis Charitable Trust is the sole member of Oasis Community Learning (OCL) and appoints members of the OCL board.

The information on governance included here supplements that described in the Directors’ Report and the Statement of the Directors’ Responsibilities. The Board has met formally four times during the year.  Attendance during the year at Board meetings was as follows:

Name of Director				Attendance during 2023/24 academic year
	Appointed	Term Ends	Resigned	Attended	Out of a possible
Nicholas Bent	1 April 2008	N/A	8 Feb 2024	1	2
Andrew Blundell	11 Oct 2012	21 Jan 2025		2	4
Craig Dean	9 Oct 2014	9 Oct 2026		4	4
Ann Holt	13 Sept 2007	10 Oct 2027		4	4
Ali Layne- Smith	13 Feb 2020	N/A	14 Mar 2024	2	2
Stan Chan	24 Mar 2022	24 Mar 2026		3	4
Dave Rasmussen	6 Jan 2020	16 Jan 2028		4	4
Caroline Taylor (Chair)	21 Oct 2021	21 Oct 2025		4	4
Andrew Simmonds	24 April 2009	16 Mar 2025		4	4
Dr Gordon Carver	16 March 2023	16 Mar 2027		4	4
Julian Scholefield	16 March 2023	16 Mar 2027		4	4
Rachel Arthur	17 March 2023	17 Mar 2027		1	1
Dr Grace Healy	9th May 2024	9 May 2028		2	2
Dr Yvette Hutchinson	9th May 2024	9 May 2028		1	2
Jayne Keller	24th May 2024	24 May 2028		1	1
Christabel Fearon	9th May 2024	9 May 2028		1	2
Rob Allen	3rd June 2024	3 June 2028		0	1

The Board has appointed seven sub-committees:

(a) The Audit & Risk Committee (Chair: Andy Simmonds) whose responsibilities cover:

• Internal controls and risk management
• Compliance, whistleblowing and fraud
• Policy review
• Internal Audit
• External Audit and statutory financial reporting

(b) A Board Finance Committee (Chair: Stan Chan). Its responsibilities cover:

• Financial strategy
• Monitoring and review
• Budget
• Treasury
• Governance & Regulation

(c) The Curriculum & Learning Committee (formerly the Performance Evaluation Committee) (Chair: Andy Blundell) whose responsibilities cover:

• Evaluation of key indicators, especially educational performance data
• Assessing progress of the academies over time against National OCL targets
• Identifying success and urgent priorities for remedial action

(d) The People Committee (Chair: Ali Layne-Smith resigned as Chair in March 2024, a new chair is currently being sought), whose responsibilities cover:

• Organisational culture, ensuring our organisation is fully inclusive and in line with our ethos and 9 Habits
• Seeking assurance that our policy framework is compliant, speaks into who we are as an organisation and is successfully implemented/monitored.
• Evaluate KPIs and wellbeing indicators.
• Succession planning and our CPD offer, ensuring that it meets the current and future needs of Oasis Community Learning.
• To monitor the relationship and benefits of the work between NIOT and Oasis.
• To maintain oversight of high-risk people cases

(e) The Remuneration Committee (Chair: Ali Layne-Smith resigned as Chair in March 2024, a new chair is currently being sought) whose responsibilities cover:

• Oversight and maintenance of a cohesive set of appropriate pay scales and terms & conditions for OCL staff.
• Oversight of the most appropriate way of evaluating pay.
• Monitoring equal pay in accordance with the Equalities Act 2010.
• Report to the Board on areas related to pay and reward including policy changes, updates, (legislative and OCL driven) new initiatives and projects.

(f) The Growth Committee (Chair: Caroline Taylor) whose responsibilities cover:

• Governance oversight to ensure that OCL’s growth strategy furthers the Oasis vision for community and enables OCL to deliver its strategic objectives.
• To seek assurance that effective risk management and the due diligence process is compliant with DfE/legal frameworks and is successfully implemented/monitored.
• To maintain oversight of growth, ensuring that it meets the current and future needs of OCL and our commitment to our local communities.
• To approve free school/convertor/sponsored schools joining OCL in line with the organisational strategy. If a recommendation is not in line with the organisational strategy this should be presented to the full OCL Board

(g) The Complex Projects Committee (Chair: Caroline Taylor) whose responsibilities cover:

• Programme and Change Management;
• Cross organizational communication
• Capacity Management
• Risk Management

Attendance at Sub Committee meetings

Attendance during 2023/24 academic year
	Attended	Out of a possible
Audit & Risk Committee
Andrew Simmonds (Chair)	4	4
Stan Chan	4	4
Dave Rasmussen	3	4
Caroline Taylor	2	4
Rob Allen	1	1
Curriculum and Learning Committee
Andrew Blundell (Chair)	4	4
Caroline Taylor	3	4
Ann Holt	4	4
Rachel Arthur	1	1
Julian Scholefield	3	4
Craig Dean	4	4
Nick Bent	0	2
Grace Healy	1	1
Finance Committee
Stan Chan (Chair)	4	4
Andrew Simmonds	4	4
Caroline Taylor	3	4
Dave Rasmussen	3	4
Julian Scholefield	3	4
People and Renumeration Committee
Ali Layne-Smith (Resigned as Chair March 2024)	3	3
Caroline Taylor	3	4
Ann Holt	4	4
Andy Blundell	3	4
Craig Dean	4	4
Growth Committee
Caroline Taylor (Chair)	2	2
Andy Simmonds	1	2
Andy Blundell	2	2
Craig Dean	2	2
Complex Projects Committee
Caroline Taylor (Chair)	3	3
Andy Simmonds	3	3
Gordon Carver	2	3
Stan Chan	3	3

Oasis Community Learning – Business & Pecuniary Interests of Board members

Board Member	Relevant Business Interests
Andrew Blundell	Trustee of Tonbridge Gold (DofE Gold Expedition training and assessment) Trustee of the Tonbridge Half Marathon Trustee of the Sheppey Endowment Fund Related to Trustee of Lawson Trust
Craig Dean	Director of Egisly Consulting Ltd Director of Oasis IT Services (subsidiary of OCL) Related to a Teacher at OA Clarksfield Related to an Oasis Executive Assistant
Ann Holt	Trustee of the Diocese of Bristol Academies Trust Trustee of Culham St Gabriel Trust (Religious Education Charity) Trustee of Oasis Restore (subsidiary of OCT)
Andrew Simmonds	Director of Oasis IT Services Ltd (subsidiary of OCL)
Dave Rasmussen	Nil
Stan Chan	Trustee and Director of Better Society Capital Sole trader at Straits Consultancy (Management & Financial Consultancy) Trustee of Raileigh International Trustee of CBF Church of England Investment Funds
Caroline Taylor	Trustee of Oasis Charitable Trust (OCL’s parent company) Related to the Chair of Governors of St Matthias Primary School, Malvern
Julian Scholefield	CEO, Esteem Multi-Academy Trust – Multi-Academy Trust Trustee for the National Autistic Society
Gordon Carver	Director - Tribal Group Plc Director - Arboreum Ltd - Education Consultancy  Trustee - Lively Minds - Childhood Development Charity Related to Partner of Travers Smith LLP - Law Firm
Rachel Arthur	Head of Computing at Teach First Related to Associate Tutor at Chester University
John Barneby (CEO & Accounting Officer)	Trustee & Director of School Led Development Trust/National Institute of Reaching Related to Director of Moringa Ltd which supplies leadership training and coaching Chair of Governors at Mayhill Primary School
Dr Grace Healy	Education Director (Secondary), David Ross Education Trust Honorary Research Fellow, University of Oxford Honorary Associate Professor, UCL Associate Fellow, UCL Centre of Climate Change and Sustainability Education Member & Treasurer, Geography Education Research Collective with UK IGU-CGE External Examiner, Nottingham Trent University Advisory Group, UCL Centre for Teachers and Teaching Research Expert Panel, Oak National Academy Subject Expert Group Member, Knowledge & Quality across School Subjects & Teacher Education Network Leadership Group, UCL Curriculum Subject Specialist Research Group (CSSRG) Member, Ofsted Geography Reference Group Associate Editor, The Curriculum Journal (Editorial Board Member from January 2020) Editorial Board, London Review of Education Editorial Board, Teaching Geography Member, BERA's Publications Committee
Yvette Hutchinson	Director of the Institute for Educational and Social Equity Trustee of Oxford Community Soup Kitchen
Christabel Fearon	Trustee of the Anvil Trust, Christian Theology and Education
Jayne Keller	Education South West, Director of School Improvement (Employee)
Rob Allen	Deloitte LLP, Director The Crosby Collective, Volunteer