Governance

Local Academy Committee Welcome

On behalf of the LAC team, welcome to Mereside, part of St Chad’s Academies Trust – an academy we are all very proud of!

The LAC are a group of committed people across our community working to support Mereside and ensure every child feels happy, safe and secure and receives the best education possible.

Our LAC are people who have:

• an interest in our children’s future
• time, energy & enthusiasm
• a desire to make a difference
• a willingness to accept responsibility
• an ability to work as a team
• are happy to ask questions, listen & learn

The LAC working as a team, have high aspirations for all of our children and strive for our school to be outstanding in all that we do!

The LAC supports the effective running of Mereside and is a rewarding way to make a difference to the lives of our children. The LAC sets the strategic vision of the academy within the vision of St Chad’s MAT, provide support and challenge to the Executive Principal and ensure that the academy works within a sound financial footing. We work through meetings and visits to the school. The LAC also measure the impact of academy and LAC decisions and constructively challenge school leaders to ensure we best meet the needs of all of our children. We also receive information and advice to help us in our role and full training is provided. From time to time, we have vacancies on our LAC team. If you feel you have what it takes to be part of our team working to achieve the best for our children, we would be pleased to hear from you!

Everyone who works at Mereside is very committed and enthusiastic. This makes the academy what it is!

We hope you enjoy our website but if you need any further information or wish to raise any issues, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

Governance / LAC at Mereside:

Membership and terms of office 2024-25

Attendance at meetings Academic year 24-25

Governance within St Chad’s:

St Chad’s LAC information (governors)

St Chad’s Scheme of Delegation

Local Academy Committees (LAC)/Governors are one of the largest volunteer groups in the country and have an important part to play in raising school standards.

As members of the LAC:

• you have been appointed by the Trust
• you are highly valued members of the team
• the LAC is a sub-committee of the Trust Board
• you are the eyes and ears of the Trust Board, holding the academy to account

The role of the LAC Member is to contribute to the work of the Trust through the Local Academy Committee ensuring high standards of achievement for all children and young people in the academy by:

• ensuring the academy’s vision, ethos and strategic direction reflect those of the St Chad’s Academies Trust;
• holding the Principal to account for the educational performance of the academy and its pupils;
• overseeing the financial performance of the academy and making sure money is well spent.

The LAC has significant autonomy from both the Trust and Local Authority but with this comes responsibility.  Crucially, this means creating robust accountability for Academy leaders by using and being familiar with objective data on the performance of pupils, teachers and finances; being aware of and be able to use other sources of information to create an informed narrative around school effectiveness. Basically, our job is to ask the right questions. It means ensuring resources are allocated to strategic priorities.  It also means ensuring that schools prepare pupils for the next phase of their life: build up their resilience against negative influences and develop other key attributes that will serve them well in a complex world. We will ensure our school implements robust Safeguarding policies and practices so that the safety of all children is at the very heart of daily life. Our task is to monitor the robust application of practice such as the Prevent duty, for example, and to ensure British Values are consistently upheld in the context of a multi faith, but distinctively Christian school community.

How do we do this?  Members of the LAC attend formal meetings every half term.  At these meetings we examine the Principal’s report, which details the work of the school, and ask questions to better understand where the school is on its journey. Questions are asked to elicit information about the impact of school actions, policies and procedures on school development and effectiveness.

In addition to this LAC members try to engage with stakeholders of the school whenever possible: staff, pupils, parents/carers and the local community.  Members also visit the school for Learning Walks and Link Members will meet with the subject/area leader to better understand how the school is progressing towards identified areas for improvement.  Members examine the findings and ask questions to better understand the circumstances that led to the conclusions drawn. Additional monitoring activities may include interviews with children to capture their views about the school, its strengths and weaknesses, or work scrutiny to check standards. Members also volunteer to listen to children read or accompany classes on Educational Visits, giving them a unique insight into the workings of the school.

This continuous cycle of monitoring and evaluation is to ensure the children and other learners in the Academy’s care get the best possible education and are kept safe.  We take Safeguarding seriously and we believe that your children will benefit from their time with Mereside CofE Primary Academy.

For more information regarding St Chad’s Academies Trust Governance and Financial information click here: St Chad’s trust governance