Leading Governance Development for MAT trustees | National Governance Association

At a glance

This new programme of workshops for multi academy trust trustees offers a practical grounding in how effective governance can work in MATs and how to fulfil your role to make a positive impact.

Eight workshops

Two hours each

Flexible delivery

All workshops take place online and in the evening

Tailored learning

Complete the whole programme or select individual workshops

Subject-specific sessions

Select individual workshops to fill any gaps in expertise

Upcoming sessions

Our upcoming workshops are listed here; choose your individual session or book the whole programme. As well as being more cost effective, undertaking the full programme will enable you to gain a comprehensive insight into what constitutes good trust governance.

Autumn 2023

Workshop	Date
1. Good MAT governance: an introduction	CLOSED
2. Local governance: setting the expectations. Why the local tier is important	CLOSED
3. Improving the quality of education in your schools: pupil groups, outcomes and performance measures	Fully booked
4. How trust boards work: meetings, challenge, relationships and decision making	Fully booked
5. The board in action: establishing the trust vision, culture and strategy	Tuesday 6 February 2024, 18:00-20:00
6. The board in action: financial governance and risk management	Fully booked
7. The board in action: meeting compliance obligations and moving beyond	Tuesday 23 April 2024, 18:00-20:00
8. The trust as a good employer	Tuesday 14 May 2024, 18:00-20:00

Book your place

Spring 2024

Workshop	Date
1. Good MAT governance: an introduction	Tuesday 6 February 2024, 18:00-20:00
2. Local governance: setting the expectations. Why the local tier is important	Wednesday 28 February 2024, 18:00-20:00
3. Improving the quality of education in your schools: pupil groups, outcomes and performance measures	Wednesday 20 March 2024, 18:00-20:00
4. How trust boards work: meetings, challenge, relationships and decision making	Tuesday 16 April 2024, 18:00-20:00
5. The board in action: establishing the trust vision, culture and strategy	Wednesday 1 May 2024, 18:00-20:00
6. The board in action: financial governance and risk management	Wednesday 22 May 2024, 18:00-20:00
7. The board in action: meeting compliance obligations and moving beyond	Tuesday 11 June 2024, 18:00-20:00
8. The trust as a good employer	Wednesday 3 July 2024, 18:00-20:00

Book your place

About the programme

Who is the programme for?

Existing MAT trustees seeking to refresh their knowledge
New or soon-to-be appointed trustees wanting to build their understanding
MAT CEOs and other trust leaders seeking insights into good MAT governance

What are the benefits?

This is a MAT-specific programme which draws on NGA’s extensive knowledge and experience of MAT governance. It explores the expectations of trustees, CEOs and other trust leaders to help your board improve governance in tandem with the members of the wider team.

Practical and interactive sessions highlight current challenges faced by MATs and deal with important themes such as staying strategic, ethical governance, stakeholder engagement, and organisational growth.

From specific governance tips relevant to your MAT to improving the quality of education in your schools, the programme will help you to enhance your practice and build upon your board’s ongoing professional development.

By the end of the programme, you will be able to make confident contributions to your MAT and will have a thorough understanding of what good MAT governance looks like in essential areas of regulation and practice.

How will you learn? 

The Development for MAT Trustees programme is led by experienced facilitators with expertise in MAT governance.
Small group workshops allow you to work with other MAT trustees.
Workshops refer to key legal and guidance sources and provide useful templates to promote good governance practice.
You can choose to complete the whole programme or select individual workshops to fill any gaps in expertise.
For the convenience of participants, all workshops are delivered online and in the evening.
A bespoke programme can be commissioned by a MAT for its own trustees.

about this programme

Choose your learning option

Development for MAT trustees programme

take the full Development for MAT trustees programme
book the whole programme and assign different members of your trust board to the most appropriate workshop for their governance role
choose your cohort and book

Book your place: Development for MAT Trustees

Individual workshops

select individual workshops to fill any gaps in knowledge
choose your session(s) and book

Costs

NGA membership offers you substantial savings and access to much more, whether you purchase a full programme or individual workshops.

Member prices

£ 495

for the full programme

Browse upcoming cohorts

Individual workshops

for members

£ 120

Browse upcoming sessions

Non-member prices

£ 750

for the full programme

Browse upcoming cohorts

Individual workshops

for non-members

£ 145

Browse upcoming sessions

Book your place

Become a member

See our other training

I found the programme to be excellent. Knowledge I had was reinforced and new learning and insights gained. Having been a governor in maintained schools (both primary and secondary) I felt training with a MAT basis would help me in my Trust role – and it did give me that different perspective.

Programme attendee
Despite being an experienced governor, this was a really useful session and introduction to MAT governance.

Chasca Twyman, National Leader of Governance, NGA
The content and presentation was warm, friendly and extremely professional.

Edwin William Forshaw, The Cornovii Trust
I would recommend NGA because it is an organisation that understands the trials and problems facing modern governance and how daunting this can be.

Edwin William Forshaw, The Cornovii Trust