Governors

Welcome to the governors' section of the Arden website.

Arden is a big operation right at the heart of the Knowle, Dorridge and Bentley Heath community. At the core of Arden are the governors who play a vital role in the strategy of the school and of all its activities.

The role of governors is distinct from that of the management of the school. The prime role of academy governors is threefold as set out by the government. These are to be responsible for Finance, Academic Performance and Strategy. This is done by offering challenge and support to the Associate Headteacher and the Leadership Team in running and developing the school; this is sometimes referred to as being the “critical friend”. In doing so the governors act collectively to secure the best possible performance by the academy with the one primary aim which is to maximise the life chances of every one of the pupils in its care. Along with this comes a recognition of our role as a school at the heart of its local community.

Appointment of governors

There are different categories of Arden governors. The first are parent governors who are elected by ballot of the parents with nominations coming only from the parents of existing pupils. Second there are two staff governors elected by Arden staff plus the Associate Headteacher who has an ex-officio seat on the board. Third there are community governors who, although appointed by the existing board, are nominated by different organisations within the local community. Finally there are co-opted governors who the board has recruited for their particular expertise or experience.

Each governor, however appointed, acts for the best interests of the school and, particularly, its students, and, once appointed is not there to specifically represent any particular constituency.

Developments overseen by Arden governors

Governors do not “manage” the school – that is the task of the Associate Headteacher and the Leadership Team. Rather, they develop the strategy for the school, monitor its performance, holding the management team to account, and focus on the creation of a true learning environment and ethos. Some examples over recent years of this type of strategic decision that have been made are:

The successful application to setup an Arden Sixth Form
The transition to academy status
Building developments including the Smart Centre and Science block
The latest new build of 24 new classrooms and associated facilities in 2015
The development of Arden Multi Academy Trust allowing Arden to sponsor other schools

As Arden is an academy, the governors have a wide range of accountabilities, responsibilities and activities – the formal responsibilities under Company Law, the financial wellbeing of the school, being the direct employer of all the staff, occasionally less pleasant tasks such as disciplinary matters, and, of course, those happy occasions when we come together to celebrate success or join in social activities or entertainment.

The current governors come from a range of backgrounds covering human resources, education and training, law, charity work, social work and business. They hold regular meetings and have a number of sub-committees and working groups. They are proud to be associated with Arden and aim at all times do their best to ensure that our school is successful and well managed and serves the needs of our local children.

parent governors	community governors	co-opted governors	staff governors
Claire Barker	Martin Carter	Sarah Bloomer	David Warwood (Associate Headteacher)
Beenish Shaikh	Celia O'Donovan	Petro Nicolaides (Chair)	Margaret Allport
Kate Edwards	Jennifer Whitehill	Anthony Stonehewer	Judith Miners
	Chris Yip	Brad Parkes
		Jeremy Emmett

Arden LGB Membership and Attendance 2023-24

Arden LGB Membership and Attendance 2022-23

Declaration of Interests - Arden - January 2023

Governor	Position on Arden Board	Other interests	Reason	Relationship with Arden staff member(if applicable)
Governor	Position on Arden Board	Other interests	Reason	Relationship with Arden staff member(if applicable)
Bloomer, Sarah	Co-opted Governor	No interest		None
Carter, Martin	Community Governor	No interest		None
Nicolaides, Petro (Chair)	Parent Governor	No interest		None
O'Donovan, Celia	Community Governor	Park Hall Academy	Governor	None
		Arden Multi Academy Trust	Chair of Trustees	None
Stonehewer, Anthony	Co-opted Governor	No interest		None
Whitehill, Jennifer	Community Governor	Shine Youth	Chair of Trustees	None
Edwards, Kate	Parent Governor	No interest		None
Yip, Chris	Community Governor	No interest		None
Barker, Claire	Parent Governor	No interest		None
Shaikh, Beenish	Parent Governor	No interest		None
Allport, Margaret	Staff Governor	No interest		None
Parkes, Brad	Co-opted Governor	Sarah Cole Arden Academy Aston University	Social Enterprise Advisor Teaching Role	None None None
Jeremy Emmett	Co-opted Governor	No interest

If you would like to contact Mr Petro Nicolaides directly you can do so by emailing him: chairofgovernors@arden.solihull.sch.uk

Or by post at:

Arden Academy

Station Road

Knowle

B93 0PT

Articles of Association

Certificate of Incorporation Arden Multi Academy Trust

Arden Multi Academy Trust Articles of Association