How Ark's governance works
Every school in the Ark network is the legal responsibility of the Ark Schools Board. This board focuses on statutory duties and delegates most day-to-day responsibilities to each school’s individual Local Governing Body (LGB).
This means that our Academy's governors are able to concentrate on the things that really matter – educational strategy, school outcomes and aspiration.
The Ark Schools Decision Making Framework outlines where responsibility and accountability sits for the key functional areas within Ark Schools between the ‘tiers’ of governance.
Our Local Governing Body
Our Local Governing Body (LGB) is made up of 6-10 members – usually people with a local connection or interest who are committed to supporting educational opportunity in the area. The board generally includes:
- Academy Principal
- Up to two Parent Governors
- One Teaching Staff Governor
- One Non-teaching Staff Governor
- One Local Authority representative
We aim to create a balanced group that will have the right skills, connections and dynamic for the LGB to work well and support the school in achieving exceptional performance. Attributes we look for include:
- Good insight into the specific challenges at the school and the general challenges of operating top-quality schools
- Excellent community links
- Specific skills as needed by/relevant to the school
- A link to the senior executive team of Ark Schools
All appointments are made by the Director of Governance for Ark Schools. The term of a governor is three years, except for the Principal, who remains a governor for the duration of his or her time in post. Governors may be reappointed for further terms.
The LGB meets four times a year.
Becoming a governor
If you have an interest and commitment to improving education, and would like to make a difference within your community, please register your interest in becoming a governor by completing our online Governor Application Form. If you have any questions about a governor’s role or responsibilities please contact us at governance.team@arkonline.org
A full programme of induction, training and support is provided. You can see more information, including role specifications here.
Contacting the governors
The current Clerk to Governors is Katie Bird (katie.bird@arkonline.org). Please contact them if you have any governance-related queries, or would like to contact one of the governors.
Our Governors
Katie Oliver
Katie Oliver was formerly Ark’s Director of Operations and now heads up Ark Start, a pilot programme to broaden and extend work in early years education.
Michlyn Caffrey
Michlyn is currently a School Development Lead for Ark Curriculum Plus, supporting teachers and school leaders to develop their teaching of English. Prior to joining Ark Curriculum Plus, Michlyn taught secondary English for 12 years in West London and South London schools, holding various middle leadership roles across Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. Michlyn is also a mother to a young daughter who is currently in primary school.
Mikayla Henry
Mikayla is Strategy and Delivery Lead at Aula, which designs great online learning experiences for higher education. She began her career at Bain & Company, and has since gained experience working in policy, social investment and impact evaluation. Mikayla is deeply passionate about social mobility and keen to ensure all children from any background can thrive.
Suzie McCluney
Suzie is a lawyer in the healthcare sector advising on claims, ethical issues, policy and regulatory matters. She has an MA in Medical Law and Ethics and is an accredited CEDR Mediator. Suzie was involved in her children's PTA for a number of years and worked as a teaching assistance with SEN children (on sabbatical) gaining experience of school from the staff room. Her ethos is that it is important to support the development of strong and successful schools within the community to build on the education of local children in as many ways as possible. Suzie's broad range of skills within the professional environment allow her to make a positive contribution to the Governing Body of the school. Her drive is to ensure the children have equal opportunities to understand their own individual strengths and skills in a safe and nurturing environment.
Thea Sherer
Thea is Head of Group Communications at a global academic publishing company with many years experience in communications, external affairs and marketing in the public and private sectors. She has particular interests in developing children’s interest and capability in the ‘STEM’ subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), the importance of Music and the Arts in the curriculum and the need for all children to have opportunities to achieve their best in literacy and numeracy so that they can use these skills in other areas of the curriculum. She has been a member of the Governing Body since December 2014 and is committed to ensuring that all the children who attend the school have a positive start to their education and are given every opportunity to achieve their best.
Michael Surman
I am a chartered accountant with experience auditing and advising a range of clients in the commercial, charitable and public sectors. This includes work with a number of government departments and agencies in the education sector. Before moving to south London to start my career I studied modern languages and history at Durham and am passionate about the importance of the humanities in the curriculum. Having made London my home, I volunteered as a governor to contribute to the community that welcomed me so warmly when I arrived here over five years ago, and to bring the perspective and skills of my profession to the governance of a local school.