Academies are schools funded by the government with the freedom to govern independently – but all are accountable to the Secretary of State for Education. To share resources and best practice, many are part of multi-academy trusts – a network of schools under one legal body. 

Ark John Archer Academy is part of Ark Schools - a leading education charity and one of the country’s top-performing academy operators. Ark is non-denominational and does not make any profit from running its schools. 

Ark’s relationship with the Secretary of State is set out in the master funding agreement. There are also supplemental funding agreements for each individual school in the network, including Ark John Archer Academy. 

Ark Schools Master Funding Agreement

Ark John Archer Supplemental Funding Agreement

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 Ark John Archer Academy's governors are able to concentrate on the things that really matter – educational strategy, school outcomes and aspiration. 

The Ark Schools Articles of Association and Decision Making Framework scheme of delegation can be found on the Ark Schools website.

CONTACTING THE GOVERNORS 

The current Clerk to Governors is Katie Bird (katie.bird@arkonline.org). Governors can be contacted through the Clerk. 

If you are interested in becoming a governor, please see the Ark Schools Website. If you have any governance-related queries, please contact katie.bird@arkonline.org. 

OUR LOCAL GOVERNING BODY

Ark John Archer Academy's LGB is made up up of six to ten members appointed by Ark, to include the Chair, Principal, a Staff Governor and up to two Parent Governors. Governors are usually people with a local connection or a particular skill or interest who are committed to supporting educational opportunity in the area. Ark aims 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:

  • 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

The LGB meets five times a year. 

CURRENT GOVERNORS

Katie Oliver (Chair)

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.

Peace Ashenafi (Ark Appointed Governor)

Peace is passionate about helping pupils succeed in education and reach their full potential. Peace’s passion stemmed from her experience volunteering with various organisations working with children and young people to help them succeed in education over the last 6 years. Peace has been working at Tearfund for the last 2 years as a Senior Enquiries Officer. She hopes to make a positive impact to the school by providing strategic leadership and accountability, ensuring pupils succeed in education and reach their full potential.

Michlyn Caffrey (Ark Link Governor)

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.

Marsha Flanders (Ark Appointed Governor)

Marsha is a parent of three children who have been with through Ark John Archer Academy. She has retail experience and has worked in many different settings including school and nursery. She recently completed an online teaching assistant course. She is a governor to help make a difference for the children in her local area.

Mikayla Henry (Ark Appointed and SEND Link Governor)

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 (Ark Appointed and Safeguarding Link Governor)

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 (Vice Chair, Ark Appointed and Literacy Link Governor)

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 (Finance Link Governor)

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.

Moira Cruddas (Executive Principal)

 

The Register of Interests 2022-23 for Governors and the Attendance Information 2021-22 can be found here: 

Ark John Archer Primary Academy LGB Attendance Log 2021-22.pdf

Ark John Archer Primary Academy - Declarations of Interest 2022-23.pdf

 

All appointments are made by the Director of Governance.  The term of a Governor is three years, except for the the Principal, who remains a Governor for the duration of time held in post.