Local Advisory Board

What is a Local Advisory Board (LAB)?

The Castle, Stimpson and Hardingstone Local Advisory Board is the local tier of governance of East Midlands Academy Trust, and it acts as a sub-committee to the Trust Board. Members of the Local Advisory Board as known as Governors.

The key roles of the LAB are:

To offer proactive support and constructive challenge to the Headteacher
To advise the board of trustees about local issues they need to consider that affect the academy.
To ensure that EMAT vision, mission and values are evident throughout the Academy
Represent the local community.
Represent the Academy in its community.

These roles translate specifically into the following tasks:

ensure that all children receive the best possible education
ensure safeguarding is effective
support the Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team in the development and implementation of the School Development Plan and other relevant plans,
ensure the implementation of Academy policies.
regularly review the Academy’s performance.
oversee and monitor the effectiveness of local strategies
act as a key link between the Academy, parents, and local community.
support the work of the Academy in the community.

The LAB’s role is not to manage the Academy as such. This is done through the Board of Trustees. Therefore, the LAB is not required to take decisions on staff or financial matters affecting the Academy.

Governors at the LAB will gain an understanding of strategic issues that impact on the Academy and will be updated on them regularly by the Headteacher, but they are not required to have direct responsibility for them. Instead the LAB should be in a position to assess the impact of the Academy locally; how it is contributing to the local community, how it is relating to local families and how it understands local issues. This in turn, will enable the LAB to contribute effectively to decisions which may require LAB involvement.

The LAB is drawn from the staff of the school, parents and the wider community that the school serves. The usual term of office for a governor is four years but many members of the LAB stand for re-election and serve more than one term. Members of a LAB need to take a full and active role in fulfilling the role assigned to them by the Board. This will include regular visits to the Academy and attending up to six meetings per year.

To contact any of our governors, please email governance@emat.uk

Here is a list of our current governors

Name	Position
Zoe McIntyre	Executive Headteacher Castle, Stimpson & Hardingstone academies
Claudia Wade	LAB & S&P Chair / Co-opted governor
David Hood	Co-opted governor
Jo Daniels	Co-opted governor
Michelle Betts	Co-opted governor
Hayley Draper	Vice-chair
Bryony Nester	Staff governor (Castle)
Adrian Lett	Staff governor (Stimpson)

Below you can find information on attendance records, and about governance across the Trust, including our LAB terms of reference and details of our Members and Trustees.

Meet our Governors CA SAA HA

Claudia Wade

I am a qualified teacher and have worked in primary, secondary and tertiary phase. I was a primary phase Ofsted inspector for 8 years. Having worked for local authority school improvement teams for more than 25 years I am now an independent consultant providing high quality bespoke leadership, governance and school improvement support for schools, academy chains and local authorities.

I have been a school governor for more than 30 years, chairing primary and secondary school governing boards as well as several interim executive boards and I am currently a chair of a MAT in South Northamptonshire.

During my time as a local authority officer, I worked with the DfE on a number of leadership and governance related projects and co-authored national standards for governance (Governor Mark). I have also served as a Justice of the Peace in Northamptonshire for 32 years.

Michelle Betts

Michelle is currently working for Northampton Children’s Trust and she leads a team of Partnership Co-ordinators who make sure that Families who are referred into the “MASH” (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub) receive the right services at the right time. Michelle believes that as in Safeguarding, Early Help is everybody’s business, and each person or profession involved with a family can make a difference to stop issues from escalating.

Prior to this role Michelle has worked in the field of social care for over 20 years and has wide ranging experience in domestic abuse, anti-social behaviour, family support and has worked in children’s homes and women’s refuges.

Michelle has qualifications in Management, Leadership, Child safeguarding and has written and delivered many training packages.

This is Michelle’s first foray into governorship, and she says that she is looking forward to bringing her experience into the EMAT team but also wants to learn more about governance in schools.

Michelle lives in Hardingstone and wanted to be able to have links with her local school. In her spare time Michelle likes to travel, she cooks to relax and likes to walk her dog around the village.

Hayley Draper

Hayley is a secondary school English teacher and leader in Northampton, having previously worked in Wrexham, North Wales.

She has a First Class BA (Hons) in Linguistics from Bangor University and completed her PGCE in Secondary English at the University of Manchester. Hayley is also currently completing an MA in Educational Leadership.

Having formerly been a teaching staff governor for 2 years, Hayley joined the governing body at Castle Academy in July 2020 and is currently the link governor for Pupil Premium.

Castle Academy is one of Hayley’s local primary schools and this governing role provides an opportunity for Hayley to become more involved with the local community.

Bryony Nester

Bryony is the Staff Governor and has been working at Castle Academy since 2018. She works as a Speech and Language Assistant providing intervention to children in the EYFS and Key Stage 1.

This is her first role in education and if she knew working with children was so rewarding she would have started much sooner.

She previously worked across private and public sector roles, most recently spending more than a decade working around Citizenship and Immigration for Southwark Council. She was a registered Immigration Advisor with the OISC for 10 years and Deputy Superintendent Registrar for 12. She has worked to establish and build upon partnerships with various stakeholder groups across the NHS, Registration Services, local legal advice centres and the Home Office.

This is her first Governor position.

Dave Hood

Dave is a Project Manager/ Business Analyst who for many years worked for a major high street bank. After running his own business for a number of years, he returned to the public sector working for charities and councils in a variety of roles, which included adult social care and safeguarding.

His professional qualifications include Certified Project Management Prince 2 Practitioner and BCS Business Analysis Certification in Requirements Engineering, Business Analysis Practise, Modelling Business Processes and Benefits Management and Business Acceptance.

David was appointed as a Governor for Stimpson, Hardingstone, and Castle Academies in April 2021.

Adrian Lett

Adrian started his teaching career in 1994 after completing his PGCE at Manchester Metropolitan University.

His first teaching post was at Yelvertoft CP School where he taught a mixed year 3 and 4 class. In 1996 he moved up to Ulverston, Cumbria to start a teaching post at a junior school. During his nine years there he taught in most KS2 year groups and developed his leadership skills as part of the senior management team.

In 2002, he was selected to go to South Africa to teach in a school in the Eastern Cape for the summer. This experience was a wonderfully different and exciting way to spend his summer and has influenced his appreciation for the education system we have in England.

Following a short period in the North East that involved supply teaching in Gateshead and Newcastle he returned to Cumbria. Until 2019, he taught in Barrow-in-Furness and enjoyed all aspects of teaching and extra-curricular life in an improving primary school.

Since September 2019, he has taught at Stimpson Avenue Academy where he has been made to quickly feel part of the team as the school moves forward to successfully meet the needs of the children.