Our school Academy Champions do a wonderful job at providing support and leadership for our whole school community.

They are highly visible around school and show commitment and drive to ensure we always strive to be 'The best we can be'.

Our Self Assessment Of The Trust's Governance

Strategic leadership and structure are closely defined in the overall Scheme of Delegation (Members through to all staff) and the composition and terms of reference of committees. 

Governors are fully accountable to the Education, Skills and Funding Agency (ESFA), Companies House and the Charity Commission, to which annual returns are required. Through recruitment  and selection, training and experience in the role Governors develop the skills necessary to support the school.  Periodic skills audits are used to identify any gaps that need to be addressed.

Ongoing compliance with the requirements of various bodies is maintained and supported by accountancy audits and inspections by Ofsted and the Diocese.

Governors work closely with the SLT to ensure the School Improvement Plan remains relevant and is being applied. Reviews are held of policies, pupil data, the use of grant funding and financial performance to budget.  Comparisons and benchmarking is undertaken through membership of the GRACE Schools group and use of ESFA data obtained from academies across the country.

The view of Ofsted inspectors from their 2019 visit

• "Governors in the school have a comprehensive understanding of the school's strengths and weaknesses.They meet with leaders regularly to  monitor the progress that pupils are making.  They work with school leaders to check that this assessment is securely based on scrutiny of pupil's work.  They have ensured that systems are in place to hold teachers to account for the progress of  their pupils."
• "Governors challenge school leaders to ensure that the curriculum prepares pupils for life in modern Britain.  They have checked to see whether the curriculum challenges stereotypes and provides the right support for boys and girls to be well supported in their learning".

The view of our accountants from the preparation of the latest accounts.

" We have audited the financial statements of Long Bennington Church of England Academy  (the 'Academy') for the year ended 31st August 2018 which comprise the Statement of financial activities incorporating income and expenditure account, the Balance sheet, the Statement of cash flows and the related notes, including a summary of significant accounting policies.  The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law, United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice), including Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard  applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland', the Charities SORP 2015 and the Academies Accounts Direction 2017 to 2018 issued by the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

In our opinion the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the Academy's affairs as at 31 August 2018 and of its incoming resources and application of resources , including its income and expenditure for the year then ended;
• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, the Charities SORP 2015 and the Academies Accounts Direction 2017 to 2018 issued by the Education and Skills Funding Agency."

As an Academy it is our statutory duty to provide a statement  of our published annual accounts.

This is all contained in our Trustees Report which can be found in the Key Documents section of the website.