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 Cathi Hughes (Catherine.Hughes@arkonline.org). Please contact them if you have any governance-related queries, or would like to contact one of the governors.
Our Governors
Harriet Barclay
Harriet cares passionately that all children, regardless of their background, have access to a high-quality and inspiring education. She is a freelance communications consultant and formerly worked as External Relations Director for Teaching Leaders (now part of Ambition Institute), a national education charity, which develops middle leaders in schools in challenging contexts. Harriet’s background is in marketing and communications. Prior to Teaching Leaders she was Head of O2 Learn – a crowd-sourced revision website for secondary school students that she conceived, launched and ran as part of the brand innovation team at O2, UK. Harriet was an On Purpose Associate in 2010, the inaugural year, having spent 6 years as an Account Director at the advertising agencies AMV BBDO (London) and CLM BBDO (Paris). Harriet studied Modern Languages at Oxford University.
Patrick Ainsworth
Patrick is a teacher of Mathmatics at a secondary and sixth form school. He has a passion for working with young people and ensuring they have the best education possible. Outside of school he is a marathon runner and a triathlete.
Ana Sofia Alvarez Borrego
Ana Sofia is a Teaching Assistant at Ark Atwood.
Ozan Asim
Ozan is a financial services professional, currently working as a research analyst at a leading alternative asset manager. He is passionate about education, and strongly believes that every child should have the opportunity to thrive at their school. He will strive to leverage his experience for the benefit of Atwood and the local community the school supports. Outside of work, Ozan is a keen rock climber with an interest in music and the arts.
Lara Brown
Following the completion of the TeachFirst scheme at a school in South East London, Lara joined Ark Atwood in 2016 as a year 4 class teacher. She has always had a passion for teaching and learning and a strong desire to create equal opportunities for all through the power of education. As governor, she is keen to maintain the high expectations of the school and positive impact on pupils.
Jess Lipson
Jess Lipson has two children, one in Y4 and the other in Y7. She has worked in Digital Design Strategy for 20 years for organisations such as Sky, Tesco, Just Eat and the Ministry of Justice. She brings a passion for technology and creativity and has been teaching app design to Y5 and Y6 after school at Design Club. She would love to work with the school on their approach to diversity, technology and creativity.
Clair Ponte
Clair is a barrister, mother of three and was formerly the Parent Governor for Ark Atwood. She strongly believes that education has the power to transform the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable children and wants to contribute something to a school which was trying to achieve that goal. For the past two years, she has been Counsel to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (specialising in its work on children living in residential care). This has provided her with further insight into how some children are critically limited (from the outset of life) through the absence of stable, family life or other care.
Ella Robertson
Ella is the Managing Director of One Young World, a UK charity which serves as a global forum for young leaders. Ella oversees the annual One Young World Summit which has taken place in nine different cities across the world, from Bangkok to Bogota. Ella is the co-author of "How To Make A Difference" - the authoritative handbook to activism. Alongside this, Ella is the Co-Founder of the Sino-German Initiative, an investment vehicle with a charitable arm which aims to increase the business and cultural relationships between Germany and China. Ella read English Literature at Balliol College Oxford and began a law training contract with a Magic Circle firm before changing track and pursuing a career in the third sector. She was on the Scottish International Debating team and lives in Marylebone.
Sophie Taylor
Sophie is a Senior Civil Servant, and currently works as a Deputy Director at the Department for Education, focussing on counter extremism, integration, and safeguarding children and young people from serious harm. She has worked in government since 2006, including roles on finance, academies policy and delivery, and as Private Secretary to successive Secretaries of State and Permanent Secretaries. She previously led on designing and implementing corporate governance arrangements, which was one of the things that attracted her to school governorship. Sophie is passionate about education and the transformative effect it can have on children’s lives. She lives in North London and is an active member of a number of community-based initiatives. She is interested in current affairs, sports and the arts, and speaks Spanish and French.