Truro and Penwith Academy Trust is a charitable company limited by guarantee (Company number 08880841). Governance of the Trust falls within the responsibility of Members and the Board of Trustees.

The Members:

• are signatories to the articles of association (which sets out the trusts’ charitable objects and governance structure) and have the power to amend the articles of association
• have the power to appoint a number of the Trustees and to remove any or all serving Trustees
• may issue direction to the Trustees to take a specific action
• have power, ultimately, to wind up the academy trust.

The Trustees are both charity trustees and company directors and have the legal responsibility for conducting the business of the trust. They may choose to delegate certain powers to committees or to the local governing boards of academies in accordance with a Scheme of Delegated Authority (SoDA).

In particular, Trustees have responsibility to:

• ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
• hold executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff
• oversee the financial performance of the organisation and make sure its money is well spent.

Members

The current Members are:

Mr P Callen MBBS FRCS FRCOG
Mrs C Mewton CertEd BEd(Hons)
Mr Martin Tucker
Mr D Walrond MA MBA PGCE
Mrs Ellen Winser MBE MA(Cantab) DL

Trustees

Jennifer Blunden

Chief Executive Officer and Trustee

Appointed September 2015

Dr Jennifer Blunden is the Chief Executive Officer for the Trust, taking up post in September 2015. Previously Director of Cornwall Teaching School, Jennifer has experience of leading successful partnerships with schools across educational phase from early years to higher education. For her services to Education, Jennifer was awarded an OBE in June 2019.

Alan Livingston

Trustee

Chair of the Performance & Remuneration Committee

Appointed April 2014

Alan’s career in higher education started in 1978 when he was appointed as Head of Design at the University of Central Lancashire. After a successful decade at Preston, he finished his time as Dean of Art & Design. In 1987 he was appointed Principal of Falmouth College of Arts (now Falmouth University). Following the development of many new courses, new buildings and merger with Dartington College of Arts, Falmouth was quickly transformed into a national centre of excellence with a strong commitment to the cultural and economic regeneration of Cornwall. From 2000 onwards Alan played a leading role in the development of the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC).

He was awarded the CBE for Services to Higher Education in 2006 and in 2011 he was appointed as Visiting Professor in Visual Communication at the University of Ulster. In 2012 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Falmouth University and, in 2013, his contribution to Cornwall was recognized by the award of the Trelawny Plate. In 2014 he became Chair of Kneehigh Theatre Company, Truro.

Ellen Winser

Chair of the Board of Trustees

Appointed February 2014

Ellen was one of the first women members of the Stock Exchange and the first in London to be taken into partnership by her firm. After taking five years out to go long distance sailing with her husband, Ellen became chairman of two publicly quoted companies, one in London and the other in Plymouth. She has served on various commercial and charitable boards including the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, Penair School and the board of the South West Regional Development Agency. For services to further and higher education, Ellen was appointed MBE in the 2012 New Year Honours. From 2014-2017 she was Vice Lord Lieutenant for Cornwall.

Anita Firth

Vice Chair of Board of Trustees

Appointed January 2016

Anita has spent her career in the teaching profession both as a senior school classroom practitioner and as a senior management team member in boarding schools in the independent sector.

A graduate of Warwick University, she started her career at a school in Surrey teaching Mathematics and Physical Education and quickly became head of department. She then moved to Hurstpierpoint College in West Sussex to expand her experience and responsibility by helping to oversee the introduction of girls to a previously all male boarding school and as a Housemistress overseeing the pastoral welfare of the students.

In 2004, Anita was appointed as Deputy Head at Truro School and as a member of the senior management team had responsibility for child protection and pastoral care matters. Having left Truro School in 2013 she has recently undergone training to join the ISI (Independent Schools Inspectorate).

Terry Lister

Trustee

Member of Audit Committee

Appointed January 2018

Terry began his career in primary education in 1971. He moved to Cornwall in 1978 and was appointed Headteacher of St. Uny C.E. School, Carbis Bay in 1986. He remained there until his retirement in 2006, having been Chair of the Cornwall Primary Heads Association during 2003-4. Since retirement, he has been a Governor at Chacewater School and became Chair in 2016. He is also Churchwarden and Treasurer at St. Paul’s Church in Chacewater.

James Green

Trustee

Appointed April 2019

James joined Newlyn Art Gallery as Director in July 2006 and oversaw its capital expansion and the opening of The Exchange, a new public contemporary art gallery in Penzance, in July 2007. A current priority for the gallery is to explore ways in which public galleries can support the creative education of young people within and outside of formal educational settings, at a time when many commentators regard this as being gravely under threat.  James is a member of the Steering Group of Plus Tate, a UK wide network of 35 leading art gallery, all committed to expanding participation in the visual arts.  He also sits on the advisory groups for the FEAST and Cultivator funding programmes and is a Trustee of the Borlase Smart John Wells Trust, responsible for artists’ studio prevision in West Cornwall. A current priority for the gallery is to explore ways in which public galleries can support the creative education of young people within and outside of formal educational settings, at a time when many commentators regard this as being gravely under threat.

Jeremy Dunn

Trustee

Appointed April 2019

Jeremy is a qualified Chartered Engineer and full member of the Association of Project Managers. He commenced his professional career with Arup and moved into project management. In 1997 he moved to Cornwall to project manage the lottery funded National Maritime Museum in Falmouth. He subsequently joined the South West Regional Development Agency in 2002, where he led the Agency’s professional services team. This was further reinforced by a move to the Cornwall Development Company in 2009 to head up their professional team prior to joining Ward Williams Associates in early 2012. Jeremy’s strengths lie in Project Management and the delivery of complex regeneration projects from conception through to completion and subsequent occupation. Allied to this he has extensive experience in grant funding, commercial negotiations, achieving planning permissions, design team & contractor management, setting up & operating regional frameworks, sustainability, risk & change management and procurement.

Scott Cryer

Trustee 

Appointed June 2020

After obtaining Fellowship of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Scott worked in Agriculture for 8 years before moving to education 15 years ago. Scott worked in 3 FE Colleges in the East of England and Cornwall, in senior Finance and support roles, including Director of Finance and Acting Principal. Scott is currently the Director of Finance and Administration at Truro & Penwith College. He has 4 children, 2 of whom are currently in full time education in local schools / College’s.

Daniel Austin

Trustee 

Appointed November 2020

Daniel started his career in finance working for a large investment company in Bristol after graduating with a masters degree in Chemistry from the University of Bristol. He then moved back to Cornwall and worked for a large regional accountancy firm for 7 years where he qualified as a chartered accountant and a chartered tax advisor. This included nearly 5 years in audit where he undertook the audit and accounts work of many academy and multi academy trust’s in Devon and Cornwall and gathered a strong appreciation of the financial aspects of academies. More recently Daniel works as a self employed tax advisor and is also vice chair of his local parish council.

Andy Ventor

Trustee 

Appointed June 2021

Andy has worked with large multinational computer technology corporations for nearly 20 years, including Oracle where he spent around 8 years, and more recently Microsoft where he joined in 2019.  In Andy’s current role he continues to support Public and Private Sector organisations to transform application strategies, as part of larger digital transformation programs.

 

Adele Bull

Trustee 

Appointed September 2021

Adele was Communication and Performance Manager for a large utilities business before moving to Cornwall 15 years ago, since then the Adele has held various roles in further education and is now the Curriculum Development Director for Truro and Penwith College. Previous roles have involved a focus on graduate employability and supporting local people to access higher education.  Adele also spent several years leading apprenticeship provision supporting young people to succeed in their first career step and supporting adult learners to change direction and achieve promotion. Adele led a business focused training team providing leadership and management training to support local business and economic development.

 

Suzanne Flack

Trustee 

Appointed May 2021

Suzanne is currently CEO at The Redstart Learning Partnership, a Multi Academy Trust of 10 primary schools in Somerset and Devon, 7 of which have been sponsored by the Trust due to previous inadequate OFSTED judgements. The Trust was founded in 2015 following a request from the DfE to sponsor 2 inadequate schools in the near vicinity of The Redstart Primary School where Suzanne was the substantive Principal. Since taking up her first headship in 2000 Suzanne has led 2 primary schools, successfully gaining OFSTED outstanding judgements for both. She works across Somerset, BANES, Dorset and Devon as a National Leader of Education and is currently an elected member of the South West Advisory Board (previously Head Teacher Board). She established The Redstart Teaching Alliance and has worked collaboratively on many school improvement projects with other teaching schools across the area including supporting a Women in Leadership Programme for many years. She has held several governance positions in Trusts within Somerset.