Understanding the role of Trust Members
A clear and accessible course for anyone working with or supporting trust members, including board chairs and governance professionals.
This practical online course explains the purpose, powers and responsibilities of academy trust members, helping ensure they can play their vital role effectively without overstepping into the remit of trustees. Ideal for both new and experienced members, as well as those who support or interact with them in their role.
Why take this course?
Trust members have a unique role at the top of the governance structure — important, but deliberately limited. This short course will give trust members and those who support them the clarity and confidence to:
- Understand members’ powers and boundaries
- Support governance effectively
- Avoid common mistakes and stay compliant
What’s covered
The role of members in the governance structure
- Why members matter
- How the role is separate from trustees
Core responsibilities
- Appointing and removing trustees
- Amending the articles
- Holding the board to account
Oversight and good practice
- Staying informed without interfering
- Knowing when and how to step in
- Understanding financial compliance
Communicating effectively
- Working with trustees and governance professionals
- What info members need to receive and how often
Legal frameworks
- DfE, ESFA and charity/company law
- Your trust’s articles explained
Avoiding pitfalls
- Overstepping boundaries
- Failing to act when required
- Lack of engagement
Upcoming cohorts
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Training & development
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13/05/20263:30-5:30pmZoomGoverning board rolesUnderstanding the role of Trust Members - May 2026
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Training & development
![People discussing paperwork at a meeting]()
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Training & development
![People discussing paperwork at a meeting]()
Costs
°ÅÀÖÊÓƵÏÂÔØapp membership offers you substantial savings on this course and access to much more and there are discounts for group bookings.
Costs for members
Costs for non-members
About the programme
- Current academy trust members
- Those becoming academy trust members
- Governance professionals needing to better understand the member role
- Chair of trustees looking to work better with their trust’s members
*This course can also be commissioned for delivery for members of a particular trust, diocese trusts or other organisations wanting to provide a course as part of their training
- Expert led
- Focussed on good practice
- Sharp insights into challenges, pitfalls and how to avoid them
- Small group interactivity for richer understanding
- This session can be delivered via face-to-face or online workshop
- It will be facilitated by a quality-assured °ÅÀÖÊÓƵÏÂÔØapp consultant with relevant governance and training expertise
- The session will be interactive with a mixture of participant activities and facilitator-led explanation and discussion
- It will be supported with session materials including a resource toolkit to help with next steps
Meet the trainer
Chasca Twyman
Chasca is vice-chair in a nine-school multi academy trust, a member in a multi academy trust (all phases, including Church of England voluntary controlled schools) and conducts governance and delivers training for trustees and governors. As a former university academic, Chasca’s professional experience in higher education means she has excellent strategic and analytic skills that transfer well into school governance. Her former work as a trustee in the charity sector further broadens and deepens her relevant expertise for school and trust governance. Chasca has been an °ÅÀÖÊÓƵÏÂÔØapp Consultant since 2023 and became a National Leader of Governance in 2021 and has extensive experience of supporting and training trustees and governors to be more effective in their roles.
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