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 Titilola Kehinde (titilola.kehinde@arkonline.org). Please contact them if you have any governance-related queries, or would like to contact one of the governors.
Our Governors
Joshua Fleming
Josh Fleming is currently Head of Strategy at the Office for Students - the higher education regulator for England, which aims to ensure that every student, whatever their background, has a fulfilling experience of higher education that enriches their lives and careers. Josh has previously worked at Pearson, the education company, helping to develop their impact evaluation strategy and drive improvements in efficacy across their portfolio.
Nicole Bell
Nicole is Assistant General Counsel at Diligent Corporation, and her work focuses on corporate & commercial law with cross border SAAS, technology & privacy being key areas of interest and focus. She is a South African, English & American qualified lawyer. Working across multiple countries and being involved in charitable organisations from a young age, has provided her with first hand experience of the important role that education plays in young childrens' lives - both in their development and in their future opportunities.
Kellie Brown
Kellie has over 17 years of teaching and leadership experience in London schools and is currently a Teacher Educator working for Teach First following her career as an Assistant Principal with responsibility for teaching, learning and assessment. Kellie's new role involves her supporting new teachers in their early teacher training and leadership preparation and is made possible because she uses her experience and knowledge to guide individuals through the Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) in conjunction with the Institute of Education of University College London (UCL).
Kellie's most recent training has been with Future Leaders on the Headship Now programme and she has a Masters in Education Leadership. Kellie has just started her PhD in Education and will be focusing on staff recruitment and retention.
Jonathan Duffy
Jonathan is currently Maths Lead and Head of Year 4 At Ark Oval Primary Academy, having taught previously in Year 2 and training in the EYFS through the Teach First PGDE programme.
Before training as a teacher, Jonathan graduated from the University of Sussex with a degree in American Literature and worked for a bank in Brighton for several years. He then moved to Malta for four years, working in various corporate roles including company incorporation, marketing and website design, and process improvement project management.
Outside of school, Jonathan enjoys experimenting with different recipes in the kitchen and exploring nature photography.
Tristan Lee
Tristan is the Finance Director of Archerfield Homes, an eco friendly, modular development company who build houses for both open market users and for registered providers. Outside of the work sphere, Tristan is a professional golfer who played across Europe and southern Africa. Whilst at university for his under graduate, Tristan taught economics to a local sixth form which helped encourage his desire to improve all levels of education.
Rochelle Robinson
Rochelle has worked in Finance and Accounting for the past 10 years. From this, she possesses extensive knowledge and experience surrounding corporate budgets and audit preparation.
She currently has a child in Year 1; who is also a pupil at the school. Her daughter has special educational needs, and because of this she has established strong parent-school links with the Principal, SENCo and her daughter’s 1-2-1. Due to her personal experience, she understands everything that comes with it, so she can provide an invaluable perspective as a parent.
She has built solid relationships within the SEND department at Croydon, which opened the opportunity to take part in the Ofsted SEND review, provide feedback, and put forward suggestions on their services. Her passion is to be an advocate for parents of children with SEND and beyond.
Outside of studying, working and chauffeuring her daughter to extra curricular activities. Rochelle has a love for baking for family and friends.
Kelly Stephenson
Kelly previously worked within the education and vulnerable young adults field, she now plays an important role as a scrum master also known as project manager within the IT development sector.
She currently has two children at Ark Oval Primary Academy, in Year 2 and 5. Kelly is very involved with charity and enjoys supporting her local community in fundraising and helping to organise events. Having volunteered and visited many orphanages across Asia and Africa she highly supports the values, structure and consistency the Education Department/Ark Oval Primary Academy hold and believes every child has the right to education in a safe place.
Outside of working and charity work, Kelly has a love for learning about different countries and cultures through books and travel, be it weekend trips in Europe or across one of the beautiful oceans with her family, her dream is to complete the seven wonders of the world. Kelly is also keen to support the school in her role as parent governor and be a positive role model for the student body.