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 Sakina Marzban (sakina.marzban@arkonline.org). Please contact them if you have any governance-related queries, or would like to contact one of the governors.
Our Governors
Claire Barnes
Dr Claire Barnes is a Chartered Organisational Psychologist whose first degree was in English Literature at King’s College, University of London (1984). She worked subsequently in the advertising and media industry before completing a Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology at London Metropolitan University (2007), an MSc in Organisational and Occupational Psychology at City University (2010) and a Professional Doctorate at Kingston Business School (2019). She is married with two grown up children and practises as a psychologist in businesses and other types of organisation.
Rachel Agyekum
Rachel Agyekum is a Chartered Accountant and a Chartered Tax Advisor. Rachel studied Mathematics at Newcastle University and she has had experiences working in large global accountancy firms. Rachel is now working as a Manager in Finance for an Investment Management company. Rachel is a strong believer in education and is looking forward to applying her problem solving and critical thinking skills within a governor role.
Bhavin Dixit
Bhavin is a Managing Director within the Technology, Media & Telecoms Investment Banking team at HSBC. He is based in London and leads coverage of the Media & Education sector, advising clients on M&A and Financing events. Bhavin grew up in Edmonton and attended a local school. He was fortunate to have had fantastic teachers who guided him along his academic journey and eventual path to university. He is keen to give back, and support the school in their strategic and financial decision making.
Rachael Martin
Rachael works at Purposeful Ventures, an education charity which funds, develops and grows not-for-profit initiatives that have the potential to transform lives by tackling challenges in education and society. Previously Rachael was a Senior Manager at Bain & Company, a strategic consultancy, working with organisations across the private, public and third sectors. Rachael has an MBA from INSEAD and a degree in physics from Oxford University.
Luke Mills
Luke is a Managing Director at Accenture, the global management consulting and advisory business, based in London and a graduate of Oxford University. He has a passion for education in all its forms and for social mobility.
Victoria Oya
Victoria Oya is a parent of two children that attend the Ark Pioneer Academy in Year 8 and Year 10. She is invested in the vision, ethos, and success of the school. Victoria is a family lawyer within a city firm and holds specialist knowledge of child, education, and safeguarding laws. As a lawyer, Victoria is used to working in a role that involves critical analysis, confidentially, and accountability which are highly transferable skills that can benefit school governance. As a Parent Governor, Victoria believes that she is not afraid to ask challenging questions, when necessary, to ensure that all pupils in the school are able to fulfil their full potential irrespective of their background, special educational needs or personal circumstances.
Simon Radford
Dr Simon Radford works for Ark as a Venture Partner, helping Ark's non-profit ventures grow and have greater impact. This builds on a professional career that has spanned across strategy consulting, venture capital investment advisory, and innovation consulting and venture building. Simon got his PhD from the University of Southern California, where he also received awards for teaching. He has a BA/MA from Peterhouse, Cambridge and a Masters of Public Administration from Brown University. He has been a Governor of Stanmore College and a committee member of the Barnet Society.
Emma Taylor
Emma is currently undertaking a teaching and research Fellowship at the London School of Economics and Political Science after completing her doctorate in 2022. She teaches predominantly on LSEs flagship interdisciplinary course for all undergraduate students, LSE100. Emma also has fifteen years of experience teaching geography in secondary schools in London where she has developed a specific interest in evidence-based pedagogical practice. She undertook several different roles during her time as a teacher, including Assistant Head of Sixth Form and Head of Research. She is very keen to translate her experience in schools within a governor role.
