The Trust has a very warm relationship with the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells. Our Articles of Association are those designed for use in a MAT containing both faith and community schools and the Diocese retains a number of powers and checks to ensure that the culture of the MAT remains supportive to schools with a faith character.

We worked together with colleagues from Wells to develop a Memorandum of Understanding to express this relationship is simple language and the Diocese have now adopted this across all their mixed MATs.

We have representatives from the church sitting as both Members and Trustees of LSP although we have dialogue with the Diocese to make sure that we work together to recruit people who can contribute to the skills set required by the Board of Trustees.

• 40% of Members & 33% of Trustees are nominated by the diocese
• The composition of the LGB of a C of E school is on an ‘as is’ basis i.e. the proportions of foundation governors remain the same as prior to conversion
• Land is not leased or transferred for C of E Schools but continues on the existing model (apart from LA playing fields which are transferred on a 125 year lease)
• The scheme of delegation to the LGB and the Academy Articles will safeguard the foundation and aims of the school – ‘Christian character’
• Changes to the Scheme of Delegation for a C of E School have to be agreed with the Diocesan Director of Education
• The Diocesan offer is not just to Church schools – they have a concept of ‘Extended Family’