Thinking of joining Zest?

Zest Academy Trust is committed to supporting schools and academies to become the best that they can be.

We enable schools to remain as autonomous as possible, whilst offering them the many advantages of being part of a larger family of schools.

Each academy is unique and will retain its own ethos and values to reflect the community it serves whilst having the advantage of being part of a family of schools. Much decision making will be at academy level, in line with the shared vision and values of the Trust.

We believe that schools are better together.

Collaboration between our academies means best practice is shared widely and new solutions are developed to address common challenges. This approach provides excellent continuing professional development for all Zest staff.

At Zest Academy Trust, people come first.

Zest’s academies benefit from:

Collaborative working
Collaboration is integral to the way Zest Academy Trust operates. The Trust places considerable importance on school-to-school support. Academies within the Trust are active partners, helping to decide policy as well as taking part in school-to-school support activities.

Professional leadership and teamwork
We are fundamentally committed to outstanding governance and absolutely believe that the impact of strong governance on an academy can be significant.

As trusts and academies become more autonomous, there is a need for strong and effective teamwork.  Never before have governors been so accountable for success.  This requires Zest’s Trustees and Members to be highly experienced in their career or profession.  They bring unique skills and insight to Zest’s board meetings and lead effectively to ensure those who are managing our academies feel part of the whole transformation and evolution process.

Local Academy Governance

Each academy will have its own local governing board

Local governors play a crucial role within the organisation; they are the voice of the school (pupils, staff and parents) within the multi-academy trust structure. The governing board for each of our academies will follow their agreed scheme of delegation. We will ensure we attract exactly the right mix of suitably qualified governing board members and provide training to enable them to be as effective as possible at a local level, supporting and challenging leaders and holding them to account. There will be opportunities for staff members, parents and members of the community to become members of the local governing board. There may be opportunities for local school governors to become one of Zest’s trustees.

A robust and experienced central team

There are many advantages for academies and their staff operating within Zest Academy Trust.

We can provide a range of services including leadership support, financial, legal, estate management, human resources and public relations/reputation management.

All staff will be transferred to Zest Academy Trust on their existing terms and conditions. The Trust has adopted, and will continue to adopt national terms and condition of service for teachers and non-teaching staff members. Pensions and continuous service will not be affected in transferring to a different employer; staff will only notice the benefits, if they notice any change at all.

More information about our central team and the type of support that can be provided is available on request.

To find out more about becoming an academy with Zest,
please contact:
Mark Hamblett (Chief Executive Officer)
Kelly Salisbury (Chief Finance Officer)
or Nicola Lea (Chief Operations Officer)
on 01253 315370 or
07887 246677 or complete the form below:

Talk to us….