Governance
Cotham Gardens Primary is a single academy trust and the governors are also the academy trust trustees.
The purpose of governance is to provide confident, strategic leadership and to create robust accountability oversight and assurance for educational and financial performance.
Our strategic vision
In October 2024 our Board of Trustees and Senior Leadership Team agreed our 2024-2029 Strategic Plan and in October 2025 this was further reviewed and refined.
Please see below for our 2024-2029 Strategic Plan.
revised strategy plan 2024 29.pdf
The 3 core functions of the trust board are:
- Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
- Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff
- Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent
To view the Audited Accounts please see our School Finances pages.
To view our Funding Agreement, please click here
To view our Articles of Association please click here
To view our Memorandum of Association please click here
To view our Scheme of Delegation 2025-2026, please click here
To view our Scheme of Delegation 2026-2027, please click here
To view our Terms of Reference 2025-2026, please click here
To view our Terms of Reference 2026-2027, please click here
Employees whose benefits exceed £100,000
Academy trusts are required to publish details of employees whose gross benefits, including salary, employers' pension contributions, and other taxable benefits, exceed £100,000 per annum.
To view details of Cotham Gardens employees meeting this criteria in 2024-2025 please click here
Who are the current school trustees?
Interim Chair of the Trust Board: Sarah Williams
Vice Chair of the Trust Board, Chair of the Audit, Risk & Resources Committee and Whistleblowing Lead Trustee: James Berry
Interim Chair of the School Improvement and Professional Development Committees and Safeguarding Lead Trustee: Patricia Dodds
Vice Chair of the Audit, Risk & Resources Committee: Tom Gibbs
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Lead Trustee: Louise Manley
Vice Chair of the School Improvement Committee: Heidi Paton
Inclusion Lead Trustee: Isobel Waite
Trustee: Thomas Rafferty
To view a list of current trustees and members, and trustees and members over the last 12 months, Register of Interests, and details of their roles and terms of office, please click here
To view the structure of the Trust Board and its supporting committees for 2025-2026, please click here
To view our trustees' meeting attendance for the 2024/2025 academic year, please click here
To view our Governance Framework supporting documents, please click here
To contact our trustees or to request information regarding the governance of our school (including to request copies of Trust Board or Board Committee minutes), please email our Governance Professional, Charlotte Coulson at charlotte.coulson@cothamgardens.co.uk
We are looking for trustees to join our Trust Board. For more information, please click here.
The trustees of Cotham Gardens Primary School believe it is important that the board reflects the diversity of the school community it serves. Diverse boards promote inclusive school environments and provide diverse role models for staff and young people. The trustees are collecting data on the diversity of the board, including on age, gender, ethnicity and other protected characteristics. They will use that data to inform their recruitment and training needs and ensure that there is a diverse range of perspectives to support robust decision making. Due to the relatively small trust board, we do not publish this collected diversity data as individual trustees could be identified and we have a legal obligation to protect their personal data.
Registered information about our Trust
Registered name: Cotham Gardens Primary School Ltd
Registered Number: 08144135
Registered Office Address: 18 Cotham Grove, Bristol, BS6 6AL
Registered in England