The Amethyst Academies Trust is a multi-academy trust and a not-for-profit charitable company limited by guarantee.

We are proud of our team of dedicated professionals who work tirelessly to support us in achieving our goals. 

Our multi-academy trust is a Wolverhampton based group of academies governed by a single set of Members and Trustees who are accountable to the Department for Education for the educational and financial performance of the academies in the trust.

As part of its remit, The Trust continues to drive up standards, being fully committed to the further development of its provision for its stakeholders. Our Local Governing Boards are therefore required to meet formally each term before reporting to the MAT Trust Board

Our Local Governing Boards consists of community (co-opted) members, parents, guardians, carers and staff. The skills set, expertise and commitment of each individual are fundamental, as the LGBs are critical to the work of our MAT Trust Board and overall governance arrangements of The Trust.

Welcome to the Amethyst Academies Trust. I’m Sue Reid, and I have had the privilege of being involved in governance here for over ten years. My journey began as a Governor at Moreton School in Wolverhampton, one of the many schools that now proudly belong to our Trust.

Since its inception, the Trust has grown significantly and is now recognised as a leading Multi-Academy Trust by many students and their families. In 2023, we welcomed two specialist provisions from Wolverhampton into our Trust, expanding our inclusive family of schools to support children aged 3 to 19.

In March 2024, we were excited to include The Telford Park School, our first school from the Telford area. Even in the short time since joining, we’ve seen remarkable improvements in the school’s outcomes, and I am excited to see its continued progress toward excellence, just as we have seen with our other schools.

Our Trust’s success is built on a strong collaboration between our operational and governance teams, ensuring that our primary focus remains on enhancing educational outcomes. I am incredibly proud of our dedicated workforce of teachers and staff, whose commitment to providing the best education is unwavering. Our financial stability allows us to attract and retain top-tier staff, and we continuously seek to enhance educational outcomes for all our students.

We also place great importance on enrichment activities, which we believe are essential alongside the academic curriculum. These opportunities help our young people shape their futures, whether that leads them to university or high-level apprenticeships.

I am honoured to serve as the Chair of the Trust Board, and I firmly believe that strong governance plays a vital role in making a real difference.

Board of Trustees

The people responsible for determining the Trust’s strategic direction, including overarching responsibility for the three core functions common to school governing bodies:

• the Trust’s vision
• educational standards
• financial performance.

Our Trustees are a collection of unique, experienced individuals all of which share a core belief in the importance of education alongside a passion for improving the life-chances for all of the students within our trust. Our Trustees have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of the Trust.

Our Trustee’s form the trust board and have overall responsibility and ultimate decision-making authority for all the work of the Amethyst Academies Trust, and in particular the running of each academy within our MAT.

This work is largely implemented via strategic planning and the setting of policy, holding the executive team to account and ensuring the oversight of financial control. It is managed through business planning, monitoring of budgets, performance appraisal, the setting and monitoring of standards and the implementation of quality assurance processes. In this work, the board is aided by a small number of subcommittees – as demonstrated in our governance structure.

Impact’s model of governance is designed to recognise the overall responsibility of the Trust Board; the line management of Headteachers by the CEO and the Executive Team.

The law places accountability for the educational outcomes and financial diligence of the Trust firmly with the Trustees and the CEO as Accounting Officer. Much of this responsibility is located at Trust Board level. However, a fundamental principle for our Trust, is that effective governance is best delivered as close as possible to the point of impact of decisions. For this reason, we have developed a governance structure that delegates key accountabilities to our Governing Board via our scheme of delegation.

Sue Reid

Chair of Trustees

Sue worked in the retail travel industry for over 38 years having held many various positions as her career progressed. She held several managerial roles eventually attaining the position of General Manager of the travel group at The Midcounties Co-operative Society. She also worked as the Chief Operating officer in their Energy division until she retired in 2019. She first joined the education sector as a Community governor at Moreton School and eventually took on the role of Vice Chair during her term of office. When Amethyst Academies Trust was formed she joined as a Trustee on the Board. Her additional roles and responsibilities are Chair of Risk and Assurance, a committee member of Finance and General Purposes and more recently was elected as Chair of Trustees

Nicola Licata

Trustee

Nicola was designated as a National Leader of Education in 2018. Nicola Licata is the Chief Executive Officer of Amethyst Academies Trust (AAT). Nicola is the Accounting Officer and a Local Leader of Education for AAT. As an experienced Executive Principal she has led and supported a number of local schools including New Park BESD School and Dunstall Hill Primary School.
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Nicola was also Principal of the founding school: Aldersley High School in Wolverhampton. Having worked in a number of schools. Due to the success of the school she formed the Amethyst Academies Trust in 2016.
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Nicola has had a varied career that started in Primary education; she then went on to become a SENCO in Secondary school and an English teacher. Passionate that the trust places students first she is focussed on raising standards and transforming lives.

ANDY LEATHER

Vice Chair of Trustees

Finance/Estates Link Trustee

A tenacious and highly motivated leader, with extensive global experience in Aerospace, Defence, Space, Rail and Oil & Gas industries. A positive track record of managing complex organisations, winning & delivering multi-£m total life programmes in Thales UK, Goodrich Control Systems, Ultra Electronics, and FLIR Systems. Additional background in supporting industry with roles in ADS and forming the Midlands Aerospace Alliance (MAA), including being the inaugural Chair of the MAA.

Outside industry, I have been a Governor (twice) at Bridgnorth Endowed School, and led them on the journey to be an Academy, and Kinlet CofE Primary School. A very keen sportsman, now spectator only, in cricket, rugby, football, golf & NFL. Still actively involved as Chair of the Finance Committee at Bridgnorth Rugby Club and sponsorship at Bridgnorth Cricket Club.

Helen Bourton

Trustee

Careers/Sixth Form Link Trustee

Helen Bourton has been a highly successful educator for 32 years in Sandwell, Dudley and in Wolverhampton. She has a passion for supporting young people to develop their social, physical and mental wellbeing, through a broad and balanced curriculum and a full range of opportunities within and outside school life. Helen is an advocate of developing skill/personal qualities and empowering young people to enable them to take a strong place in society.

Helen believes that as a director she has an important part to play in raising school standards and her experience of governance will support her in this role.

She believes that the role of the governing body is absolutely key to the effectiveness of a school and the life chances for every young person.

Ben Lovett

Trustee

Personnel/Wellbeing Link Trustee

Ben Lovett, currently a Senior Commercial Manager at Your Coop Travel within the Midcounties Co-operative, is an ideal candidate for the school trustee role. With a strong background in retail and commercial management, Ben brings extensive experience in strategic thinking, people development, and audit and risk management.

His leadership skills and dedication to fostering talent have consistently driven success in his professional roles. Ben’s ability to navigate complex challenges and his commitment to community-focused initiatives make him well-suited to contribute positively to the school’s governance, ensuring it thrives and continues to deliver exceptional education and development opportunities for all students.

Aislinn Tilsley

Trustee

Aislinn is an experienced leader with a career spanning both the public and private sectors, bringing over 15 years’ expertise in strategy, marketing, communications, commercial management, and business development. She currently serves as Head of Campaigns, Creative and Digital for the NHS, leading national and local programmes that drive strategic communications, digital transformation, and health improvement initiatives designed to reduce inequalities and improve access to care.

A Chartered Marketer and strategic leader, Aislinn combines creativity with accountability, helping organisations to communicate effectively, plan sustainably, and deliver measurable impact.

With a background that includes senior leadership roles at Your Co-op Travel within the Midcounties Co-operative, she brings strong commercial acumen, financial oversight, and governance experience. She is passionate about inclusion, accessibility, and improving opportunities for all young people.

Anju Dhir

Trustee

Inclusion/SEND Link Trustee

Anju Dhir has a professional background in environmental and public health, workplace health and wellbeing, equity diversity inclusion and belonging, change management and organisational development. Anju currently leads on employee engagement and internal communications for a local authority.

One of Anju’s core values is lifelong learning. She has recently completed an Executive MBA with distinction, from the University of Birmingham. Anju is also on the Board of Directors for TEDxWolverhampton, a local branch of TED, where “Ideas Change Everything”. Anju is also a school governor of a primary school, recently rated Outstanding by OFSTED

Having served at Penn Hall School as a school governor since September 2018, Anju will apply her experience and knowledge across Amethyst Academies Trust. This will be through challenge and support to benefit our school learners to flourish and thrive during and after their time at school.

Academies