Our Members

Members of an academy trust are the guardians of the governance of the trust.
The first members are the signatories to the Memorandum of Association drawn up when the trust formed in October 2016. These members also agreed the first Articles of Association, which includes the trust's charitable objects - i.e. the purpose of the organisation. The Articles describe how the trust will be governed.

Although the members hold the board to account for the effective governance of the trust, they have a very limited role in the day-to-day running of the trust. It is the trust board who are the organisation's key decision makers. The members' role is discrete and distinct; therefore they do not attend regular business meetings or committees (the members receive minutes from Board meetings). The members have an Annual General Meeting (AGM); usually in February.

Fioretti Trust has five members; as a Church MAT, the majority of members are representatives from the Church of England. Members agree on the appointment of any new trustee.

Birmingham Diocesan Board of Finance

Birmingham Diocesan Board of Finance
Corporate Body

The Diocesan Board of Finance is a corporate member representing the interests of the Church of England and it ensures the school retains its Christian ethos and character.

Archdeacon of Birmingham

Archdeacon of Birmingham
Corporate Body

The Archdeacon of Birmingham is a corporate member representing the interests of the Church of England and it ensures the school retains its Christian ethos and character.

Chair of the Trust Board

Philip Wood
Chair of the Trust Board

Philip is a solicitor specialising in education law at Browne Jacobson LLP. He has over ten years of experience in advising a range of institutions including schools, academies, local authorities, and universities. He works with a huge variety of education institutions, from the largest trusts in the Country to single schools, and that variety means that he is able to provide learning and experience from one to the other. Philip was previously the advice manager for the National Governance Association, advising and training schools on everything from exclusions to strategic thinking. As part of his role at NGA, he was part of the group that developed various editions of the Academy Trust Handbook and the DfE’s admissions working group that looked at changes to the Admissions Code. He seeks to bring this knowledge and experience with him in exercising his role within the Trust.

Director of Education of Birmingham Diocese

Mrs Sarah Smith
Director of Education of Birmingham Diocese

Sarah Smith has been Birmingham Diocesan Director of Education since February 2015. She took up this post following her time as Executive Head Teacher of St John’s CE Primary School in Sparkhill, which she led successfully for eleven years. The school was rated ‘outstanding‘ twice under her leadership, by Ofsted. In that role she was a National Leader of Education, and has been involved in supporting schools on their journey of school improvement. During her headship Sarah served as Chair of Birmingham Local Authority Primary Forum and sat on Birmingham Schools Forum. She was a founder member of Birmingham Education Partnership. Since leaving headship Sarah has made a successful application for a secondary CofE free school and set up and now chairs the Birmingham Diocesan Academy Trust. Sarah has an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the importance of good governance in MAT’s.

Vicar of Bournville

Canon Richard Wharton
Vicar of Bournville

Richard has been the Vicar of Bournville and Chair of St Francis Youth and Community Centre for 2 years, but previously managed the very diverse Spiritual Care Team at University Hospital Birmingham. In this role, Richard oversaw significant culture change within the team in light of a hospital merger. He was responsible for provision of spiritual religious and pastoral care for the hospital community: patients, families and staff, irrespective of faith / non-faith background. Richard also has experience of teaching adults in healthcare settings in e.g. spiritual care, bereavement and loss, listening skills, spirituality and mental health. Richard is committed to establishing a culture in Bournville of respectful and collaborative working and inter-dependency between different local organisations and businesses. As part of this, he is in the process of establishing a Bournville Youth Partnership that seeks to greater understand the needs of local children and young people and to ensure that offers made are timely, informed and appropriately resourced.