Our Governors, Members & Trustees
Community Links Academy Trust was set up in 2012 and operates an alternative provision Academy for young people aged between 11 and 16 years. The Trust grew from the education work of Newham-based charity Community Links Trust Limited, and became completely independent from the charity in 2014.
Education Links is a multi-site Alternative Provision Free School (Academy) located in Newham, London. The principal object of the academy is to provide alternative education for pupils referred by mainstream schools or local authorities, leading to those pupils being reintegrated into mainstream education; supported to further education or training, gaining appropriate accreditation.
Governance Chart
The current governance structure is as follows:
Members
The Members are, in essence, the shareholders of the organisation. This is currently our list of members:
| Name of Member | Governance | |
| Arfa Butt | Member | |
| Althea Baker | Member | |
| Linda Powell | Member | |
| Louise Jembere | Member | |
| Simon Herbert | Member | |
| Katrin Harrow | Member | |
| Simon Miller |
Member |
The members have several functions:
- Approve the Trust accounts and appoint the auditors
- Appoint trustees and governors
This group holds an AGM and audit meeting.
Trustees
The Trustees of our Trust have a range of powers and responsibilities which they are legally required to carry out, working in close partnership with the Director & Headteacher to ensure that the school provides the best possible education for all students.
| Name of Trustee | Governance | |
| Arfa Butt | Chair of Trustees | |
| Althea Baker | Vice Chair of Trustees | |
| Mark McCullum | Finance & HR | |
| Naomi Brown | Student Curriculum Attendance & Progression Committee | |
| Paul Munday-Castle | Student Curriculum Attendance & Progression Committee | |
| Rachana Vaja | Student Curriculum Attendance & Progression Committee | |
| Chantelle Clarke | Student Curriculum Attendance & Progression Committee | |
| Juliette Osei | Finance & Audit | |
| Carol Jackson | Finance & Audit | |
| Eumara David | Parent Trustee |
The Board of Trustees consider the vision and aims of the Trust and its school, as well as strategy and policy to deliver its key objectives. It has ultimate responsibility for all budgets, salaries and safeguarding.
Apart from ensuring good governance, the Board’s primary objectives are to assist the Director & Headteacher in delivering the best possible outcomes for all students, and to hold the Director & Headteacher to account for the ways in which this is carried out. It does this through Board meetings.
The Trust Board monitors key aspects of the school in accordance with its strategic plan. The majority of the leadership of the school is delegated to the Director & Headteacher.
Director/Trustee & Principal
Mr Errol Comrie
The Director/Trustee & Principal, supported by the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), provides the overall educational vision, direction and leadership of the Trust. The Trust also provides leadership of key educational support services across the academy's – finance, estates management, IT, catering. marketing and human resources. For curriculum support, the academy draws upon the expertise of the Trust's School Improvement consultants and external expertise employed to work across the organisation.
The Director/Trustee & Principal has overall responsibility for the students’ welfare and progress. All senior staff lead on a range of school-specific key responsibilities and ensure that they are consistently implemented and delivered across the academy.
School Business Manager
Tracey DeRizzio
Register of Interests
CLAT Register of Interests of Governors and SLT
Biographies of Governance
A freelance Education Partnerships Director, youth & adult MHFA, global entertainment executive, cultural strategist and youth development consultant with 25+ years experience on all sides of the creative business in the UK, US, EMEA & Asia. Passionate about building partnerships that make the world a better place, exploring the potential of creativity, to challenge perceptions and build a deeper understanding of the world we live in.
Arfa joined Community Links Academy Trust (CLAT) in 2016 as a co-opted Trustee. She has advised some of the leading UK institutions across the creative industry, public, private and third sectors and has access to talent and a global professional network of contacts across education, arts, entertainment and the creative industries.
She is currently the chair of A New Direction, an award-winning not-for-profit charity and an Arts Council funded NPO organisation generating opportunities for children and young people to experience culture and develop and explore their creativity across East London, on the advisory board of The London Music Fund Amplify initiative supported by Youtube Music. They fund grassroots organisations that offer music and/or music technology activities in London for young people aged 11-21 and aren’t being funded by Music Services or schools, also helping the organisations to forge links with the music industry and the music education sector. Each successful application is awarded £6000 towards the proposed project.
She was on the Music For Youth board, vice- chair of the finance committee and the Mayor of London’s cultural leadership board (D&I and music education committees) an ambassador and delivery partner for the Sounds Like London Campaign, a celebration of women in the music industry, helped shape the Mayor's Culture Strategy, steer the delivery of the Mayor’s policy pledges and priorities and kept the culture team at the GLA abreast of issues facing the creative industries and culture sector.
Althea Baker (Vice-Chair of Trustees)
Althea joined Community Links in 2008, and then became a founding Member of the Community Links Academy Trust (CLAT) in 2014.
At the time she was working on various policies at the Department for Children, Schools and Families (which became the Department for Education in 2010). Althea has over 20 years experience of school governance and is currently the Vice Chair of the Trust Board.