Trust Board

The Trust Board, the body that oversees the running of St. Bart’s Multi-Academy Trust, meets twice per term. The Trust is a charitable company and so Trustees are both charity Trustees (within the terms of section 177(1) of the Charities Act 2011) and Company Directors. Trustees are bound by both charity and company law. The Trust Board is legally responsible and accountable to the Department for Education (DfE).

The Trust Board has collective accountability and strategic responsibility for the Trust. It has a focus on ensuring the Trust delivers an excellent education to pupils while maintaining effective financial management and must ensure compliance with:

• the Trust’s charitable objects
• regulatory, contractual and statutory requirements
• their funding agreement

The Trust Board also has:

• strategic and statutory responsibility for safeguarding and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) arrangements within (and across) the Academy Trust ensuring the promotion of pupil welfare and for keeping their estates safe and well-maintained
• a role in making sure that it delivers its commitment to other schools and academies, however it is done.

The Trust Board can delegate most operational matters. It can also delegate aspects of decision-making to a committee, but it cannot delegate responsibility and must retain overall control.

The Trust Board is determined to support a high performing and successful Multi Academy Trust that delivers the best educational experiences for all pupils.  The Board is committed to all of our academies through:

• Retaining and celebrating their distinctive identity, and the enduring Christian distinctiveness of our church schools, whilst benefiting from being part of the Trust;
• Harnessing our collective expertise to drive school improvement and realise the best for all children and adults working and learning in our schools;
• Continuously improving through mutual support and collaboration so that every child meets their full potential;
• Celebrating and communicating successes to encourage aspiration and innovation;
• Being financially sustainable and legally compliant.

The Articles of Association, which defines the Trust’s constitution, makes provision for a board with a maximum of eleven Trustees.

Our current Trustees are:

• Johnny Anderson – Chair
• Matthew Cliffe
• Samuel Compton
• Sharon George
• Colin Hopkins – Vice Chair
• Michelle Johnstone
• Robert Knight​
• Gill Latos
• Lisa Sarikaya – Chief Executive Officer & Accounting Officer

Further information about each individual can be found below:

Johnny Anderson – Chair of Trust Board

Johnny is local to Staffordshire having attended university in Stoke on Trent. He has worked in senior education finance roles for two Local Authorities. Johnny set up and ran as a director a private nursery school which was handed over as a successful going concern to the host school.

In addition, he spent 3 years as the Finance Director of the then largest private provider of school support services in the UK prior to setting up a company that has for the last 22 years provided consultancy support to schools across the UK. National, local and personal development through education is his passion professionally.

Johnny is a member and serving chair of the West Midlands Chairs Learning Set.

Johnny is a long serving governor and has held governance roles in 3 Local Authorities. He was a founding Director of a Catholic Multi Academy Company. As well as being a Member and Trustee of St Bart’s, he currently serves as a governor of a primary academy outside the Trust.

Johnny is a National Governance Association Award Winner.

He is keen to support great community activities and has been involved with many.

Matthew Cliffe

Matthew has been involved with St Bart’s Multi Academy Trust since being co-opted onto the Local Governing Committee at a Trust infant/junior federation in early 2019. He was subsequently elected as parent governor at a Trust Academy in November 2020, enjoying the dual role of providing support and challenge across the contrasting academies. Matthew was keen to deepen the relationship with the Trust and joined the Board in autumn 2021.

An Accounting and Financial Management graduate, Matthew has spent most of his working life with HMRC, principally working in tax compliance roles supporting large businesses to ensure strong governance and minimise their tax risks. Latterly, Matthew has worked on complex employment income issues at both operational and policy levels.

He volunteers as an assistant leader at his children’s Scout group and is a committee member at a local grassroots football club.

Samuel Compton

Sam is the CEO and Accounting Officer of a Staffordshire Multi Academy Trust.  He is a National Leader of Education with extensive experience of School improvement. He has been a Head teacher with over 9 years of experience, been an Executive Head teacher and has been the Chief Executive Officer of a MAT since January 2022.

Sharon George

Dr Sharon George is a PhD chemist and specialist in sustainable technology development and deployment and a Senior Consultant at NovaSci Ltd, a technology development company specialising in decarbonisation and data systems. 

She has a dual honours degree in Biology and Chemistry and a PhD in thermochemical corrosion of materials used in glass manufacture, from Keele and Ceram Research. 

Until September 2024, she held the position of Senior Lecturer in Clean Technology at Keele University where established and led the successful Keele Sustainability Hub outreach facility and the MSc in Environmental Sustainability and Green Technology. 

She was the lead academic on the £5m collaborative HyDEX project aimed at accelerating the development of the hydrogen economy in the Midlands. 

She has worked with local government authorities, businesses, entrepreneurs and the public. 

Dr George’s insights into green technology and environmental sustainability have been sought by international networks including BBC World Service, CNN, BBC Radio 4 and Sky News. 

Articles for The Conversation have been republished in various international outlets including World Economic Forum, The Independent, and the i newspaper, and have been translated for a global audience. 

Sharon grew up in, and has lived around Stoke-on-Trent, and has sent her own children to schools that are now part of St Bart’s Multi Academy Trust. She is passionate about the role of education to transform individual lives, and communities, and continues to contribute to, and promote skills development in areas of science and technology.

Colin Hopkins MBE

Colin has been a Director of St Bart’s MAT since 2013 and chairs both its People and Practice Committee and Education and Standards Committee. He is Vice Chair of the Trust Board. He has spent 25 years in senior roles in education, most recently having worked on an institutional-level gender equality project for Warwick University.

Between 2019-22, he worked for the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) as Executive Director (CEO) of RSA Academies, an ‘umbrella’ trust that oversaw several RSA-sponsored academies in the West Midlands. Between 2006-18, he was Director of Education for Lichfield Diocese.

He is currently Chair of the John Taylor MAT Trust Board. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of the Chartered College of Teaching and was appointed MBE in 2018 for services to education

Michelle Johnstone

Following 12 years in headship, Michelle was appointed to the role of Lead for School Improvement for a Stoke based Multi-Academy Trust.  Prior to her current role, Michelle was an executive Head teacher working across two large primary schools and a nursery school in Stoke-on-Trent. She is a qualified teacher and has extensive senior management experience in schools as a Head teacher and as a local authority adviser, supporting and challenging schools within the primary sector and leading the early years quality improvement team.  She has particular expertise in early years, primary education, pupils for whom English is an additional language and supporting schools which are deemed inadequate.

Robert Knight

Rob is a self-employed leadership coach, working in primary and secondary schools, supporting and challenging leaders and their teams to improve outcomes for children. Previously, he worked in secondary education for 34 years, teaching and leading English departments and spending 21 years as a senior leader. For 13 years, he was a Headteacher in a popular and successful 11-16 school. He has a joint honours degree in English and History and a Masters degree in education.

Rob has extensive experience of working with Governing Boards and is currently Chair of Governors of a primary academy and a Chair of a Federation of infant and junior academies. He is also a Member of the Societas Trust, based in Stoke on Trent.

Gill Latos

 Gill is a retired Head teacher / Senior Educational Professional. She is an experienced Trustee and, as a qualified SIP, has a particular interest in Educational Attainment and Achievement including the enrichment of pupils’ opportunities leading to enhanced life chances.  She is also interested in promoting CPD opportunities for all and is an experienced professional coach.

Gill was an effective Primary Head Teacher with a proven track record of successful primary leadership across a number of schools in the Stoke on Trent area. Gill also worked as a Senior Primary Adviser within the LA and latterly as a Senior Leader at SBMAT and was fully involved in the leadership and development of the Trust.

Gill currently enjoys a full and busy family life with many creative hobbies and a zest for travel. In addition she keeps up to date with developments in education and educational research and is an active Trustee at SBMAT and Chair of Directors at another MAT in Staffordshire.

Lisa Sarikaya

Lisa has worked for St Bart’s Multi Academy Trust since its inception and was appointed as CEO in January 2022.

She is an experienced education professional with over 25 years working experience in education, 15 years as a senior leader at all levels.  Lisa is a qualified teacher and has during her career been a teacher, Deputy Headteacher and has been a Head teacher and Executive Head teacher before moving to the MAT Central team.

Lisa is experienced in supporting and challenging schools to help them to improve and has experience of developing teaching and learning across Early Years settings and primary schools.