Governance
Academies are schools funded by the government with the freedom to govern independently – but all are accountable to the Secretary of State for Education. To share resources and best practice, many are part of multi-academy trusts – a network of schools under one legal body.
Ark Acton Academy is part of Ark Schools - a leading education charity and one of the country’s top-performing academy operators. Ark is non-denominational and does not make any profit from running its schools.
Ark’s relationship with the Secretary of State is set out in the Master Funding Agreement. There are also supplemental funding agreements for each individual school in the network, including Ark Acton Academy.
Ark Schools Master Funding Agreement
Ark Acton Supplemental Funding Agreement
Every school in the Ark network is the legal responsibility of the Ark Schools Board. This board focuses on statutory duties and delegates most day-to-day responsibilities to each school’s individual Local Governing Body (LGB). This means that Ark Acton Academy's governors are able to concentrate on the things that really matter – educational strategy, school outcomes and aspiration.
The Ark Schools Articles of Association and Decision Making Framework scheme of delegation can be found on the Ark Schools website.
Contacting the governors
The current Clerk to Governors is Vanessa Watson (vanessa.watson@arkonline.org). Governors can be contacted through the Clerk.
If you are interested in becoming a governor, please visit the Ark Schools website.
If you have any governance-related queries, please contact the Clerk
Our Local Governing Body
Ark Acton Academy’s LGB is made up as follows:
Six to ten members appointed by Ark, to include the Chair - usually people with a local connection or interest who are committed to supporting educational opportunity in the area.
The Principal
Two Parent Governors
Staff Governor
Ark aims to create a balanced group that will have the right skills, connections and dynamic for the LGB to work well and support the school in achieving exceptional performance:
Good insight into the specific challenges at the school and the general challenges of operating top-quality schools
Excellent community links
Specific skills as needed by/relevant to the school
A link to the senior executive team of Ark
The LGB meets four times a year.
Please note we currently have one vacancy for parent governors on the LGB. Please see the role description as follows, which includes how to apply and who to contact if you have any questions: Ark Parent Governor Role Description - Ark Acton.pdf
Current governors
Paul Campbell (Chair)
Paul was born in Newcastle and grew up in Yorkshire. He attended a local comprehensive school and then Cambridge University. After a period working in investment banking he co-founded an asset management business and held the role of CEO for fifteen years. Paul takes a keen interest in education, believing passionately that all children should have access to a quality education capable of equipping them to fulfill their potential.
Milena Bazelkova (Local Authority Governor) (Parent Governor)
As a manager in the adoptions service of Ealing Council, Milena has a passion for ensuring that each child is offered the same opportunity and support to achieve to their full potential. In her capacity as a local authority employee, Milena works with vulnerable young people, considering how to best support them to achieve stability and to excel in all areas of their development. Milena also offers support to their parents/carers as a way of ensuring that the child’s needs are at the forefront. Milena is also an active participant in a teaching partnership across London. In her collaboration with the Royal Holloway University of London Milena ensures that social work students are equipped with the knowledge, skills and confidence to practice following the completion of their degree.
Previously, Milena was an active member of Montpelier Primary School’s PTA group and its treasurer for a few years.
Milena lives and works in West London and her 2 children are proud to attend Ark Acton and to see it grow and flourish.
Thomas Buckett
Tom lives in Acton with his wife, two teenage daughters and dog, he grew up in West London and has made a life for himself here. In his professional life he is a partner in an Executive Search firms and spends much of his time advising and consulting with senior leaders in financial services on talent. He is passionate about purposeful engagement and affording individuals the opportunity to truly shine in what ever direction they choose.
Tom is passionate about tennis, endurance running having completed Ironman events and ultra distance marathons.
Nadine Butler (Staff (Teaching) Governor)
I am an experienced Deputy DSL at Ark Acton Academy. I work very closely with our Vice Principal to ensure all students and staff are safe. However, I have an invested interest in all things Equality Diversity and Inclusion.One of my many hats that I wear outside of AAA, is that I sit on the Ealing panel that approves both Adopters and Foster Carers as well as matching placements. I also sit on the Equality, Exclusion and Attendance Board for Barnet and I am a parent governor.As I am a governor outside of Ark it has been a fascinating journey to see how schools are run outside of the day-to-day functions. As an employee, I believe very much in Mr Knights vision for the school and all those that attend. With that being said, I would like to contribute and help move the school forward in a positive way to ensure that all who attend leave school with the skills to become a good role model and inspiration to their community.
Patrick Fuller (Finance Link)
Patrick Fuller has over 25 years of corporate financial experience. He is a Chartered Accountant and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accounting.
He has held supervisory positions at Burton Group before moving to HSBC.He then moved to Infratest Burke, one of the leading market research organisations. As Group Chief Accountant he was the finance lead in the successful acquisition of market research agencies. In 2012 the Finance department won the prestigious University sector Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards 2012: Outstanding Finance Team Award.
Prior to joining the University of West London in 2011, Patrick Fuller was Head of Finance and Procurement at the Learning Trust in Hackney, as well as Director and Company Secretary of the Kench Hill charity. In 2010 the Learning Trust Finance team won the Hackney Educators Awards Team of the Year 2009/10.
He is currently a member of the Institute of Directors.
Josephine Gayton (Ark Appointed Governor)
Josephine is an experienced R&D professional who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry since 1999. She is currently the Vice President, Program Strategy and Development Operations at Aeglea Biotherapeutics, a Texas based biotech company, specializing in developing drugs for rare diseases. Before moving into the pharmaceutical industry, she gained a PhD at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, in molecular biology and genetics. She also has a BSc (1st class Hons) from Sussex University in Biology with European Studies (French) and a diploma from the Universite Joseph Fourier, Grenoble. Josie is a keen scuba diver, skier and more recently a snow boarder. She lives in London with her husband, primary age twin children and twin cats. Josephine was previously the parent governor at Ark Byron for a three year term.
Kiera Oluwunmi (Safeguarding Link Governor)
Kiera Oluwunmi is a Barrister practising in criminal law. Prior to being called to the Bar, Kiera worked for a member of the House of Lords and completed leadership programmes with a focus on reconciliation in her native Northern Ireland. Kiera had volunteered leading workshops and careers advice panels for school leavers as well as those not in education and employment. Kiera has volunteered extensively with those affected by homelessness and refugees and feels passionately about amplifying the voices of those who feel disillusioned by society. In this role as a governor, Kiera hopes to bring her experience from advocating for the vulnerable and entering a competitive professional environment to help benefit current and future pupils.
Monica Thompson (SEND Link Governor)
Monica is an experienced political consultant, who has spent a number of years working with the public sector, where she was a keen advocate for the vital role that education plays. Monica has vast experience in the education sector having previously worked for an education trade body, and as the education lead for a major political publisher. Monica holds a master’s degree in Intelligence and International Security from King’s College London and is also fluent in four languages.
Hardeep Warshawaya (Ark Link Governor)
As Head of People Operations at Ark Hardeep leads and develops the People Operations Service function, which is a hybrid operating model of transactional HR, people data and systems and people compliance which serve to deliver an effective people service to all Ark network entities ensuring continuous improvement and review.
Providing logical and practical solutions Hardeep’s background has been strongly in government infrastructure projects and consultancy, with extensive experience in Payroll and HR, she leads businesses in making better decisions aligning pay strategy to improve their financial understanding and wellbeing.
As governor she aims to share expertise to support Ark.
Oliver Knight (Principal)
All appointments are made by the Director of Governance for Ark Schools. The term of a governor is three years, except for the Executive Principal and Principal, who remain governors for the duration of their time in post. Governors may be re-appointed for further terms.
The register of Interests and attendance information for governors can be found here:
Ark Acton Academy - Governor Register of Interests 2022-23.pdf
