Governance

Hujjat Primary School is a Free School which means it receives funding directly from the government. Free Schools have more control over how they do things than community schools, they do not charge fees and they are inspected by Ofsted.

Hujjat Primary is run by an academy trust called Hujjat School Trust (HST).

HST is  a Single Academy Trust which is a not-for-profit company that is also recognised as a Charitable Trust.  We have 3 layers of governance:

Members are the custodians of the governance of the Trust. The first Members were signatories to the Memorandum of Association when the Trust was set up, and they agreed the trust’s Articles of Association. Their role is to ensure that the academy trust’s charitable objectives are being met, maintain an overview of the effectiveness of the trust structure and they can appoint/remove trustees.

Our Members:

Mustafa Mohamed - Chair

Janet Hilary

Shaheen Hirji

Mohammed-Azeem Merali

Trustees hold the responsibilities of company directors, charity trustees and school governors. They have a duty of compliance, ensuring all relevant laws and regulations are followed. 

The three core functions of the Board of Trustees are:

• Ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
• Hold the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff
• Oversee the financial performance of the school and make sure its money is well spent

Our trustees must be autonomous in their decision-making and avoid conflicts of interest. For example, if they are connected to another organisation, their decisions as a trustee must be made independently.  

Our Trustees  

Shaheen Hirji - Chair

Suquena Panjwani - Vice Chair

Zafar Ali

Hugh Greenway

Nadim Kapadia 

Warsame Khalif

Safiya Virji - Parent Trustee

A committee is a smaller group of Trustees and specialist advisers who are chosen to represent the full governing board to receive information, make decisions on its behalf (where delegated), and act as a clear channel of communication to inform the wider work of the full board. 

Committees enable the Board to remain strategic in its approach to overseeing both the educational and financial performance of the school as it grows. We have constituted the following committees. Their remit (Terms of Reference) are reviewed annually and are available on request from the school office.

Our Committees:

Finance, Resources & Audit - Chaired by Nadim Kapadia

Teaching & Learning - Chaired by Shaheen Hirji

Faith & Pastoral - Chaired by Suquena Panjwani