Governance

Our governance structure is designed to ensure all parts of Ark work together seamlessly to support every child and deliver on our mission to make sure that all children, regardless of their background, have access to a great education and real choices in life.

Christian Down, Principal at Ark Charter Academy in Portsmouth, talking with students

Ark incubates, launches and scales ventures that share our mission and values and is the parent organisation of Ark Schools, a separate legal entity that is a multi-academy trust with 39 schools. Every school also has its own Local Governing Body.

Meet our Board of Trustees Become a school governor

Key documents

Our charity was originally registered under the name Absolute Return for Kids and is now known as Ark.

Ark is registered in England as a charity (charity number 1095322) and a company limited by guarantee (company number 04589451).

The Ark Schools Memorandum & Articles of Association is the governing document for Ark Schools. It should be read alongside the Master Funding Agreement. A Supplementary Funding Agreement is in place for each individual school.

The Ark Schools Decision Making Framework acts as our scheme of delegation, clarifying where responsibility and accountability sits in key functional areas.