Court of Directors

The Edinburgh Academy Court of Directors

Purpose and Governance

The Edinburgh Academy was established in 1824 by Royal Charter with the charitable purpose of delivering education and is a registered Scottish charity. Since 2009 the School has been fully co-educational and now provides education to boys and girls aged from 2–18 years old.

The principal role of the Court of Directors as trustees of the charity is to ensure that the school is run in line with its charitable objectives. It meets this requirement through a sub-committee structure, which provides operational oversight, and approval and monitoring of strategic plans.

Responsibility for the day-to-day management of the school is delegated to the Rector and overseen by the Court of Directors.

Governing Documents

The Edinburgh Academy’s governing document is its Royal Charter. The Charter was originally granted in 1824 and the last material amendment was made to the Charter in 1934, although some minor amendments were made in 2007 to allow the Academy to become co-educational. The Privy Council, in 2017, approved the grant of a Supplementary Charter to The Edinburgh Academy. The following changes have been made:

(a) that the objects and powers of the Academy are appropriate for the current activities and operation of the school;
(b) that the objects and powers are in compliance with the legislation relating to charities and trustees and in particular the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (“the 2005 Act”);
(c) that the governance arrangements comply with relevant legislation, the recommendations of OSCR and best practice.

A copy of the Supplementary Charter is available here:

Royal Charter dated 11 October 2017

The Court Annual Report and Audited Accounts can be found at:

Consolidated Financial Statements and Directors' Report 2023

The Operation of the Court of Directors

The Court meets a minimum of four times a year as well as holding an annual Strategy Day. To enable the Directors to cover the wide remit of their duties a robust committee system is in place with the following principal Committees who report to the Court of Directors.

• Finance and General Purposes Committee which has a monitoring and advisory role relating to the School’s financial health, accounting compliance, risk, staff establishment and appointment procedures, terms and conditions of employment, and levels of remuneration and the management of the School’s property and estate.
• Education and Policy Committee On behalf of the Court of Directors the Committee reviews proposals for the educational strategy of the School, consideration of other educational matters, including the curriculum and other educational contents, review of all School policies relating to staff and pupil matters, educational provision, and Staff Continuing Professional Development.
• Safeguarding Committee Their remit is to oversee matters relating to wellbeing and child protection matters for existing staff and pupils, annual approval of relevant policies and a review of the management of any historic allegations as received by the School. Where deemed appropriate, it will take the lead in oversight and management of any follow-up actions deemed necessary.
• Governance and Nominations Committee is comprised of the Chair and three senior directors and meets on an ad-hoc basis to review applications for vacancies to the Court of Directors.

Court of Directors

The Court of Directors encourage an open communications policy with all in the School Community. Court Directors attend a large number of events and are accessible to members of the school community if required.

All candidates for joining the Court are approved by the Court of Directors following a recommendation from the Nominations Committee and based on criteria established by the Court to ensure that it maintains appropriate representation to undertaken its role effectively.

Whilst all enquiries should in the first place be taken forward with the appropriate member of staff in the School, the school has a detailed Complaints’ Policy to deal with any issues that the complainant feels have not been satisfactorily addressed. The Policy can be found here:

Complaints Policy

In addition, in the event of any other matter, the Chair can be contacted through the Chief Operating Officer’s Office at the address below:

Clerk to the Court of Directors
The Edinburgh Academy
42 Henderson Row
Edinburgh
EH3 5BL

or email at coo@edinburghacademy.org.uk