20 Senior legal advisor volunteer roles

Chair and Directors (Trustee)

Eighteen schools. Nearly 9,500 children. A Trust that's grown from eight schools to eighteen in just over five years, now needs to add to its Board. 

STCAT was built through merger and rapid expansion, and is now shifting from fast growth to consolidation; building the structures and capacity to match its current scale, and becoming a more outward-facing voice in Catholic education, with the Diocese, the Department for Education and the wider sector. Whichever role fits you, you'll be joining at the moment that shift is happening, not after it's done.

Ask any current Director to describe the Board and the same words come up, unprompted; collegiate, professional, and, more than once, a family. People who mostly didn't know each other have built something rooted in Catholic Social Teaching, robust enough to hold the executive team to account, but without anyone bringing their ego to the table.

Chair of the Board of Directors
You'll line manage the CEO, chair a Board of this size and culture, and increasingly become the person representing STCAT externally as the Trust looks outward. You don't need an education background, the Board actively welcomes Chairs from outside it, but you'll need significant senior leadership or board-level experience, real confidence reading a budget, and genuine experience chairing meetings and managing group dynamics.

Be realistic about the time; 5 to 6 days a month, and regular travel across Luton, Buckinghamshire and Slough. The Directors are working to bring that commitment down over time as they recruit to the Board, but it's real now.

Director (Trustee)
STCAT's Board was built for nine Directors. For a stretch, while the Trust doubled its schools, it ran on seven, which is why more than one new Director is needed now. You don't need to be a specialist, STCAT has professional advisers for that, but you do need the confidence to ask the questions nobody else is asking and work with the Board to support the executive team.

Day to day, that's five Board meetings a year, a seat on a committee where your expertise counts, and becoming Link Director to a small number of schools, visiting at least one Local Academy Committee meeting a year to see what the Board's decisions mean on the ground. Roughly two days a month. We're especially keen to hear from people with real expertise in finance, HR, legal and regulatory compliance, property and estates, risk, safeguarding, mental health, technology, or marketing and communications.

Not sure which role fits? Say so. Some Directors go on to become strong Chairs once they know the Board, and the current Chair is available for a handover period. Raise it in your first conversation with Adam.

Both posts carry a genuine occupational requirement; you'll need to be a practising Catholic and genuinely committed to Catholic Social Teaching.

Both are voluntary roles, appointed by the Bishop of Northampton for a four-year term, renewable for up to two further terms.

For an informal and confidential conversation, contact Adam Stacey, CEO of Charisma Charity Recruitment. Applications should be submitted through the Charisma website, including a comprehensive CV and a supporting statement of no more than two pages.

We welcome and encourage expressions of interest from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender, religion*, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. 

*Due to the nature of the role, it is a genuine occupational requirement that the postholder is a committed, practising Catholic and fully supports the objectives of the Trust.

Closing date for applications: 23 November 2026
Interviews with STCAT: w/c 30 November and 7 December 2026