Samphire Star Education Trust (SSET) began its journey in 2007 as a Maintained Federation, before converting into an Academy Trust in 2012. Comprising a family of three primary and one secondary schools, SSET provides educational excellence to over 1500 pupils aged 2-19. The Trust (formerly known as Dover Federation for the Arts) recently rebranded to Samphire Star Education Trust as it looks towards the future. 

SSET believes in tomorrow’s society, and fights to improve opportunities and aspirations for everyone through its core values: compassion, integrity, collaboration, creativity, imagination, critical thinking and resilience. The Trust’s Vision is to enable communities to thrive by giving children the best opportunities to learn inside and outside the classroom. With all four schools working together, sharing resources and a common goal for its students, SSET is able to establish a consistent tone in education throughout a pupil’s learning life, fostering respect and care in the community whilst caring for its young people. Working both as individual educational centres and more so as a whole, Samphire Star Education Trust is enthusiastically committed to the delivery of an exciting and outstanding education for all of its pupils.

Shatterlocks Infant and Nursery School caters for 230 children aged 3-7. Rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted, Shatterlocks provides a happy, caring, stimulating environment where all members of the school community are valued, challenged and encouraged so that they will achieve their full potential. You can read more about Shatterlocks here.

White Cliffs Primary and Nursery School is a two-form entry primary academy that overlooks Dover Castle. Pebbles Nursery provides a stimulating indoor and outdoor environment for 2-4 year olds, whilst White Cliffs continues the student's educational journey through Key Stages One and Two. Rated 'Good' by Ofsted, White Cliffs sits on a campus that has thrived with school life for over 70 years. You can read more about White Cliffs Primary here.

Barton Junior School caters for up to 240 children aged 7-11. It inspires, challenges and motivates all its pupils every day through its exciting, creative curriculum. Barton Junior School's new school building opened in September 2019, creating an exciting new learning environment fit for the 21st Century. The School is rated 'Good' by Ofsted, who mentioned that it fosters a ‘strong vision for pupils to thrive’. You can read more about Barton Junior School here.

Astor Secondary School is an 11-19 Secondary Academy. Entry for pupils to Astor School at the beginning of Year 7 is guided thoughtfully and imaginatively to create as smooth a process as possible from Primary to Secondary education. Similarly, Astor School supports applications to the country’s top universities and the world of work for its sixth formers, who also have access to the School's newly-established careers programme (#Aspire), which has supported students over the past two years into apprenticeships in a number of sectors. Rated 'Requires Improvement' by Ofsted in 2019, the School is expected to achieve 'Good' status in its upcoming inspection. You can read more about Astor Secondary School here.

As it looks to the future, Samphire Star Education Trust hopes to share this vision with other schools in the UK, respecting it’s Dover-based history whilst not limiting itself to the East of England. 

As it continues to grow, Samphire Star Education Trust is seeking up to two new Members of its Supervisory Board. Members will provide high-level oversight and scrutiny across the work of the Board of Trustees.

Members play a limited but crucial role in safeguarding multi-academy trust governance. They should not stray into undertaking the role of Trustee, but should assure themselves that the governance of the Trust is effective, that Trustees are acting in accordance with the Trust’s charitable objects and that they, the Members, use their powers to step in if governance is failing.

Most notably, Members are responsible for defining the Trust’s charitable objects and governance structure, amending the articles of association, appointing or removing Trustees, appointing the Trust’s auditors and receiving the Trust’s annual audited accounts, and ultimately dissolving the Trust if required.

Samphire Star Education Trust would like to appoint two Members of its Supervisory Board. Candidates should bring previous experience in corporate or charity governance, and should have an extensive background in senior leadership roles. They will have demonstrable knowledge of the Non-Executive Director role. Candidates could have an educational background, though this is not essential.

Candidates should be committed to the ethos and values of Samphire Star Education Trust, and inspired by its focus on delivering a holistic, community-engaged, and aspirational education.

Candidates with a connection to any of the Trust's existing communities in and around Dover are strongly encouraged to apply.

You can find out more about the current Members of the Trust here.

Members will be expected to attend up to three meetings plus one Annual General Meeting, per year. Board meetings are normally held in the Schools, but can be attended virtually if necessary.

There may be additional informal meetings in preparation for Meetings and / or the AGM. The role term is unspecified, and Members serve at the Supervisory Board's leisure. This role is unremunerated but reasonable, pre-agreed domestic travel expenses will be reimbursed.

Board meetings are hybrid, but Members will be expected to attend in person at least once or twice per year. Candidates will therefore be UK-based, and able to travel to Kent for meetings.

SSET welcomes applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith or disability. All appointments will be made on merit, following a fair and transparent process. In line with the Equality Act 2010, however, the organisation may employ positive action where candidates from underrepresented groups can demonstrate their ability to perform the role equally well. SSET is committed to continuous improvement in how representative it is of its local communities, including gender, ethnicity, religion, age, and all other aspects of diversity.

SSET is committed to continuous improvement in how representative it is of its local communities, including gender, ethnicity, religion, age, and all other aspects of diversity.