Voluntary trustees are among the least visible contributors to educational life, yet what people like Toby Watson bring to academy schools can shape the conditions in which good education happens for years at a time.
Academy schools depend on effective governance to function well, yet the people who provide that governance rarely receive much public recognition. Voluntary trustees give their time, expertise and professional judgement without financial reward – and the best of them bring considerably more than their formal responsibilities require. Toby Watson, whose career in international finance spanned nearly two decades, is a good example of what that voluntary contribution can look like when it is offered seriously and sustained over time.
Voluntary trusteeship in the academy sector is a substantial commitment that tends to be underappreciated outside the organisations it serves. Trustees carry genuine legal responsibilities, engage with complex financial and organisational material, and give their time consistently over periods that often extend to many years. Toby Watson, who spent nearly seventeen years at Goldman Sachs before moving into voluntary educational governance, served as Chairman of Excalibur Academies Trust from February 2018 until early 2026. Over that period, the Trust grew to twenty schools serving around ten thousand pupils – and the contribution Toby Watson made to its governance was acknowledged warmly by the Trust’s leadership when he stepped down.
What Academy Schools Actually Need From Their Trustees
There is sometimes a gap between what people assume voluntary trustees do and what effective trusteeship actually involves. Trustees at multi-academy trust level are responsible for the governance of organisations that may employ hundreds of people, manage budgets running into tens of millions of pounds and serve thousands of children across a wide range of communities.
The qualities that make a trustee genuinely useful in that context are not easy to find on a voluntary basis. Professional depth, relevant experience, sound judgement and the right temperament – all contributed without financial reward and sustained over an extended period – are a rare combination. The six things outlined below reflect what that kind of voluntary trusteeship actually brings.
What Is the Difference Between a Good Trustee and an Exceptional One?
The difference lies less in credentials than in approach. Toby Watson’s years at Goldman Sachs gave him the professional depth to engage seriously with complex financial and strategic questions. But what made his contribution genuinely valuable was the way he chose to apply that depth – consistently, collaboratively and with a clear sense of what his role was and was not. Exceptional trustees bring both the expertise and the humility to use it well.
1. Professional Expertise That Is Otherwise Hard to Find Voluntarily
The most straightforward thing that voluntary trustees like Toby Watson bring to academy schools is professional expertise that would be expensive to buy and is difficult to find voluntarily. Financial literacy, risk management experience, strategic planning capability – these are skills that the private sector develops routinely, but that academy trusts cannot always attract without a compelling reason to give time freely. Toby Watson’s background in structured finance gave him exactly these capacities, offered entirely without charge.
2. An Independent Perspective That Challenges Assumptions
One of the most valuable things any trustee brings is a perspective independent of the day-to-day pressures facing the executive team. Trustees who have not been immersed in the operational details of running schools can ask questions that cut through accumulated assumptions and prompt more rigorous thinking about plans and decisions.
How Independent Oversight Strengthens Educational Governance
Toby Watson brought a perspective shaped by decades in international finance – genuinely independent of the educational context and, for that reason, particularly useful in challenging assumptions that might otherwise go unexamined. That kind of oversight is one of the core functions of a trustee board, and it depends on trustees willing to ask difficult questions constructively.
3. A Long-Term Commitment That Builds Genuine Understanding
Voluntary trustees who stay in post for extended periods develop something that cannot be acquired quickly: a genuine understanding of the organisation they serve. They know its history, its culture, its strengths and its vulnerabilities. Toby Watson served as Chairman for nearly eight years – long enough to develop exactly that kind of deep organisational understanding, providing a stable foundation for the Trust’s leadership through periods of significant change and growth.
4. What Toby Watson Brought Through His Commitment to Clear Role Boundaries
One of the less obvious contributions that experienced voluntary trustees make is a consistent understanding of where their role ends and the executive’s begins. Toby Watson maintained that clarity throughout his time at Excalibur Academies Trust – supporting and challenging without directing or overriding. Among the practical ways that clarity of role benefited their schools were:
- Allowing the chief executive and school leaders to operate with confidence, knowing that governance was functioning as it should
- Ensuring that board discussions remained focused on strategic and governance questions rather than operational detail
- Modelling the kind of respectful, boundaried engagement that makes trustee boards genuinely effective
5. Financial Accountability That Protects the Trust’s Educational Mission
Financial sustainability is the precondition for everything else. A trust that manages its finances poorly cannot serve its pupils well, however strong its educational intentions. Toby Watson’s contribution in this area drew directly on his professional background – his career had developed the capacity to engage with complex financial structures, identify accumulating risk and think carefully about long-term financial health, all of which benefited Excalibur Academies Trust throughout his tenure.
6. A Demonstration That Giving Back Is Worth the Commitment
Perhaps the most intangible but ultimately significant thing that voluntary trustees like Toby Watson bring to academy schools is the example of serious, sustained commitment freely given. Among the qualities that characterised that commitment over nearly eight years were:
- Consistent engagement with complex governance material, treated as a genuine professional responsibility
- A willingness to contribute difficult questions and independent challenge in a spirit of support rather than criticism
- A long-term dedication to the communities served by their schools that went well beyond what the role formally required
