Our governance
A charity supporting charities
CST is a registered charity, supporting school trusts across England. We have a board of trustees drawn from the sector who set our strategy and overall approach, with a leadership team that oversees day to day operation.
We set policy in an agile, open, and iterative way through consultation with our member trusts and the wider sector through regular online engagement calls, regular email briefings, our professional community networks, and through ad-hoc roundtables and discussion groups.
We have adopted the seven principles of public life as an articulation of our code of ethics. We believe the seven principles below should govern our individual and collective behaviour and the conduct all our meetings and activities. We believe in: selflessness; integrity; objectivity; accountability; openness; honesty; and leadership.
CST is registered with the Charity Commission, charity no: 1107640 and a company limited by guarantee, registered in England & Wales, company no: 05303883.
Our professional development services are operated by a wholly-owned subsidiary company, CST Professional Development Ltd, registered in England & Wales, company no: 10354936 and VAT registration number 270 0880 18. The company supports CST's charitable activities; any profits are either re-invested or gifted to the charity.
We previously operated a second subsidiary, National Teacher Accreditation, supporting the quality assurance of early career teachers from 2013. Following changes to teacher training arrangements and the decision by the Department for Education to focus accreditation within teaching school hubs, NTA ceased trading in August 2024 and was formally dissolved in July 2025.
