James Marks Academy Trust (JMAT) was established on 1st April, 2021 to provide more placements across Hertfordshire for pupils with complex needs and build on the success of Roman Fields Academy.

Our trust aims to become a centre of excellence for pupils with complex needs that maximises their engagement with education and minimises the need to travel or reside away from family and friends. Initially, it comprised of Roman Fields, then later Forest House, and was joined by a brand new free school which opened in September 2023.

The Trust will support each school in ensuring that it has secure and robust financial and resource management, so that schools meet their statutory responsibilities. It will ensure each school adheres to the distinctive ethos which contributes so powerfully to the development of our pupils as well-rounded and balanced young people poised to make a contribution to society.

The ethos of the Trust is collaborative and participative. Every individual school has a voice, through the Trust’s open and transparent governance, in the key decisions which affect each school. Moreover, the Trust aims to value the healthy diversity across our schools, and we actively encourage each school which decides to join the Trust to maintain and further develop its own distinctive culture and identity.

I hope that the pages which follow give you a clearer idea of the way in which the Trust puts these objectives into practice.

Eugene Billeter

Member and Chair of Trustees