Governance

Legal Structure

The Sir James Henderson British School of Milan Association is a not-for-profit organisation whose objective is to make available high quality British education in Milan. Members and owners of the association are all parents of the students - each family can have up to 2 memberships.

The British School of Milan Srl is a commercial entity responsible for all the teaching activity. The Srl was established in 2001, when Italian law required private teaching activity to be organised as for-profit organisations. The Association owns 100% of the Srl. The Srl is its operating company.

Governance of the School

The School is governed by a Board of Governors and follows best practice as far as the governance of a British independent school is concerned. The School's Principal and CEO attends all the Board meetings, including committee and full board meetings. The Board currently consists of:

• eight parent-elected governors – just over half of the total Board
• two ex-oficio governors – the British Consul General in Milan and the President of the British Chamber of Commerce for Italy
• three independent governors – including two heads of schools in the UK.

Together the Board brings a range of experience and skills to the governance of the School and focuses on strategic development.

Parent-elected governors serve up to a maximum of two four-year terms of office. 

The ex-oficio and independent governors provide a valuable input to the governance of the School and reinforce ties with British institutions both locally and internationally.

Just as the School as a whole is subject to regular inspection by the Independent Schools Inspectorate(ISI), so too governance of the School is subject to scrutiny by external bodies including the ISI and the Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools (AGBIS) as well as several associations of which the School is a member, namely the HMC (Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference) and COBIS (Council of British International Schools).