Academy Ambassadors Programme

The Academy Ambassadors Programme (AAP) is a not-for-profit programme, funded by the Department for Education, recruiting highly skilled, board-calibre professionals onto the boards of academy trusts throughout England. AAP is delivered by New Schools Network, a charity that is passionate about improving the quality of education in England. Established in 2009, NSN’s purpose is to ensure that every child has an equal chance to succeed, irrespective of their background, by supporting communities to establish, run and improve schools.

Since 2013, NSN has helped trusts to fill over 2,000 trustee roles with highly-skilled volunteers. Their Academy Ambassadors have had a transformative impact within the trusts, schools and communities they serve – positively impacting the lives of more than 1.8m children in the process. We provide a bespoke, tailored service to academy trusts and take time to understand every board’s recruitment needs in order to recruit specifically to the board’s requirements. The programme helps inspirational educationalists and talented business leaders work together to provide a better future for the next generation. It is committed to helping to improve the diversity and makeup of academy trust boards to not only more appropriately represent the communities they serve, but also to provide better balance of perspective and lived experience.