Governance

The British School at Athens, founded in 1886, is a membership organisation with UK charitable status (no. 208673). Its patron is HM King Charles III. It is recognised as a not-for-profit institution in Greece. Its constitution, purpose and objectives are defined in its Statutes.

The governing body of the School is its Council, members of which are Trustees under the terms of the Charities Act 1993. The Council consists of the Chair, Honorary Treasurer, 4 members elected by the School’s Supporters for a 4-year term, 2 members elected by School Members for a 2-year term, and 4 nominated members elected by Council for a 4-year term. A Vice-Chair is elected from its number. The Search Committee considers the balance of skills and interests represented on the Council whenever a nominated vacancy arises, identifies potential nominees by all appropriate means, and puts forward names for consideration so as to ensure that the Council is equipped to exercise critical scrutiny of all areas of the School’s operation. An Annual General Meeting of Supporters is empowered to amend the Statutes and receives the Financial Statements and a report of the work of the School, and must appoint the School’s Auditors.

Charge of the School in Greece is delegated to the Director, who is the principal executive and accounting officer of the School and represents it in Greece and with any third parties whatsoever.

Council is advised by five executive Committees – for Archaeology, for Society, Arts, and Letters, for Finance and General Purposes (the Chairs of which are members of Council), for Publications and Research Dissemination and for the Friends’ activities – and in turn by a series of Subcommittees. Members serve for 4-year terms, running from 1st April in the year of election. Upcoming vacancies on Council, its Committees and Subcommittees are advertised on this website at the end of the preceding year, and potential applicants are encouraged to apply via the Chair of the relevant committee, as instructed: elections take place at the February Council meeting or Annual General Meeting as appropriate.

The Council is the governing body of the School, as specified in the Statutes (7.1). Its duties and powers are detailed in chapters 8 and 10 of the Statutes respectively. The principal delegations it makes are indicated in chapter 8, in particular 8.ix, xii, xiii: appointment of the Director, other Officers, and the School Administrator; and 8.xi: appointment of its principal Committees, together with their terms of reference as set out in Annexe A. The duties of the Director and other Officers are as specified in chapter 13 of Statutes, together with Annexe B. Both the Director and the School’s Committees report regularly to the Council.

Statutes are revised on the advice of the Governance Committee from time to time, most recently in 2024. The Governance Committee exercises general oversight of the terms of reference of Committees, whose Chairs are annually invited to initiate their review. The overall structure of Committees is reviewed as necessary from time to time: thus the status of the Publications and Research Dissemination Committee and its place within the reporting structure were revised in 2015; and a Friends’ Committee created, with financial and other powers and responsibilities, in 2018.

The Governance Committee conducts periodic reviews of the School’s governance, and ensures that it is compliant with UK legislation and regulations, and other requirements placed upon it (including those of the Charity Commission).