Governors

 

School Governors

Back Row: Pieter Wallace, Nigel Howlett, Corinne Garvie, Colin Black
Middle Row: Debbie Macklin, Rowena Barnes (Chair of Governors), Lucy Wilson, Chris Barrow
Front Row: Tanya Sheridan, Jo Ward, Glenn Perrott

Latest Governor Newsletter: click here

Rowena Barnes

Chair of Governors
Committees: Finance, Premises, School Improvement, Personnel

I have lived in Girton since 1996 and have been a governor at the school since January 2012. I am keen to support the school in developing a strategic plan that supports educational achievement and in developing wider community involvement.

I have over forty years experience of working in and with the National Health Service and have been retired since September 2011. I worked as a Director at Board level over many years and was Interim Chief Executive at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn before becoming Chief Operating Officer at Peterborough & Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust where I oversaw the successful move from four older buildings into the new Peterborough Hospital in November 2010.

My other experiences include working for Pricewaterhouse Coopers for 5 years as a health specialist and I also have strategic, clinical, research and value for money audit experience.   Since my retirement I have enjoyed getting more involved in the village and I’m one of the key organisers of the Girton Feast Week. I also enjoy watching my grand-daughter grow and develop new skills.

Jo Ward

Vice Chair / Co-Opted Governor
Committees: Personnel, School Improvement (Chair)
Special Interests: English, Equalities

I joined the governing body as a parent governor in 2011. All three of my children have attended Girton Glebe; one is still at the school.

I was brought up in Pembrokeshire and went to Leeds University. Prior to having a family of my own I was a Primary School Teacher, working in several primary schools in Cambridgeshire with responsibility for Numeracy and ICT.

Since my children were small, I have been actively involved as a volunteer at their toddler groups, pre schools, football clubs etc. Chairing the committee of Under-Fives Roundabout for 2 years gave me the opportunity to improve preschool provision and enhance the communication between staff and parents.
During my ten years as a parent at the Glebe, I have seen many changes and improvements and am honoured to have been able to contribute towards that in a small way, by helping in class and supporting our incredibly dedicated staff. Chairing the School Improvement Committee has given me the opportunity to see first-hand the work that goes on ‘behind the scenes’ to continually strive to provide the best education for all the children at the school. 

Chris Barrow

Co-Opted Governor
Committees: School Improvement
Special Interests: Special Needs, Equality

I trained at Homerton as an Infant School teacher (I like the idea of building secure foundations for the educational structure which will ensue). I taught in Nottingham, with a class of 45 children in a vertically-streamed school, then a town centre school in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

We moved to Edinburgh and I taught there for 6 years. When our first son was a year old we moved to California. Although I didn’t teach there, I was actively involved in Mark’s schools from his nursery school onwards. Our second son was born there, and we returned to England after 14 years in California.

I did not go back into teaching in England because one medical problem after another for practically every member of the family, and then caring for my mother-in-law as her dementia developed, meant that I felt I should be at home. We have lived in Girton since 1998, and after my mother-in-law’s death I was ordained and serve now as Assistant Curate at St Andrew’s Girton, and as Associate Priest in Madingley.

Nigel Howlett

Co-Opted Governor
Committees: Finance, Personnel

I have worked in affordable housing in and around Cambridge for 30 years and am currently Chief Executive of CHS Group, a social investment agency and housing association. CHS provides a wide range of services across Cambridgeshire from affordable housing to Early Years childcare and end of life care for older people.

I have lived in Girton for more than 10 years; all my children have been to Girton Glebe and 2 are at the school currently. I have been a governor for over three years and have been most involved with finance and staff recruitment. Beyond my family and work I enjoy gardening and am interested in the weather.

Tanya Sheridan

Co-Opted Governor
Committees: School Improvement, Premises / Health & Safety
Special Interests: Equalities

I was appointed as an authority governor in February 2012 and sit on the School Improvement Plan Committee and the Strategy and School Status Subcommittee. I live in South West Cambridge with my husband and baby daughter.

I am a career civil servant committed to public service and became a school governor to contribute expertise to and learn about Girton Glebe School. I currently work for the Department of Energy and Climate change on climate change policy, having previously worked on energy policy and for the former Department of Trade and Industry. My hobbies and interests include various sports – I like to go for a good run.

Corinne Garvie

Co-Opted Governor
Committees: School Improvement
Special Interests: Equalities

I worked for the NHS for 40 years as a Speech and Language Therapist working with many different disorders in children and adults.  During this time I worked in special schools and mainstream schools and in the Child Development Centre. I have taught teachers about the range of communication disorders and how to help children with a communication problem in the classroom and also taught families with little children with very delayed language how to develop their child’s language skills. I have also helped people who stammered and people with voice disorders. Since I retired, I have continued working for the Faculty of Education with students who have poor voice projection and students with a poor teacher presence.
I have been a volunteer at the school which I enjoyed greatly. When I retired I wanted to get involved in the life of the village. As a Governor I am particularly interested in Early Years and Key Stage 1 and Special Needs. My son was born with low tone and dyspraxia and my nephew has Downs so I have personal experience of Special Needs too.

Pieter Wallace

Parent Governor
Committees: School Improvement

I have been a Cambridge resident since 1997 and moved with my young family to Girton in 2011. We currently have one child happily enrolled at Girton Glebe Primary School and another attending one of the nurseries in the village.

My professional background is as a teacher with almost 20 years of experience working in the state funded secondary education sector. I read History at the University of York before qualifying as a teacher and securing my first post at St Peter’s School in Huntingdon. Since then, I have worked in a range of school based settings and am currently employed as Deputy Principal at a local 11-16 secondary school, Sawston Village College.

In addition to gaining an insight into the challenges of school leadership, my career includes extensive experience of raising standards and leading change in an education setting and I have particularly enjoyed those opportunities to mentor and coach colleagues looking to develop and improve their practice. I have published articles on both History teaching and initial teacher training and I have collaborated closely with the teacher training programme delivered at Cambridge University; first as a school based subject mentor, then as a professional tutor and finally as a member of the Secondary PGCE standing committee.

My current role includes a strategic focus on raising achievement, academic intervention and improving the outcomes for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Lucy Wilson

Safeguarding Governor
Parent Governor
Committees: Finance, Premises

Debbie Macklin

Associate Governor
Committees: Personnel, Premises

Almost 40 years ago, I studied Physical Anthropology at New Hall (now Murray Edwards College) before going into journalism and freelance communication work, which proved flexible with family life and my husband’s career which took us to Brazil, Japan and France.

We came to live in Girton in 2013, after sixteen years living west of Paris, where our two children grew up and went to school. I was a governor in the British Section of the Lycée International in Saint Germain-en-Laye for ten years, where I chaired the Human Resources sub-committee. Albeit in a different context, this experience is what sparked my interest in joining the Governor team at Girton Glebe, along with a desire to get involved in village life. I have been struck by the welcome of a friendly open and caring school led by a committed professional team.

I currently work part-time for the Tropical Biology Association in the Cambridge Conservation Campus; I do freelance editing and writing work, and qualified last year as a Green Badge guide for Cambridge.

Colin Black

Associate Governor
Committees: Finance

I have worked in education for the past 15 years, at Coventry University for 5 years as Operations Manager at the School of Lifelong Learning and with Cambridge Assessment for 10 years in a variety of roles, mainly involving the provision of teacher training and learning resources. In my current role as Interim Head of Product Support for OCR, I am responsible for all the assessment support that we provide for teachers in the delivery of our qualifications.

I received a BA (Hons) in Public Administration at Nottingham Trent University, obtained an MA in European Studies from the University of Bradford and recently completed a PG Cert in Educational Studies at the Faculty of Education at Cambridge.

I moved to the village 2 years ago and I have a daughter currently in the school. Having recently become the father of twin boys I am keen to ensure its long term success! I volunteer my time because I have built up a number of skills and experiences over the years which I think can help with the management of the school, and I would like to support all the dedicated and hard-working staff and governors to achieve the best for all of its pupils.

Glen Perrott

Associate Governor
Committees: School Improvement

Biography to follow

Andrew Simpson 

Headteacher
Committees: Finance, Premises, Personnel, School Improvement

I began my teaching career in Lancashire in 2001 and spent many years working in the Ribble Valley. From 2007 I worked across county as an Advanced Skills Teacher, supporting schools and colleagues in all aspects of teaching and learning. As an AST I spent 20% of my time on out-reach work specialising in history, Able Gifted and Talented provision and cross-curricular learning.  The AST role also provided me with the opportunity to produce topic plans for the Home Office in support of their PREVENT agenda and I was fortunate enough to spend many years working with the BBC creating online learning resources and advising on educational videos and programmes. The final collaboration I had with the BBC was to create a series of 32 videos based on the series Planet Dinosaur which were accompanied, on their Class Clips website, by my lesson outlines and planning ideas.

My wife and I relocated from Manchester to Cambridgeshire in 2012 where I was appointed as Deputy Headteacher at an Ely school and was part of the ‘Outstanding’ leadership team that guided the school on its journey towards being classified as ‘Good’. My wife and I now have a two-year-old daughter to keep us busy, and aside from family life and school, my passions are playing the guitar (both classical and electric), photography and running.

Throughout my career I have used educational research to develop both my own practice and the culture of the schools I have led. I am a passionate advocate of Prof. Carol Dweck’s work on Growth Mindsets and feel that the insights that this offers are vital in producing resilient, life-long learners.

Governor Details, Register of Interests and Meeting Attendance

Name	Committees	Category of Governor	Appointed by	Term End	Relevant Business/Pecuniary Interest	Governor at Other Schools	Relationship with Other Governors or Staff
Rowena Barnes (Chair)	School Improvement, Finance, Personnel, Premises (Chair)	Co-opted	Governing Body	31.8.18	None	None	None
Jo Ward (Vice-Chair)	School Improvement (Chair), Personnel	Co-opted	Governing Body	21.9.18	None	None	None
Nigel Howlett	Finance, Personnel (Chair)	Co-opted	Governing Body	31.8.18	Cambridge Housing Society (Chief Executive)	None	Sharon Howlett, TA
Tanya Sheridan	Premises	Local Authority	Local Authority	14.3.19	None	None	None
Corinne Garvie	School Improvement	Co-opted	Governing Body	31.8.18	None	None	None
Chris Barrow	School Improvement	Co-opted	Governing Body	31.8.18	None		None
Pieter Wallace	School Improvement	Elected Parent	Parents	2.11.19	None	Sawston Village College (Deputy Principal)
Lucy Wilson	Premises Finance	Elected Parent	Parents	2.11.19	None	None	None
Andrew Simpson	School Improvement, Personnel, Finance, Premises	Head	Ex officio (from 1.9.16)	n/a	Head Teacher	None	None
Naomi Whitworth	School Improvement	Associate Member	Governing Body (re-appointed annually)	31.8.17	Assistant Head Teacher	None	None
Neil Kohler	Finance School Improvement	Assistant Head Teacher, Associate Member	Governing Body	31.8.17	Assistant Head Teacher	None	None
Jo Pyle	School Improvement	Elected Staff	Staff	2.11.18	None	None	None
Colin Black	Finance	Co-opted	Governing Body	7.11.19	None	None	None
Glen Perrott	School Improvement	Co-opted	Governing Body	27.6.19	Pre-School Provider	None
Debbie Macklin	School Improvement Premises	Co-opted	Governing Body	7.11.19	None	None	None
Graham Whiting		Clerk (Cambs CC)

In Autumn 2017, two changes to committee structure were made. The Finance and Premises Committees combined to form the Resources Committee, and the School Improvement Committee became the Standards & Curriculum Committee.

Full Governing Body: Meeting Attendance

Full Name	20 Sep 2016	8 Nov 2016	24 Jan 2017	14 Mar 2017	9 May 2017	27 June 2017	12 Sept 2017	14 Nov 2017
Rowena Barnes	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
Jo Ward	P	A	P	P	P	P	P	A
Chris Barrow	P	P	P	P	P	A	A	P
Colin Black	N/A	P	P	P	P	P	P	A
Corinne Garvie	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
Nigel Howlett	P	A	P	P	P	A	A	P
Debbie Macklin	N/A	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
Glen Perrott	P	A	P	P	P	P	P	P
Jo Pyle	P	P	P	A	P	P	P	A
Tanya Sheridan	A	P	P	P	P	P	A	P
Andrew Simpson	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
Pieter Wallace	P	P	P	P	A	P	P	A
Naomi Whitworth	P	P	P	A	P	P	P	P
Lucy Wilson	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P

Resources (Finance & Premises) Committee: Meeting Attendance

Full Name	13 Oct 2016	15 Nov 2016	12 Jan 2017	9 Mar 2017	27 Apr 2017	22 Jun 2017	2 Nov 2017
Rowena Barnes	P	P	P	A	P	P	P
Nigel Howlett	P	P	P	P	P	A	P
Lucy Wilson	P	P	P	P	P	P	A
Andrew Simpson	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
Jo Ward	P	N/A	N/A	N/A	P	P	P
Neil Kohler	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
Colin Black	N/A	P	P	P	P	P	P

Personnel Committee: Meeting Attendance

Full Name	8 Nov 2016	12 Jan 2017	7 Mar 2017	6 Jun 2017	17 Nov 2017
Rowena Barnes	P	P	A	P	P
Jo Ward	P	A	P	P	P
Nigel Howlett	P	P	P	P	A
Andrew Simpson	P	P	P	P	P
Debbie Macklin	n/a	P	P	P	P

Premises Committee: Meeting Attendance

Full Name	13 Oct 2016	9 Feb 2017	25 May 2017
Rowena Barnes	P	A	P
Tanya Sheridan	A	P	P
Andrew Simpson	N/A	P	P
Lucy Wilson	P	P	P
Debbie Macklin	N/A	P	P

Standards & Curriculum: Meeting Attendance

Full Name	14 Oct 2016	25 Nov 2016	3 Feb 2017	24 Mar 2017	6 Jun 2017	23 Nov 2017
Rowena Barnes	P	P	P	P	P	P
Jo Ward	P	P	P	P	P	A
Chris Barrow	P	P	P	P	P	A
Andrew Simpson	n/a	P	P	P	P	P
Corinne Garvie	A	P	P	P	P	P
Pieter Wallace	P	A	P	A	P	P
Jo Pyle	P	P	P	P	P	A
Neil Kohler	n/a	P	A	P	A	P
Naomi Whitworth	P	P	P	P	P	P
Glen Perrott	P	P	P	P	A	A

Attendance Key
P= Attended
A = Absent with the consent of the governing body (apologies accepted)
F = Failed to attend or Absent without the consent of the governing body