Goldstone Primary School

I joined the governing body in December 2014 as an elected parent governor.  I was voted Vice-Chair in 2017 and Chair in 2017/2018.  I have since been co-opted by the Board for my next term - primarily to see us through our re-constitution process.   I currently sit on both the HR, Finance and Premises Committee and School Development Plan Committee.  I am also the Governor with the subject lead for Maths, Assessment and Out of Hours care.

I trained to be a primary school teacher but have spent the majority of my career as a civil servant based in government departments in Westminster.  I worked at the Department for Education in many roles, including Communications Adviser for Ministers/Directors and as Head of Communications for Sure Start and Children's Centres.  I am currently Head of Insight and Evaluation at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and have a passion for open policy making.

Although I have left the teaching profession and the Dept. for Education, I truly love the world of education (and especially Goldstone!).  I hope that I can lead this great governing body to ensure all our children thrive at this wonderful school. 

I am a co-opted governor. I currently work at Brighton and Hove City Council as an Early Years Consultant and have a particular interest in early years education. I was previously a primary teacher in Brighton and London. I have a Professional Doctorate in Education.

I have been a parent governor at Goldstone since October 2012, and now have two children at the school. Initially I wanted to join the governing body as I have a background in charity and public sector finance and thought my experience could be useful to the school budget and the finance committee, as well as getting my teeth into the school data. I am also the link governor for safeguarding which marries well with my part-time employment at local children’s safeguarding charity ‘Safety Net’, where I am part of the senior management team. To be part of Goldstone is such an inspiration, and the more I learn about the school the more I believe it is a great place for children to be.

I became a parent governor in 2015, was elected as vice chair of governors in 2018,  and currently chair the School Development Plan committee. 

I work for a local charity, the Hangleton & Knoll Project, enabling people to improve their skills, confidence and to take steps towards employment. I have spent the past 20 years working in Brighton & Hove as a youth worker, community development worker and, prior to having children, as chief executive officer for the Hangleton & Knoll Project. I have worked in both primary and secondary schools delivering PSHE, anti-bullying, and transition work, as well as holding the position of chairperson at a local preschool. More recently I took on the role of event director for the newly established junior parkrun at Hove Park.

I feel incredibly privileged to be working at a strategic level at Goldstone Primary, helping to develop and shape its future and provide the very best environment for our children to learn and grow.

A parent governor since April 2016, I sit on the School Development Plan committee (SDP) and attend Data meetings;  I am assigned to the curriculum area of English (Phonics, Reading and Writing) and another allocated area is Equalities.

My career has been entirely based in post-compulsory education, where I have continually been involved in making education accessible. After teaching literacy and ESOL in Further Education, I moved into Higher Education, working first on widening participation, before becoming an academic. I am currently Senior Lecturer and Programme Director at Goldsmiths, University of London, where I direct distance-learning provision in English, as well as teach and research American literature and modern poetry.

I am committed to inclusive practice and enjoy the challenge and the detail of strategic work. Being a governor offers an opportunity to put such interests and professional experience to use in helping the school excel in its aim to be a safe, happy and positive place for all.

It has been a pleasure to work at Goldstone for the last 10 years.  I started as a TA in Mr Sheehan’s year 3 class before returning to complete my PGCE at Brighton University.  I was fortunate enough to be given a maternity contract soon after, to work in year one.  I have also worked in year two and am currently the head of year four.  My passion is maths and I am in charge of the vision and ethos of numeracy in the school. My proudest achievement in this area is successfully embedding the White Rose way of teaching across the school. Outside of work, I like to follow my local football team, Worthing FC, and devote the rest of my time to looking after my two young sons.  My role on the governing body is to represent the opinions of the staff and ensure the voice of the wider population is heard. 

I was elected parent governor in May 2017.  I sit on the Human Resources and Finance committee and the School Development Plan committees.  I am the governor assigned to Geography and Environmental Education, Pupil Voice and Health and Safety. 

I have taught in many primary schools in a variety of roles for the past 20 years and am enjoying for the opportunity to aid the school strategically to help the provide the best all-round experience for the children in our care.

My two boys are in Year 1 and Year 5.