Who are the Governors?

The local governing body is made up of the Headteacher and people from various different groups who have an interest in the success of the school, including parents, staff and the local community. The governors welcome a range of viewpoints, and make decisions together about a variety of issues. Between them governors have a wide breadth of skills and experience to enable the governing body collectively to support and challenge the school leadership. As vacancies arise specific skills are targeted to fill gaps in the governing body. As a result, key professional skills are represented from law, accountancy, architecture to educational skills.

All governors attend the Local Governing Body meetings.

Joint Chair of Governors: Sarah McHugh & Paul Stockdale

Headteacher: Jon Gray

Clerk to Governors: Jenny Dyer

Parent Governors (Voted for by Parents)

Phillip Evans (30/4/2018 to 29/4/2022)

Danielle Ballantine-Drake (14/12/20 to 13/12/2024)

Camilla Ip (4/5/2020 to 3/5/2024)

Leila Whitworth (14/12/2020 to 13/12/2024)

Community Governors (Appointed by River Learning Trust)

Sourovi De (13/3/19 to 12/3/2023)

Sarah McHugh (25/9/17 to 24/9/2022)

Barnaby Perkins (7/9/2020 to 6/9/2024) 

Chris Phillips (2/3/2020 to 1/3/2024)

Sarah Pugh  (2/3/2020 to 1/3/2024)

Paul Stockdale (21/9/2019 to 20/9/202023)

Vacancy

Staff Governors (Appointed by Staff)

Nick Dolan (Support Staff Governor) (13/7/2020 to 12/7/2024)

Natalia Trendler (Teaching Staff Governor) (13/7/2020 to 12/7/2024)

Governors who have stepped down in the last 12 months

Samantha Birket (Community) (4/4/20 to 6/9/20)

Ray Weston (Parent Governor) (16/11/20 to 6/9/20)

Emma Turnbull (Community) (25/9/18 to 9/9/19) 

 Introducing the Governors 

Paul Stockdale (Co-Chair of Governors & Community Governor)

My name is Paul Stockdale. I am a Community Governor and one of the Co-Chairs of the Local Governing Board. I originally joined the Larkrise Governing Body in 2015 as a co-opted governor with specific responsibility for finance, and chaired the Resources Committee before becoming Co-Chair of Governors in September 2017. I am a Chartered Accountant and work as Chief Financial Officer at an Oxford-based biotech company. My three children attend the school.

Sarah McHugh (Co-Chair of Governors & Community Governor)

My name is Sarah McHugh and I am a Community Governor and Co-Chair of Governors. I am the Assistant Headteacher in an Oxfordshire Secondary School; I am in charge of teaching and learning across all subjects, continual professional learning of all (teaching and support) staff and appraisal. I still teach (mainly Physics and some Maths) and relish my time in the classroom with my students. I have two children at the school and my aim is to support Larkrise in ensuring that all the pupils achieve and succeed because of the excellent teaching they
receive.

Sourovi De (Community Governor)

My name is Sourovi De. I am a Community Governor. I work as an education economist with governments in developing countries to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools. My job takes me to classrooms of primary and secondary schools in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Sierra Leone and Nigeria. My areas of interest are data analysis, learning assessments, early childhood development, monitoring and evaluation, and teacher management.