Governors
DECLARATION OF BUSINESS INTERESTS AND OTHER GOVERNANCE INFORMATION
The Board of Governors
ANDREW BROWN, CHAIR OF GOVERNORS, CO-OPTED GOVERNOR, FINANCE
Andrew grew up in Redbridge on the edge of London but has lived in Buckinghamshire for the last 30 years. He studied Computer Science at City University in London and initially he worked in the design and development of computer systems mainly for the banking industry including a stint based in Singapore. Andrew changed in the mid-90s to marketing, but still in the software industry, and he has undertaken a wide range of business marketing roles for global organisations. Until his retirement he was Marketing Director for the payments business within NCR.
Andrew first became a Governor in the mid 90s at his children’s Primary School. As they moved to Secondary he too moved and joined the Governing Board at Chesham Park Community College and later led it through the transition to Chiltern Hills Academy where he is currently Chair of the Trustees. He is also on the Local Governing Board at Great Missenden Primary Academy and is a committee member of the Buckinghamshire Association of School Governors.
Term of office, four years. Appointed May 2021.
Daniel Roberts, Parent GOVERNOR
Term of office, four years. Appointed Nov 2021.
Kara March, Staff GOVERNOR
Kara, was born in London and brought up in Hertfordshire, moving to Eaton Bray, (Edlesborough’s neighbouring village), when she married 19 years ago. For many years, Kara worked for the NHS, but has been working in schools, as an LSA, for the past seven years. Whilst working full time, she achieved a BA(Hon) degree in Applied Education and hopes to complete her Initial teacher training with KST once the pandemic is over. She has an interest in SEND, particularly ASD, as her daughter is on the spectrum and is an advocate for understanding children with these difficulties.
Out of school, Kara has worked in the community as a Beaver scout leader, which she reluctantly left to finish her degree. She is also the principal of a weekend theatre school, She teaches drama and singing, and has performed herself in local productions over the last thirty five years. She hopes to bring extra-curricular Drama/Musical Theatre classes to the school, not only for those children who love to perform, but for those who may need to gain confidence in a safe environment.
Kara has three children and cocker spaniel who is really the baby of the family.
She is delighted to become a staff governor and hopes she can develop to become a productive and positive member of the LGB.
Term of office, two years. Reappointed Nov 2021.
Roger Cumming
Roger was born and grew up in Kent. After school he won a commission in the Royal Marines and served for 10 years at home and abroad from a base in Devon. Then, as a mature student he studied computer science at Exeter University and worked for a short while as a software engineer. He and his young family moved from Exeter to his current home in Pitstone in the mid 80s when he joined the civil service. He worked in a variety of roles in government until just after the London Olympics. After a few years working for a global design and engineering company he left to establish his own consultancy specialising in infrastructure protection strategies.
Roger was a parent-governor at Brookmead School in Pitstone in the 90s which his son and daughter attended. Now, with two young grandchildren (and more on the way), he knows the vital importance of a sound start to a child’s education and is keen to find opportunities to apply his knowledge and skills to the advantage of Edlesborough School, its pupils and staff.
Roger is an enthusiastic, but not particularly talented, golfer.
Term of office, four years. Appointed November 2022.
Governance
The Edlesborough Primary Academy's local governing body is responsible for the quality of education at the school. The governing body is a committee of the Knowledge Schools Trust Board.
Governors focus on ensuring the schools have a clear vision, ethos and strategic direction. We hold our headteacher to account for the educational performance of the schools, and we oversee the financial performance of the schools including ensuring that their budgets are well spent.
We currently have seven governor positions on the team including parent governors and a staff governors. We've recruited a governance team to bring the skills and experience that we need to perform the functions described above. As such, we have governors with experience of working in education, finance, the local community and business.
Our governing body will evolve as the school grows and develops. However, in line with both Lord Nash and Sir Michael Wilshaw’s comments about the excessive size of some governing bodies, we intend to keep our team small to ensure it is effective.
Governors exercise their responsibilities and powers in partnership with the headteacher and staff. We do not make day to day decisions on the operational running of the school unless there are weaknesses in the school, when governors then have a duty to investigate and take action. Instead, governors focus on longer-term strategic issues and on checking that the daily operations are taking place in line with the school’s vision, aims and strategic plan.
The Chair of Governors can be contacted directly at EPAchair@epa-primary.org
Co-opted Governor Vacancy
We currently have a vacancy for a Co-opted Governor position. For information on how to apply please read our Governor Information Pack.
KNOWLEDGE SCHOOLS TRUST
Knowledge Schools Trust (formerly the West London Free School Academy Trust) is the legal entity accountable for all schools within the group, currently the West London Free School, the West London Free School Primary, the Earl's Court Free School Primary, Kensington Primary Academy, Edlesborough Primary Academy and Dovery Academy. As such, the Trust is responsible for operating all schools within the group and holds the Master Funding Agreement with the Secretary of State.
The Trust's directors have specific responsibilities for defined aspects of governance across all the schools in the group, namely, Strategic Management, Curriculum and some co-ordinated administrative functions. They set the ethos and vision for the Trust, hold the title to the land the schools are on, employ the staff and are the contracting party for services that serve more than one school in the group (catering, ICT, etc). The Trust's directors have appointed a Chief Executive Officer, who is the Accounting Officer for the Trust, a Finance Director, and a Chief Operations Officer. HR and Legal services are outsourced to an external provider.
The directors have delegated certain functions for each school to their local governing body. The Chairs of the local governing bodies are also directors of the MAT.
You can see an organogram showing how the Trust relates to the local governing bodies here and read the Terms of Reference, which set out the relationship between the Trust, the local governing bodies and the head teachers.