I have worked in education for over 20 years, and chose this career path as I believe an education for all is vitally important.  Children in schools today are our future and I am pleased to offer my support to help ensure they get the best education possible.

My skills lie within School Financial Management and I am currently studying towards a Chartered Managers Degree for Schools.

Both my children attend Southill School, one very recently in the Reception class. The school currently promotes some good core values with their Building Learning Power ethos and are great at encouraging positivity and kindness. I would like to help the school continue to build upon these themes and make sure they can provide the children with the right skills and enough confidence to see them through to secondary school, whatever their background, diversity, special education needs or disabilities.

I believe that close links between the school and parents have a significant impact on each child’s achievement and attainment at school. A successful relationship between the two provides parents and staff with the opportunity to exchange views, work together and develop a mutual trust and confidence.

I live locally in Southill, volunteer for FOSS as their Secretary and am a happy crafter and messy cake baker.

I joined the Southill governing board as a co-opted governor in January 2022. I look forward to working with the school community in ensuring all children enjoy school and are challenged to their full potential.
As a former head and school leader, I am passionate about promoting high standards of educational achievement for all children.  In my role as a school leader, I worked successfully with several boards. I understand the value they can add strategically, have benefitted from their wise counsel and witnessed the growth that can come about through pertinent challenges. I hope my skill-set, driven by the School’s vision can help drive forward Southill’s ambitions and development.

I was born in Bournemouth and have now returned to Dorset with my partner via London, Taunton, Canada and Germany.

My teaching career has mainly been in independent and international schools for children aged 3 to 18. For the latter part of my career, I have worked with the inspiring International Baccalaureate curricular, an inclusive and challenging suite of programmes.

I am delighted to be able to serve my local community as a School Governor and also volunteer at both the Radipole and Lodmoor RSPB reserves.

As a parent of two children, one of which is in year one, I am looking to Southill School to help my children learn and mature ready for the next stage of their lives. They cannot do it alone and as a parent I feel it is important to support the school with any help they need. I have a passion for child development from many years of textbook learning and volunteering for a degree in child education. I like to see children really getting involved with their own learning, developing their own passions and discovering who they are as they grow up.

A little bit about me…

I joined the school in September 2014 having spent 6 years as the Headteacher of Swanage Primary School. Prior to that I was Deputy Headteacher at Chickerell Primary School. Although having a lot of experience in leadership roles, I actually find many aspects of the job quite dull – finance, emails, contracts and meetings, to name but some! The main reason I come to school each morning is to see the children – our lovely pupils are always full of energy, interesting to talk to and a pleasure to spend time with. I enjoy being in lessons helping children with their learning and I love organising fun events that I think they will enjoy. These are the times when I think it’s a great job and that I’m very lucky to be the headteacher of such a great school.

The theme of my career has been proactive intervention which transforms organisations for the better. I can bring a step-change in performance and results while raising team morale. In Dorset Fire and Rescue and at Weymouth Sports Club, I planned and implemented change for the better.

I’ve also served the community in a variety of voluntary roles, including helping disadvantaged young people through the Prince’s Trust and the setting up of Weymouth Skatepark and I am delighted to be able to help my local primary school as a governor.

I chair our meetings, liaise closely with the headteacher, act as a link with FOSS and sit on the Personnel & Finance Committee.

I joined the Southill Governing Board as a Co-opted Governor in September 2018, and this September was elected Chairman of the Board of Governors. I am passionate about children developing to their full potential, and having clear aspirations for what they want to be and what they can be.

Born in Essex, married with three children. I came to Dorset via South Wales, a journey that was primarily career driven.

My career background is in the Aerospace Industry. This ranges from an operational role running a manufacturing facility to leading and developing a division of the company. In more recent years, I have lead transformational change teams focusing on integrating multinational leadership teams and businesses.

I believe my experience will help develop the future vision for the school, identifying areas of improvement, resource planning, as well as meeting the fiscal demands associated with running a school to budget.

I joined the team here at Southill in September 2011. Over the years I have taught in Reception, Year 1, 4, 5 and 6. I’m really proud to be part of the team because I’ve always believed that a good education is more than just learning facts and figures – it’s about learning to be the best person you can be. At Southill we help our pupils become resilient and resourceful learners who can work with others and reflect on their learning and experiences, making links with the wider world and becoming thoughtful and caring citizens.

I’m married with two grown-up daughters. I love books, films, history and watching live music.