Governance
Our schools are governed by a joint Local Governing Body (LGB), which is a committee of the board of trustees of Learning Partnership Academy Trust, who have overall responsibility for governance of the school.
The committee comprises a group of volunteers who give their time and expertise freely to support the school by:
- Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school;
- Holding school leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff; and
- Overseeing the school’s financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.
The specific responsibilities of the LGB are detailed within the Trust’s Scheme of Delegation and the LGB Terms of Office and Pecuniary Interests (see ‘Governor Information’ below).
The LGB meet regularly through the term to discuss all main aspects of the school and visit the school regularly to understand, support and monitor school life. We follow government guidance, are supported by the Trust and adhere to a code of conduct in all that we do.
We operate as a joint governing body to support Northmead and Stoughton. We are a committee of the board of trustees of Learning Partnership Academy Trust, who have overall responsibility for the governance of the schools.
The committee comprises of a group of volunteers who support both schools in helping every child to reach their potential.
We help set the vision, ethos and strategic direction of the schools and monitor the progress of the schools against these over the year. We hold the Executive Head Teacher and school leaders to account for the educational performance of the schools and their pupils. We also ensure that the financial resources are well spent for the benefit of the children’s education and act as a sounding board for new initiatives.
Our local governing body meets regularly throughout the year to scrutinise plans, budgets and discuss educational data. We also conduct classroom visits, meet with teachers and talk to children to develop a first-hand experience of how children are educated at our schools.
The specific responsibilities of the governing body are detailed within the trust’s scheme of delegation and Local Governing Body terms of reference.
More information:
Our Local Governing Body is based on a stakeholder model, with representatives of parents, staff, and the local community. Members are recruited for a three-to-four-year term on a skillset basis and/or through parental election. More information about our current governors can be found on this page below.
Contact Chair of Governors: Sophie Lewis: s.lewis.governor@stoughton.surrey.sch.uk or chair@stoughton.surrey.sch.uk Debbie Gooch: dgooch.governor@northmead.surrey.sch.uk or chair@northmead.surrey.sch.uk Clerk: clerk@stoughton.surrey.sch.uk
Local Governing Body Constitution can be viewed here
Our Local Governing Body is based on a stakeholder model, with representatives of parents, staff, and the local community. Members are recruited for a three-to-four-year term on a skillset basis and/or through parental election.
Becoming a governor is an incredibly rewarding experience. You will be joining a movement of over 250,000 people nationwide and team of over 100 Learning Partners’ governors, all skilled individuals who give their time freely to support children and young people in their community.
As governors we conduct school visits to observe how they operate, how the curriculum is delivered and to learn about the organisation and its ethos. We consider that strong strategic leaders have a good understanding of its school(s) and the organisation that they support, and that they actively contribute to improving the learning and outcomes for all children.
Our visits serve a number of purposes including:
- Improving knowledge of the school, its staff, needs, priorities, strengths and areas for development.
- Observing children’s behaviour and their engagement in the school’s activities.
- Acquiring knowledge to enable governors to act as critical friends.
- Monitoring and evaluating plans, budgets, and achievement.
- Observing the condition of the school’s buildings, facilities, its grounds and its security arrangements.
- Monitoring and assessing how the school’s and trust’s priorities are being delivered.
- Helping the local governing body and the trust to fulfil their various statutory duties.
As governors we follow the Trust’s code of conduct, of which a few highlights are below:
- We will encourage open governance and will act appropriately.
- We will actively support and challenge the school and executive leaders.
- We will accept and respect the difference between strategic and operational leadership, ensuring that we work collectively for the benefit of the organisation.
- We will consider carefully how our decisions may affect the school and local community, as well as other schools.
- We have a duty to act fairly and without prejudice, and in so far as we have responsibility for staff, we will fulfil all that is expected of a good employer.
- We accept collective responsibility for all decisions made. This means that we will not speak against majority decisions outside meetings.
- We agree to adhere to any rules, policies and procedures agreed within the trust or as required by the law.
- We will always be mindful of our responsibility to maintain and develop the ethos and reputation of the trust and its schools.
Please feel free to contact us at any time with any queries you have via
Anne Allis, Clerk to Governors – clerk@stoughton.surrey.sch.uk
Debbie Gooch, Chair of Governors – dgooch.governor@northmead.surrey.sch.uk
Sophie Lewis – Chair of Governors – slewis.governor@stoughton.surrey.sch.uk
Governor Biographies
Sophie Lewis
Co-Chair of Governors
Community Governor
s.lewis.governor@stoughton.surrey.sch.uk or chair@stoughton.surrey.sch.uk
Sophie is a mum to 4 young children. She qualified as a primary school teacher in 2004. She has taught in both key stages and has taken on many roles in subject leadership and school leadership. She joined Stoughton in 2010 and ran a special needs unit for children from local schools who required support with their behaviour, social and emotional development.
Since 2017 Sophie has taken a break from teaching to become a full time carer for her eldest daughter. Sophie is the SEND link governor for Stoughton and is passionate about ensuring all children with Special educational needs are well supported.
As well as being a governor Sophie has recently taken up a new volunteer role as a befriender for a national charity with the aim of providing emotional support to families.
Debbie Gooch
C0-Chair of Governors
Community Governor
dgooch.governor@northmead.surrey.sch.uk or chair@northmead.surrey.sch.uk
Debbie is a lecturer in Developmental Psychology at the University of Surrey and leads a final year module in Psychology & Education. She is interested in why learning is challenging for some children and how we can promote positive outcomes for all children. Debbie is SEND governor and link governor for reading. She is passionate about ensuring all children with special educational needs are well-supported at Stoughton and Northmead schools. Debbie currently has a son at Northmead and a daughter at Stoughton.
Rich Bee
Vice Chair of Governors
Parent Governor
Rich joined the LGB in October 2022. He taught secondary Computing & ICT for 10 years, both in the UK and internationally, before transitioning into digital communications and software development. He now supports charity fundraisers to improve outcomes through more effective use of digital tools, which he thinks is more fun than it sounds. When not juggling work and two boys, Rich enjoys singing, playing the guitar and riding a bicycle, not usually all at the same time. He believes that it is impossible to over-value a great education and that teachers and support staff do a phenomenal job every single day. He is committed to championing school staff at every available opportunity.
Sarah Carrington
Executive Headteacher
Sarah qualified as a primary teacher in 2002 and spent 16 years at the same school undertaking a variety of roles from subject leadership, Assistant Headteacher with responsibility for Key Stage 2 and in the latter years she was the school’s SENCO and Deputy Headteacher.
Sarah also worked as a Specialist Leader in Education (SLE), supporting schools with initial teaching training and provision for special education needs. The SLE role progressed into two secondments as an Interim Headteacher, which was a fantastic professional development, alongside the national professional qualification for headship (NPQH), for her current role as Headteacher.
Sarah is Executive Headteacher of Northmead Junior School and Stoughton Infants School.
Linda Blake-James
Community Governor
Linda qualified as a solicitor in 1970 and was called to the Bar in 1973. She worked as a barrister until 1994 when she took Silk. She was Circuit Judge from 2009 until 2018 and is now retired. Her fields of work were children, care cases, crime, mental health, professional negligence and personal injury.
Simon Dennison
Community Governor
Professionally, Simon is a senior civil servant with a focus on international policy. His eldest child has recently left Northmead to go to secondary school, and he has another child at Northmead.
James Fish
Community Governor
James lives in Guildford and is a Primary School Teacher at a Co-Ed boarding and Day School in Outer London. His role at the school includes leading teaching, learning and assessments as well as being housemaster. He has a Master’s degree in educational leadership and management and is part of a House of Lords Educational Committee looking at the future of education.
Robin Holdsworth
Community Governor
Robin joined as a governor in November 2020. He is a Chartered Chemist who worked in the construction industry in the Middle and Far East as well as Europe. He obtained an MBA whilst working in Spain. During his time in Dubai he was involved with the setting up of Jumeirah English Speaking School. Since returning to the UK, he set up a practical training scheme for civil engineering undergraduates. He passionately believes that good education for young children shapes their future lives.
Marie-Elodie Fardin
Parent Governor
Marie-Elodie joined the LGB in November 2022.
Marie graduated from a Business School of Management (iéseg, France) in 2006 and has since been working in Technology departments helping with Digital transformations.
She joined the Financial Times in 2012 and has been acting as a Product Manager involved in launching various new products to help them grow their subscriptions business and is now involved in transforming systems used by Internal Teams to make them more efficient.
She is a mum of two boys, enjoys running and waterskiing. She has reached a point in her career/ life where she feels she could give back to the community and as a mum of two young kids, she is interested in helping Schools achieve the best they can.
Hannah Cole
Staff Governor
Hannah began her career as a teacher at Stoughton Infant School and in the past four years has led Science and Reading and more recently has been working with a trainee teacher at the school to pass down her knowledge. Hannah feels a strong commitment to the Stoughton and Northmead Community and joined as a Governor to help continue to best serve the educational outcomes for the children at both schools.