School Governing Body

"Susie and I have 3 children, all of whom have attended Boreham Primary School.  They all have very fond memories of their time at Boreham.

I joined the governing body at the beginning of the 2016/2017 academic year. With a keen interest in Mathematics, I immediately assumed the role of Maths governor, before taking on the additional role of Vice-Chair and more recently becoming Chair of the Governing Body. I have always had a keen interest on how schools do their best to deliver an ever changing curriculum and the challenges that come along in the process. So without actually being a teacher myself (they work far too hard) I took the opportunity to get more involved as a parent governor. It has been extremely insightful and I would encourage anyone to have a go at some time in their children’s time at the school.

I am a senior Engineer at Teledyne E2V in Chelmsford working on complex imaging systems that end up on satellites orbiting the earth. These devices help us learn more about or planet and our place in the solar system, and may also gain an understanding of what ”else” might be out there...(you never know...) I have an Engineering Hons degree from Brunel University. I am a keen golfer and enjoy most sports all from the comfort of my sofa of course...I am keen to do whatever I can to contribute and so enable the school and pupils to reach their full potential."

I volunteered to be a school governor, as I have a lifelong love of learning.

I moved to Chelmsford in 2009, from Hertfordshire, to support our parents. I have three grown children and five grandchildren, most of who live in Colchester.

I began my working life as a medical microbiologist in the NHS, but retrained as a primary teacher in 1990. I worked for a great majority of that time in special education; in a primary school for pupils with social, emotional and behaviour problems. I have also worked as a supply teacher, a playgroup worker, a childminder, play scheme leader and Cover supervisor.

I have also fulfilled many voluntary roles where I have worked to improve the facilities and activities for young people. These have included a Co-op nursery, mother and toddler groups, a toy library and football leagues/club for juniors (girls) and seniors(ladies).

I have qualifications in special education including dyslexia and behaviour management.

Out of school, I spend a lot of time with my family. Being a grandparent is so much more fun than being a parent! We are also avid football fans and have season tickets for our club. (Arsenal FC!)

I hope that my life experiences both in and out of work will help me fulfil a useful role on the governing body of Boreham Primary School.

I was appointed as Head teacher of Boreham Primary School in April 2013. I was previously the Deputy Head teacher and Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) at Westlands Community Primary School. I started my teaching career as a newly qualified teacher at Newland’s Spring Primary School.

Being a father of three children and a Head Teacher is a demanding role! I very much recognise the pressures that come with being a parent and working full time!

Out of school I have a real passion for sport, in particular cricket and football, and support Arsenal and Chelmsford City FC! When I get the time, I also love cooking, especially a roast dinner on a Sunday!

Boreham Primary School is a village school with over 200 children on roll. We pride ourselves on working together with parents and children to ensure a happy learning relationship for all pupils. Our governors, staff and pupils make Boreham Primary School a pleasure to be part of, with shared principles of friendship, trust and mutual respect leading to high achievement.

All the staff of the school, both teaching and non-teaching, are very conscious of their pastoral responsibilities. High expectations and the happiness and well-being of the children are at the centre of our vision.

Standards of achievement are very important to us. We put great store by hard work, caring attitudes, honesty, truthfulness, loyalty and pride in ourselves as well as in our school.

At Boreham Primary School we believe that diversity is a strength which should be respected and celebrated by all those who learn, teach and visit here. We constantly strive to help pupils understand the world around them and to develop a respect for the legitimate religious and moral values of others in a multi ethnic society. Our seven school values promote this and are modelled on the Olympic and Paralympic values.

We are a school that cares about all those in our community. Our relationship with St Andrew’s Church, Boreham Parish Council and local nursery schools is testament to this. You are always welcome at the school, whatever your reasons for coming in. The doors of our ‘friendship’ school are open to you.

I joined Boreham Primary School as a member of the senior leadership team in September 2018 and was appointed as Deputy Headteacher in September 2021.

I was born in Chelmsford and grew up in Maldon. I lived in Canterbury for three years while studying Primary Education at Canterbury Christ Church University and have since been teaching in Essex for the last 16 years.

Since joining the school, I have greatly enjoyed teaching Year 5 and 6 and had particularly enjoyable visits to Flatford Mill with Year 5, during my first year at the school, and Mersea Outdoors with Year 6 in 2022. In my previous roles, I have enjoyed leading PE, Science and Maths as well as mentoring trainee teachers.

In school, I love to support children with their reading and writing and have recently become a fan of the author Katherine Rundell - I would highly recommend her books to children and adults alike!

Out of school, I regularly play hockey and netball for local teams and enjoy watching Arsenal FC play whenever they are on the television! When I’m not playing or watching sport, I love cooking and really enjoy Thai, Turkish and Greek cuisine.

I feel privileged to be part of such a committed and hard-working team and am excited to further contribute to our school community in my role as a governor.

Born in London Hospital, Whitechapel into a Maltese/Italian family. I spent my early years in East London, before moving to Havering where I attended junior school.

I continued my senior education at boarding school in Hertfordshire until the age of 16. It was here my interest in mentoring, nurturing and education began, as I was appointed a senior mentor to younger boarding peers and subsequently the role of school prefect for the health centre. I attended college in East London for my higher education, where I obtained a qualification in early years education.

Having entered the world of employment at the height of the recession I found my career took a detour and I began work in a financial brokerage house on the accounts team, supporting private investors and the trading desk. This role steered my career in to business management support, crossing over to marketing and events. I have worked in senior positions for a variety of FTSE companies ranging from financial houses, to advertising agencies, publishing and automotive manufacturers. A role that required international travel and long hours, which proved quite difficult to sustain once my husband and I had a young family.

We sold our flat in West London and our house in Brentwood and moved our two young children to Chelmsford where we also established Little hedgehogs Day Nurseries Limited. I am the company director and manager of Little Hedgehogs. I am also the safeguarding lead and hold a full level 3 safeguarding certificate.

Little Hedgehogs is an inclusive early years setting within the village. I was awarded outstanding on our last inspection, and I am proud of the close relationship we have nurtured with our families and industry stakeholders. We currently support a number of children with additional needs and have a mixed bilingual attendance at the nursery.

We remained open throughout the pandemic to care for key children, we continued to support our families who remained home and we were able to provide transitional care to children of local families who were not able to attend their closed settings. COVID has brought about many challenges but it has given me renewed confidence in how my team and I can support our young children and their parents/carers, especially in areas of mental health and speech and language.

I have always prided myself on our close partnership with Boreham Primary school. I feel the school has an excellent nurturing ethos within its community and this is evident in how the children interact with each other and those around them.

In my spare time I play hockey, competing in the East of England league plus I am currently undertaking a degree in early years education.

I am expressing my interest in the role of non-parental governor to further support the link between early years and primary education. I also feel I can bring my knowledge of early years education and business development to the role to support with transitions and the revised statutory framework.

Hi my name is Roxanne and I'm excited to be one of your governors. You may recognise me as I’m also an LSA and I teach a dance/cheerleading club too.

I have two children who both attended Boreham Primary School. Recently however I have wanted to become more involved.  I joined the PTA in 2018 then became secretary in April 2019. 

My previous job before my children was a secondary school teacher so I have always been involved in education. I feel being a governor though will give me a new insight into education, allowing me to help our school go from strength to strength. I want to help our children achieve all they can whilst at Boreham Primary School.

I am proud to have been brought up in the village, having moved here just before my first birthday. When I had children I wanted them to have a similar upbringing and am happy that all three children now attend Boreham school too and will go on to have many happy memories like I have.

After gaining my QTS as a Primary school teacher in London, over 20 years ago, I studied as a postgraduate at The Royal College of Music. After this period I worked both as a professional Opera Singer and as a supply teacher all over London. I moved back to Boreham in 2012 after our first son was born. It was a pleasure to work at Boreham School before my third child was born, covering PPA time with class music lessons and job-sharing with Mrs Hutley in Year 2.

My singing work has taken me all over the world and to most of the major concert halls in this country. Sailing into Sydney Harbour on a cruise-ship was just one unforgettable perk of being a singer. Working in a close-knit environment on productions at Opera Holland Park or for the education department at Welsh National Opera, for instance, prepares you very well for the theatre of the classroom. I am fortunate to have had this dual career and am again enjoying the classroom now that my youngest is at Boreham.

I am proud to have helped run Small Steps Preschool, a charity setting located within Boreham Village Hall, for more than five years as Chair of the Committee. I have experience of Ofsted inspections and found it rewarding to help the staff gain and retain their ‘Good’ rating, set up a Forest-style school and to work closely with staff to improve the provision which is used by the whole community. This was a voluntary position that I undertook whilst my children were at the setting to help both them and the community have a setting of the highest quality. As the main feeder preschool for Boreham Primary, it’s such a pleasure to see former pupils growing into such mature and kind children at Boreham School.

My other main passions are gardening and cooking. I have an allotment that I love for the headspace it affords me. I have really enjoyed helping with the gardening in the Bio-dome and around the school and setting up the Gardening Club. I have always enjoyed cooking for others, and trying new recipes from all over the world. My main cooking inspiration has come from Jamie Oliver and latterly, Joe Wicks. I also love making celebration cakes for my children and we enjoy researching ideas on Pinterest and seeing them come to life.

I am not afraid of hard work and have a very hands on, get stuck in mentality to life albeit with a light-hearted fun side too. I am a positive person who looks to the positive in situations and therefore becoming a Governor is the natural progression for me now that all my children are at Boreham. I am looking forward to getting to know the children more fully as a governor. I am really looking forward to finding out which class I will be allocated and seeing how my expertise and passions for learning, music and the arts can be utilised fully to help improve Boreham School even further.

I have lived in Boreham for 20 years and before moving here, I had quite a nomadic life. My father was in the RAF and we moved regularly until he left the service. My parents were keen for my sister and I to move with them as they travelled and, as a result, I have experienced quite a few different schools. Our family then settled in Suffolk and after secondary school in Bury St Edmunds, I studied Biochemistry at Kent University and went on to complete a PhD before moving to London to begin my career as a buyer for Fisons.  

In London I met my husband Ray and, after we married, we moved to Arizona where I worked for Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University. During our ten years in the USA we took advantage of the opportunity to explore, enjoying the fantastic scenery through regular hiking trips and numerous sightseeing visits with family and friends. On our return to England we chose Boreham as an ideal place to settle because it was convenient for my commute to work at Barclays Group in the City and reasonably close to my parents at a time when my mother was quite ill. We moved to our house on Waltham Road in 2000 and I cannot believe we have been in one place for 20 years!  

After ten years at Barclays I decided to work for myself and started my own business as an IT procurement specialist, working with a number of blue chip clients. In this role, I worked on large, global projects to outsource IT services and to upgrade IT systems for retailers, banks and insurance companies. I also pursued a wide variety of interests. I am a keen gardener and environmentalist and have been involved in a number of fundraising activities for causes I support. 

I did not come to know and appreciate Boreham until I retired in 2016. Now I spend a lot of time out with my dog exploring the village and the surrounding countryside and enjoying the wildlife through the changing seasons. This convinced me that I wanted to contribute to the local community and I joined Boreham Parish Council in March 2020. Since then, I have become the Chairman of the council and I am working on a number of projects including the creation of a nature reserve at Chantry Field on Waltham Road and developing the Boreham Neighbourhood Plan.   

I am very interested in education and would like to be a non-parent governor at Boreham Primary School. I can see some real synergies between some of my work with Boreham Parish Council, my interests and the needs of the school. I would like to help the school achieve its aims and deliver the best possible outcomes for our local children. I have been fortunate in the education I received and this has given me a keen interest in promoting  STEM subjects, starting at a young age. I am a keen environmentalist and like to help others understand and appreciate our local wildlife. I also have some experience of working within the education sector. I would like to put my skills in operations and administration and interest in education to use at the school.  

I have lived in Boreham for 13 years after moving here just before I got married.  My wife has lived in the village her whole life and we have three children who all attend Boreham Primary School.  I have two dogs, two rabbits and two guinea pigs.

I am a Regional Business Manager for Essex Cares, and oversee two of their reablement contracts, one with Essex County Council and the other with London Borough of Havering.  I am responsible for the running and success of both services and oversee marketing, recruitment, the delivery of care, social media and IT services.  I have worked in social care for eighteen years and I am passionate about ensuring high quality care to the people receiving support which has led to me raising some high-profile campaigns within the media and speaking with politicians to drive change that benefits the frontline workforce and people who rely on care services.  During COVID I moved into the care home I was managing for one year, and during this time co-founded The Caring View which is now the largest free to access resource to the social care sector in the UK.

More recently, I have become very passionate about the working conditions of those in frontline roles, the career pathways we have within social care and how we can encourage a younger generation of people into the sector.  I am working closely with Essex County Council and the Integrated Care Boards in Mid and West Essex and have been attending several secondary schools across Essex to speak to Year 7, 8 and 9 students about careers within Health and Social Care.

Outside of social care I like to spend time with my family, gardening, going for walks with the dogs and baking.  I am also a big fan of the theatre and live music and like to attend concerts and festivals with my family and friends.

I am interested iin becoming part of the governing body at Boreham Primary School as I want the best for my children and their peers during the time that they attend the school.  I believe that due to my invested interest in my children's development and education, this will hold me accountable to ensuring that the school is delivering the education and services expected.  I have a good relationship with the other parents in my children's year groups and have been able to be a voice to raise concerns in the past when others have not wanted to.  I believe that my current and previous roles of ensuring teams provide outstanding services, that I am able to use my transferable skills to ensure that I can empower and challenge decisions as needed so that we have an outstanding primary school that meets the needs of the children today and in the future.

My Philosophy

A well-rounded education that extends beyond academics is of paramount importance in today's rapidly-evolving world.  The focus on nurturing happy children who are encouraged to explore, discover and celebrate their own strengths (academic or otherwise) was a key factor in the decision to send our son to Boreham Primary School.

As someone who has forged a successful career without particularly strong academic abilities, and only 10.5 GCSEs to my name (.5 because I couldn't stomach doing the full version of the mandatory religious studies) I believe recognising and embracing the differences in individual abilities and learning styles is crucial to nurturing the holistic development of students and preparing them for success in life.

Academics alone cannot fully equip our children to navigate the complexities of the modern world.  While subject knowledge and cognitive skills are undoubtedly essential, a well-rounded education encompasses much more.  It emphasises the development of critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving abilities, communication skills, emotional intelligence and an awareness of the world around us.

My Profile

My wife Georgie and I have lived with our two children (Ewan, 5, and Arabella, 2) in Boreham for the last 2 years.  Whilst Georgie was raised in London, and then Chelmsford, I grew up in the Lake District until the age of 22.

Around 11 years ago I reluctantly packed my love of nature and the outdoors into a bag and hauled it down to the bright lights of the city.  I've spent the last 11 years building a successful sales career in the world of high growth, venture backed startups, and have recently joined an early stafe UK based software company.

This highly globalised industry has enabled me to witness first-hand the collective power of diverse backgrounds and contrasting perspectives - combined with my unconventional route into this career, and my philosophy towards education, it makes me a strong candidate for a parent governor role at the school, bringing fresh and contrasting perspectives and skills.

Having moved to Boreham in 2021 and finally unpacked that love of nature and outdoors, I spend most of my free time cycling the lanes of Essex or trail running through local farmland and along the River Chelmer.  You may have spotted my son Ewan and I riding our bikes together to school, whatever the weather!

I was born in Enfield, Middlesex and grew up in Orpington, Kent along with my younger sister.  We both attended the local primary and junior school after which I went onto a girls technical high school in Chislehurst.

My working life began in Coutts Bank and then I took a break to go to Cornwall for the summer working as a chambermaid.  I then returned to Coutts for a few years.  After various other jobs I worked as a sales rep for an American company in the City until I had my first child, at the same time moving to the South Coast and working in the family manufacturing business.

The children went to the village playgroup and I regularly helped out with trips to farms and bring and buy events.  They then moved onto the village primary and junior school which they loved and again I became involved with school trips, sports days and fetes.

Once the children started secondary school I started work in the NHS in administrative roles including 10 years as Medical Secretary to an Orthopaedic Surgeon which I particularly enjoyed.

I have enjoyed living in Boreham for five years with my partner and we love the rural aspects and frinedly people.  I love reading, crosswords, walking and enjoy a wander around the London museums.

I enjoy the enthusiasm and joy that young children have for learning, listening to their ideas and helping them discover the world.

I moved to Boreham 2 years ago with my partner.  We were attracted to living in Boreham as we enjoy going for walks; particularly along the river.  It has been a very welcoming and friendly community to move to.

I am in my 10th year of teaching and currently Head of Technology at a Chelmsford secondary school.  My specialism within my faculty is teaching Food Technology.  Previous to taking on a leadership role in the curriculum side of school, I was a pastoral leader which involved being Head of Year 7 for 5 years.  This element of my career focused heavily on the transition of Year 6 going into Year 7, settling Year 6 into secondary school life and equipping Year 6 with strategies on establishing new friendships.  I thoroughly enjoyed this aspect of my role.

I feel I can bring the skills I have developed being Head of Year and Head of Department to governance at Boreham Primary School.

During Covid I undertook a secondment to the senior leadership team for 1 year.  I do understand the requirements and pressure senior leaders in education face.

After seeing the advertisement in the Boreham Magazine, I took the opportunity to show my interest in becoming part of the governing body at Boreham Primary School.  I look forward to being part of the journey the school is on, as well as putting the children at the heart of every decision made.