Meet our Governors
Our Governors are very highly committed to making a difference to the children and families at Newington Green. Find out more about their work.
Our Governors come from a range of backgrounds, and bring different areas of expertise to the school. Governors contribute to ensuring high standards of achievement for all children in the school by:
- setting the school’s vision, ethos and strategic direction;
- holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils;
- overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.
A Governor’s role is to support and challenge the senior staff to continue to improve the school. It is largely a thinking and questioning role and Governors are not there to manage the school or do the jobs of school staff. Governors fulfil their role by regularly attending Governing Body meetings, providing strategic guidance and by asking probing and challenging questions of leaders within the school. They also undertake visits, serve on relevant committees and oversee the Headteacher’s performance management.
Chair of Governors
Patricia Ambrose is Chair of Governors and also chairs the Finance and Personnel Committee. She first became a governor when her daughter was a pupil at Newington Green and has stayed on the Governing Body as a Community Governor (now a co-opted governor) for the last few years. Patricia works in higher education policy and research and has particular interests in art education and in improving education opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Vice Chair
Sue Hockett joined the Governing Body in the mid – 1990 as a Community Governor (now a Co-opted Governor). Sue has a background in construction and property management and is a member of the senior management team of a housing association based in west London. Sue’s motivation for becoming a governor was a desire to use her experience and skills to assist in providing each child at Newington Green with the best possible start to their journey to adulthood. Sue is also Vice Chair of Governors and in that role aims to support the Chair and the Senior Management Team.
Vassilis Monastiriotis
Parent Governor
Cressida Jupp
LEA Governor
Heather Eggins
Co-opted Governor
Donna Shah
Co-Opted Governor
Terry Hayes
Associate Member
Jenny Kay
Co-opted Governor
Please click here for the terms of reference for the Governing Body and its various committees: Newington Green Terms of Reference October 2016
Declaration of Interest of our Governors
Name |
Governor Type |
Term From |
Term To |
Declaration Of Interest |
Attendance at meetings during 2016/2017 |
| Patricia Ambrose | Co-Opted | 15 Jul 2015 | 14 Jul 2018 |
13 Oct 2017 Governor of university for the creative arts since September 2015. |
GB: 6/6 |
| Heather Eggins | Community | 15 Jul 2015 | 14 Jul 2018 | 13th Oct 2017 None | GB: 4/6 |
| Terry Hayes | Associate Member (with voting rights on Premises Committee only) | 15 Jul 2015 | 14 Jul 2018 | 14th July 2016 None | GB: 2/6 |
| Sue Hockett | Co-Opted | 15 Jul 2015 | 14 Jul 2018 | 17 May 2017 None | GB: 2/6 |
| Cressida Jupp | Local Authority | 1 Sep 2014 | 30 Aug 2018 | 18 May 2017 None | GB: 4/6 |
| Jenny Kay | Co-Opted | 15 Jul 2015 | 14 Jul 2018 | 13 Oct 2017 Councillor at LBI |
GB:4/6 |
| Abi Misselbrook-Lovejoy | Executive Headteacher | 1 Apr 2010 | Ongoing |
13th Dec 2017 I am Executive Head across this and another LBI school – Rotherfield I am responsible for some joint staff. |
GB: 5/6 |
| Vassilis Monastiriotis | Parent | 6 Jul 2012 4 Jul 2016 | 4 Jul 2016 10 Jul 2020 |
13th Oct 2017 None |
GB: 4/6 |
| Amber Munir | Parent | 4 Jul 2012 | Resigned |
13th Oct 2017 None |
GB: 3/6 |
| Donna Shah | Co-Opted | 15 Jul 2015 | 14 Sep 2018 |
13 Oct 2017 None |
GB: 6/6 |
| Alex Britten | Staff | 6 Oct 2017 | 5 Oct 2018 |
13th Oct 2017 None |
|
| Nick Wakeling | Parent | 10 Nov 2017 | 9 Nov 2021 |
8th Dec 2017 None |
|
| Andrew Pakula | Co-Opted | 12 Dec 2017 | 11 Dec 2021 |
13th Dec 2017 Joint history projects but no financial interest. |
Governor person specification for Newington Green Primary School
We expect all governors to be able to demonstrate the following essential qualities and attributes:
- commitment to improving education for all pupils;
- ability to work in a professional manner as part of a team and to take collective responsibility for decisions;
- willingness to learn and to engage in training and development;
- commitment to the school’s vision and ethos and to the democratic values of freedom, tolerance and respect for the rule of law;
- literacy, numeracy and IT skills, sufficient to deal with governing body papers and school data.
Across the Governing Body as a whole, we are also looking to ensure that a range of specialist skills are covered (but we do not expect any individual governor to have all of these), including: understanding and experience of governance; strategic planning; human resources and performance management; data analysis; financial planning/budgeting; community engagement and volunteering; legal understanding; premises and property management; and experience of working in education/social care/health settings.
The Governing Body may also decide to appoint Associate Governors to serve on a particular committee if they provide a specific skill that the committee requires. Associate Governors can vote at committee meetings. They can also attend full Governing Body meetings in a non-voting capacity.
We expect all governors to uphold the seven principles of public life (the Nolan principles) which form the basis of the ethical standards expected of all public office holders: selflessness, integrity; objectivity; accountability; openness; honesty; and leadership.
A fuller description of our expectations of all Governors is provided on our application form (see link below).
When vacancies arise, these are advertised on the School Governors One Stop Shop website (https://www.sgoss.org.uk/). Anyone interested in being considered for a future vacancy may also complete the attached Newington Green Governor Application Form and return this via email to admin@newingtongreen.co.uk clearly marked for the attention of the Chair of Governors.