Governance Information

Welcome to Inclusive Schools Trust.

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The Governing Bodies of Lionwood Infant and Nursery School and Lionwood Junior School elected to federate with effect from 1st September 2014, forming the Lionwood Schools Federation.

In April 2017, The Lionwood Schools Federation and George White Junior (our neighbours and Cluster colleague) joined together to form the Inclusive Schools Trust, which means that we are now a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT). On 1st December 2017, we were delighted to welcome Drayton Community Infant School. Mousehold Infant and Nursery School and Nightingale Infant and Nursery School subsequently joined the Trust towards the end of 2018. Mrs Sawyer, our CEO/ Executive Headteacher has overall responsibility for the management of the schools in the Trust.

Our schools operate under a Trust Board with 11 Trustees and 5 Members. The Trustees remain responsible for the strategic vision of the schools and for supporting the CEO/Executive Headteacher and her staff in achieving that vision. They also have responsibility for appointing the CEO/Executive Headteacher, managing the school’s budget, setting annual targets and monitoring performance against those targets, all in the interest of raising standards and achievement.

Each Member and Trustee went through a rigorous process of application and there is a strong commitment from the Trust to ensure that the Board offer a broad skillset to enable the Trust to work effectively.

Members

Sharon Forder

Sharon Forder has 14 years’ experience as a Secretary/P.A. and was previously the joint Chair of Governors at the Lionwood Schools Federation. She has been a Governor since the Infant School opened in 2007 and has been Chair between 2009 -2019.

Sharon was involved in federating the two Lionwood Schools and has been instrumental in bringing about rapid change at the Junior School.

Sharon has received extensive training as a school governor and previously sat on both the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee and Achievement, Standards and Risk Committee.

She has extensive knowledge of schools finance and personnel and staffing from recruitment through to performance management.

(The Revd Dr) Arnold Browne

Arnold has work experience of education in many contexts, from primary to postgraduate. As a university lecturer and teacher of many years experience, Arnold brings a skill for enabling students to enjoy learning and to flourish through it. Arnold has a doctorate in theology and a masters degree in counselling psychology and continues to teach the New Testament to students taking a university course as part of their training for ministry. 

Arnold teaches in other adult education contexts, including both Norwich Cathedral and Norwich Prison. Arnold has over 30 years experience as a school governor in primary and secondary schools.

Chris Jefferson

Chris has over twenty years of experience working in education finance for Norfolk County Council where his current role involves advising and supporting schools with their business and financial management. He has also worked in the role of School Finance Manager. Chris is fully qualified Fellow Member of the Association of Accounting Technicians (FMAAT) with accredited book-keeper status (AATQB) and a Prince2 Practitioner. 

Chris is an experienced school governor and was previously the Chair of Finance & Premises at Mousehold Infant and Nursery School and also a former Trustee of the Inclusive Schools Trust where he was the Chair of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee and a member of the Performance Management Sub-Committee. Prior to starting his career in finance, Chris worked in various roles in the aviation industry, including media & PR.  

Amanda Rogers 

Amanda is a retired modern languages teacher (BA Hons French and Spanish plus PGCE), which gives her detailed knowledge of life in the classroom. She has taught in both a college and secondary school environment and has also undertaken the role of form tutor so is aware of the many pastoral needs of pupils as well as safeguarding issues which may arise.   

Amanda understands the need to optimise pupils’ achievements across a variety of subject areas and in her role as Trustee she will be looking for opportunities to support initiatives which encourage the use of modern languages within the six schools in the Trust.  

Amanda is passionate about improving literacy standards and for the past two years, she has been involved with the Reading Pathway and the Norfolk Reading Project.  She has received up-to-date training in phonics and currently volunteers in a local primary school. She is committed to supporting any methods which encourage pupils to enjoy reading and make progress with their reading and comprehension. 

Alexander Bragg 

Alex has worked within a sales and engineering background since leaving Downham Market Six Form Centre in 1990. He currently lives In Norwich and has one child (aged 7) attending Lionwood Junior School. Having decided to travel when he ‘hit’ 30 he spent a year volunteering and working in Europe, but mainly in Australia. He spent just over 1 month working alongside under privileged children on a farm on the outskirts of Melbourne. 

Since returning he volunteered for Samaritans as a ‘listener’ but also within the prison service and as a ‘leader’ within the organisation.  

Alex is very keen to start volunteering again and would like to contribute to his local area. 

Trustees

Jeff Prosser

Chair of Inclusive Schools Trust & Partnership Link Trustee

Jeff has considerable experience in both the field of Social Care and the Charity sector. As a social worker, he was related to working with children and young people and their families. At the start of his career, Jeff worked in the Children's Department in the field of childcare. He also has experience and knowledge of governance both in his role in charities and as a Chair of Governors, giving him a strategic overview of the responsibilities of the role of Trustee. 

Jeff has a vast experience across many charitable organisations such as housing, hospitals, Age UK, as well as work in Community Services, Probation, and spending time as a Parish Councillor. 

Eileen Hansell 

Lead Trustee for Finance, Audit & Risk and Vice-Chair of Inclusive Schools Trust

Eileen worked as the Finance Officer and Bursar at George White Junior School for over 20 years and has been active in school governance for 35 years. For 3 years Eileen was the Chair of Governors at George White Junior School, where she sat on committees responsible for finance, staffing, safeguarding and child protection, holding the position of Governor responsible for SEND for several years and she has also been involved in performance management and recruitment. Eileen was the Chair in 2017 and a member of the governance working party when Inclusive Schools Trust was formed. Eileen has had extensive governance training and has successfully completed the Chair of Governors’ Leadership Development Programme and the GovernEd extensive course for Leadership & Management. Eileen regularly attends webinars facilitated by the Trust’s auditors; she also held the position of Cluster Chair for SEND for 4 years. 

Eileen is now a member of the VNET Governance Forum and the LA’s Finance Consultative Group, representing governance and academies.   

Maureen Hanke

Lead Trustee for Standards, Audit & Risk and Lead for Link Trustees Group

Maureen worked as a teacher, a county curriculum adviser, an Ofsted trained team inspector and latterly Head of Norfolk Music service. As the head of an attached service, she managed a staff of 80 employees and a gross annual budget of £2 million. She has been a school governor for 12 years, and Chair of Governors 6 years. She has completed a range of governor training and is up to date in safer recruitment training and child protection training. She is involved regularly in performance management and recruitment. Maureen is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and has chaired executive committees at local and national level. She currently sits on the board of trustees for Music Mark, a charitable company limited by guarantee.  

Martin (Marty) Norman 

Lead Trustee for Estates, Audit & Risk

Martin (Marty) Norman is the Deputy Director of Estates & Facilities at City College Norwich. Following a career at Virgin One Account and the Royal Bank of Scotland, Marty worked for Virgin Money as the Regional Property Manager before moving into the Education sector in 2016.  

A strong leader, people manager and project manager, Marty holds Certified status of the Institute of Workplace & Facilities Management and holds BIFM level 4, Prince2 Practitioner, two IOSH, a NEBOSH, IEMA Foundation Environmental Management qualifications and is vastly experienced in strategic operational building management and strategic FM and budget management.  

Marty joined The Inclusive Schools Trust in 2019, taking on the role of Health & Safety and Buildings Trustee, chairing the previous Finance Audit & Risk Committee and is the Lead Trustee for Estates, Audit & Risk.  

Marty believes in the importance of creating an inspirational environment for learning. A keen fundraiser, having completed 3 London marathons.   

Helen Hunt

Partnership Link Trustee

Helen Hunt taught for 38 years in secondary state comprehensive schools. 

For the first 13 years she taught Biology to Years 7 to 13, and became Head of Biology after 8 years, at Rickmansworth School in Hertfordshire. 

In Surrey she was a form tutor to the first new Year 7 intake, following the reorganisation of schools from 3 to 2 tier systems, and she set up a Lower School Science 'Green Club' whilst teaching sciences to GCSE and Biology to A Level. 

After moving to Sandown High School on the Isle of Wight for the last 20 years of her teaching career, she again became involved in the reorganisation of island schools from 3 to 2 tier systems. This involved an intake of 900 new students (in Years 7, 8 and 9) in the 'change-over' year. Following this she set up a lower school Science Club. She led A Level field trips to Dorset and also, for over a decade, to Sweden. 

She was Head of Science for the last three years in a department of 20 Science teachers and 4 technicians. 

She was the school's rep for the teacher’s union AMMA, for most of her teaching years at Sandown. 

Helen retired in 2014 and moved back to Norwich, where she had spent the first 18 years of her life. She continues to work for the examining board OCR.  

Neil Park

Partnership Link Trustee

Neil is Head of E-commerce at Jarrold and Sons Ltd and is a member of the Retail Board and Retail Executive team. Neil is a natural problem solver and has experience in many areas of business including strategy, e-commerce, buying, coaching, and developing teams.  Neil has two children who are currently at Mousehold Infant and Nursery School and George White Junior School. 

Helen Dawe

Trustee

Helen is an experienced HR professional with over 10 years’ experience in a variety of HR roles in multiple sectors, including Hospitality, Retail and Higher Education. She has completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Human Resource Management (CIPD Level 7). She is a HR generalist with experience in managing all elements of the employee lifecycle including recruitment and selection, onboarding, and absence management. She also has experience in managing complex disciplinary and grievance cases.  

Helen has a passion for learning and development, ensuring that people reach their full potential by supporting them to achieve this. She has an Award in Education and Training which has further supported her to ensure that she can help employees reach their goals. Working with the Inclusive Schools Trust she believes she can use her knowledge, experience, and passion to support children within the trust to reach their highest potential as an individual, not only academically but ensuring that their mental and physical wellbeing is supported.  

Chris Butwright 

Trustee 

Over the past 30 plus years Chris has worked in people-based services at practitioner, manager and senior manager and currently Assistant Director level. He began his career working in elderly residential care before going on to work with children in a range of settings as a residential social worker, youth leader, primary school teacher and education improvement adviser for the Local Authority.  

Over the last 12 years working for Norfolk County Council as Commissioning lead for children's integrated health and social care services before taking a senior role within the Norfolk's Public Health team to lead on strategy and performance.  

Currently Assistant Director Public Health for Prevention and Policy at Norfolk County Council leading on strategy planning and implementation of initiatives to improve health and wellbeing outcomes. In addition, working closely with partners from across the health and social care system contributing to joint developments of the Integrated Care System.  

All of those careers have enabled him to work with a wide range of people both in terms of age but also in relation to their needs. It is this insight which on daily basis means that he puts people at the heart of the decision- making process and the reason why he is concerned about developing strategies and shaping services which will lead to improved outcomes for individuals, groups and communities. 

Name and address for correspondence to Chair of Inclusive Schools Trust

Private and Confidential for the attention of Mr J Prosser
c/o Caroline Mandilakis, Governance Professional

Lionwood Infant and Nursery School

Telegraph Lane East

Norwich

NR1 4AN