Julian Short – Chair of the LGB 

Julian is a parent at St. Dominics and is married with three children. He was appointed as a Parent Governor in 2018 and became Chair in 2021. Julian has been a management consultant for over 25 years with wide-ranging commercial and finance expertise across the corporate, not-for-profit and charitable sectors.  He is currently a Partner at KPMG and was previously a Partner at Accenture.  Outside of work he enjoys spending time with the family where he lives in the Surrey countryside and wildlife photography.

Leigh Edser – Academy Governor & Designated Safeguarding Governor for Grafham Grange School and Brantridge School

Leigh began her career in special needs several years ago as a Health Care Assistant working with adults with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. After a couple of years she moved to an LSA role at Dysart School. It was during this time that her passion for ensuring pupils with SEN have access to a high quality education that enables them to be the best they can be, was ignited.  After qualifying as a teacher, Leigh secured her first teaching post at a Special Needs school in Farnborough, Hampshire before moving back to Dysart in 2005 as a class teacher where she has remained and is now the Principal.

Lucy McMann – Academy Governor

Lucy has experience of working with a range of special educational needs from primary through to 18 as a Specialist Teacher. Lucy is now the Managing Director and Founder of SENse Learning, a company who provide bespoke packages of holistic learning for young people with additional needs who are struggling to attend school. Since starting up SENse Learning Ltd in January 2019, Lucy has acquired many other skills especially in terms of business management including finance management, human resources, and policy writing. It has been a steep learning curve!

Lucy is passionate about education and thinking creatively to support all young people achieve their full potential.

Harry Moss – Academy Governor

Harry was appointed as a school governor in March 2021.

He has worked in various senior engineering roles for Universities, Government Institutes, Oil and Gas and Energy companies and now works as risk and integrity management consultant.  He has gained a variety of governance experience through Audit, Assurance and Verification of operations and projects compliance and risk management activities.   The part of his career that has been most fun has been seeing young people develop and succeed.

He has 3 adult children and lives with his wife and dogs in the beautiful Surrey Hills.

Michael Wood – Academy Governor 

Mike Wood is the Assistant Principal in charge of Skills for Life students at Carew Academy.

Mike has worked at Carew Academy since January 2013. He has worked with a large range of students and teachers, and has experience within education of preparation for inspections, examinations, curriculum design, teaching and learning, line management, delivering and organising CPD for staff.

Martin Lowthian – Parent Governor, Grafham Grange School

Martin’s background is Audit, Governance and Management Consultancy in the NHS, Social Care and, previously, telecommunications and banking.  He now works for a software company that provides solutions to help organisations develop and evidence their compliance with regulatory bodies, track quality improvement and evidence the planning and delivery of care.

He has 3 children and lives in Surrey Heath, where he coaches junior cricket in his spare time.

Martin has previously been a volunteer for Riding for the Disabled Association and assisted with specialist hospitals’ charity fundraising.

Dean Else – Parent Governor, St Dominic’s School 

Dean is a serving Metropolitan Police officer and has worked in the Met for 24 years. He is the Inspector on the Safeguarding Team within Met Detention and responsible for oversight and review of detainees with vulnerabilities within the custody environment across the whole of London.

Dean is a Blue Light Champion – a role which identifies him to staff as a safe contact to approach with mental health issues so he can provide support within the workplace. He is also a member of the Met Autism Support Group and supports staff who are autistic or have children or family with Autism, as well as guiding supervisors who manage neurodiverse staff in order to ensure that appropriate support is provided and advice given.

Dean’s son has been at St Dominic’s since September 2020 and has flourished. He welcomes the opportunity to support staff and families in his role as Governor to ensure best outcomes for all children and staff within the school.

Diana Puica – Staff Governor, Brantridge School

Diana moved from Romania to England in 2005, and now lives in the West Sussex countryside with her family.  She has worked at Brantridge School for more than seven years and in her free time is a keen runner.

Vacancy – Staff Governor, Grafham Grange School

Amme (Anne-Marie) Pryor- Staff Governor, St Dominic’s School

Amme has been a teacher at St. Dominic’s for almost 4 years. She teaches English and Performing Arts and is the head of Key stage 4. Before working at St. Dominic’s Amme worked with pupils who had disengaged from school using alternative education programmes in a attempt to reengage them with learning. Amme also works as a supervisor providing respite care for children and young people with SEND during the school holidays. Amme lives near the sea, enjoys paddle boarding and is passionate about ocean conservation.

Dafydd Roberts – Principal, Brantridge School.

Robin Bertrand – Principal, Grafham Grange School.

Vicky Perry – Principal, St Dominic’s School.