Governors

What do School Governors do?

The purpose of the Larkrise governing body is to help our school to provide the best possible education for its children and to more broadly meet our school vision and strategy. Governors set the school aims and policies together with the head. The head is responsible for day-to-day management with governors strategically focused in areas such as curriculum, school budget, school performance, staffing/recruitment and special educational needs.

No individual governor has any power unless delegated by the governing body. The governing body as a whole is responsible for any decisions made. We challenge the school’s leadership to ensure we meet our aims to improve as well as investigate and support the strategic decisions we make. We tour the school and take part in events and Larkrise Circles. We represent the school and meet with the members of the local community.

Our charging and remissions policy can be found on the School Policies & Procedures page.

Current Governors​

	My name is Paul Stockdale. I am a Community Governor and one of the Co-Chairs of the Local Governing Board. I originally joined the Larkrise Governing Body in 2015 as a co-opted governor with specific responsibility for finance, and chaired the Resources Committee before becoming Co-Chair of Governors in September 2017. I am a Chartered Accountant and work as Chief Financial Officer at an Oxford-based biotech company. My three children attend the school.
Paul Stockdale	Co-chair of Governors & Community Governor
	My name is Sarah McHugh and I am a co-opted Governor and Co-Chair of Governors. I am the Assistant Headteacher in an Oxfordshire Secondary School; I am in charge of teaching and learning across all subjects, continual professional learning of all (teaching and support) staff and appraisal. I still teach (mainly Physics and some Maths) and relish my time in the classroom with my students. I have two children at the school and my aim is to support Larkrise in ensuring that all the pupils achieve and succeed because of the excellent teaching they receive.
Sarah McHugh	Co-chair of Governors & Community Governor
	My name is Sourovi De. I am a community governor. I work as an education economist with governments in developing countries to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools. My job takes me to classrooms of primary and secondary schools in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Sierra Leone and Nigeria. My areas of interest are data analysis, learning assessments, early childhood development, monitoring and evaluation, and teacher management.
Sourovi De	Community Governor
	My name is Emma Turnbull. I am a community governor, and the link governor for pupil premium. As an Oxfordshire county councillor, Shadow Cabinet Member for Education and Cultural Services, and member of the Education Scrutiny Committee, I bring local government expertise and knowledge of the local education, family and childrenʼs services. I also have a particular interest in closing the attainment gap for disadvantaged learners.
Emma Turnbull	Community Governor
	My name is Samantha Birket and I am a community governor. I have over five years experience as a TA at a local primary school. My skill set includes a focus on quality interventions for SEND children and behaviour management for all children. I believe that school should be a positive experience for all: children, staff and parents or carers.
Samantha Birkett	Community Governor
	My name is Ray Weston and Iʼm a parent governor at Larkrise Primary School. I have a son and daughter at the school and in my day job Iʼm a self employed builder and gas safe registered heating engineer.
Ray Weston	Parent Governor
Philip Evans	Parent Governor
Barney Perkins	Parent Governor & Safeguarding Governor
	I’m Amanda Smigielski, a parent governor. I have been the SEND governor since summer 2018. I regularly attend SENPACS, meetings with parents of children with SEND at Larkrise. I represent and explain school decisions in SENPACS and parent views in school about SEND issues when requested. I have worked with SENCO and County Complex Needs Coordinator on observing and improving SEND practice in the school. I am a qualified teacher and have 22 years of experience of working in management at different levels in school.  I have two children at Larkrise, one of whom has complex needs. I am currently working for an educational charity, Breakthrough Learning. The charity provides specialised Mediated Learning based on the Feuerstein principle of structured cognitive modifiability. I have worked voluntarily for two years providing mediated learning and conducting research with my own child and other children with SEND with proven improvements in their cognitive capacity.
Amanda Smigielski	Parent Governor
Charlotte Austin	Staff Governor

 

 

Declarations of Interest

Declarations of Interest – Larkrise Primary 2018 – 2019

 

 

 

Get in Touch

We regularly listen to and survey our children and parents. Do get in touch with any ideas to improve our wonderful school. We’ll keep you updated with our Governor Newsletters.

You can contact the governors directly at: governors@larkrise.oxon.sch.uk