Governors provide strategic leadership and accountability in all St Christopher’s Multi Academy Trust schools however, the ultimate responsibility for the school lies with the Board of Directors with much of the work delegated to the Local Governing Body (LGB).
In trusts, the purpose of local governance is to provide:
Governors set the aims and objectives for the school and set the targets/policies for achieving those aims and objectives. They monitor and evaluate the progress the school is making and act as a source of challenge and support to the headteacher.
Governors bring a wide range of skills and expertise from their professional lives to the governing body and schools benefit greatly from working with skilled volunteers.
Chair of Governors: Jacklyn Barry
Vice-Chair of Governors: Sally Eales
Safeguarding Lead: Justin Bailey
Clerk to the LGB: Ruth Cadoux
If you are interested in hearing more about becoming a governor please contact;
Name |
Type of Governor |
Appointing Body |
Role |
Term Start/End |
Committee(s) |
Registered Interests |
Attendance 23/24 |
Suzie Ottewell | Ex-officio | Trust | Headteacher | 01/09/2024 Post-related | St Matthew’s CofE Primary and Nursery Academy | n/a | |
Jacklyn Barry | Foundation | Trust | Chair of LGB | 01/09/2021 - 31/08/2025 | Ethos | University of Plymouth mentor and PhD student; Hub Advisory Board member for Westcountry Schools Trust | 6 out of 6 |
Sally Eales | Foundation | Trust | Vice-Chair of LGB | 01/09/2023 - 31/08/2027 | Ethos | Plymouth Marjon University Lecturer | 6 out of 6 |
Justin Bailey | Parent | Parents | 01/09/2021 - 31/08/2025 | 6 out of 6 | |||
Katie Howell-Head | Foundation | Trust | 14/06/2023 - 13/06/2027 | Ministry of Defence | 5 out of 6 | ||
Nisha John | Parent | Parents | 4 out of 6 | ||||
Lucy Babb | Staff | Staff | 11/05/2023 - 10/05/2027 | St Christopher’s MAT – Operations Lead | 5 out of 6 | ||
VACANCY | Foundation Ex-Officio | - | - | - | - | - | - |
VACANCY | Foundation | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Resigned in the last 12 months | |||||||
Chris Connors | Ex-officio | Trust | Headteacher | Resigned 31/08/24 | 6 out of 6 | ||
Keith Murphy | Foundation Ex-officio | Trust | Resigned 21/08/24 | Ethos | Associate Minister, Parish of Eggbuckland with Estover | 4 out of 6 |
Name of Governor |
Monitoring Responsibilities |
Jacklyn Barry | Leadership; Attendance and Behaviour; Maths |
Justin Bailey | Safeguarding; Disadvantaged Pupils |
Keith Murphy | Ethos & Christian Distinctiveness |
Katie Howell-Head | Writing |
Sally Eales | Early Reading and Phonics |
Nisha John | SEND; KS2 Reading |
Lucy Babb | Operations (Health & Safety, Risk and Wellbeing) |
In her role as Headteacher for St Matthew's, Suzie is also part of the governing body. She will work closely with all of the governors through school visits and at our termly meetings.
First as an elected parent governor and now as a foundation governor, Jacklyn (known as Jackie) has been a member of Saint Matthew’s local governing board since 2019. She is an experienced teacher, lecturer in education, mentor to training teachers and she has recently earned her doctorate which focussed upon the impact of evidence-based practice on teachers’ pedagogies. She uses this expertise to hold leaders to account, ensuring that our school’s strategic priorities are maintained and that all our pupils are able to let their light shine.
Sally is a foundation governor and has been involved with the school since before it was even built! It's been great to see the development over the years and a privilege to work with such committed staff and enthusiastic pupils. She has recently retired after working for 20 years at Marjon where she worked in training primary school teachers. Prior to that she was a teacher in primary schools in Devon for almost 18 years. She is interested in all aspects of school life but particularly passionate about English and reading. She lives in Derriford and loves walking on the moor and coast, gardening, swimming and reading!
Justin has a son and daughter who currently attend the school, and he joined the board of governors to help the school to be the best possible environment for his own children and all the other children who are attending now, and will be attending in the future.
His aim as a governor is to be an effective bridge between the parent body and the school. He wants to be able to represent not only the wishes and objectives of the parents, but also their concerns, fears and frustrations and help the school achieve sensible, realistic and pragmatic outcomes.
In his professional life, he works as Head of Programmes at Taking Care, part of AXA Health. They help support around 110,000 elderly and vulnerable adults across the country with technology enabled health and well-being solutions. His role within the business is to manage strategic implementation and the various programmes of change, skills that he can transfer to his role as a governor.
You’ll see him on the school run regularly, and he is always happy to stop and chat, or make time to discuss anything specific that’s on your mind.
Katie has recently joined the board of governors as the Military Lead. Having served within HM Royal Navy and now working within the MOD, Katie’s role is to provide sound and current advice to the board, ensuring that the school remain up to date with information and knowledge which is relatable to the Forces Children within St. Matthew's.
Nisha offered to volunteer her time as a parent governor as she wanted to be more involved in the school that her children love.
She is the link-governor for the SEND provision at St Matthew's and this year has taken on Reading at Key Stage 2 as well, meeting with the staff who have these areas of responsibility within school. She truly admires the dedication and commitment of the teachers she interacts with and is looking forward to being part of the school's progress in the coming years.
Prior to becoming a full time mum, she worked in the banking, retail and public relations sectors.
Lucy has been elected by the staff at St Matthew's to be the staff governor for St Matthew's.
Diversity Data
The board believes that it is important that we reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. Diverse boards promote inclusive school environments and provide diverse role models for staff and young people. We collect data on the diversity of the board, including age, ethnicity, and gender and we use this data to inform our recruitment and training needs, ensuring there is always a diverse range of perspectives around the table to support robust decision making. We do not publish diversity data online as individual governors could be identified and we have a legal obligation to protect their personal data.