Collingtree

Collingtree Primary is a Church of England school which sits at the heart of Collingtree Village in Northamptonshire. The school is held in trust by the School’s Governing Body on behalf of the Diocese of Peterborough with the majority of governors being appointed by the Diocese.   To find out more about the Trust’s governance arrangements, click here.

Meet the Governors

Governing Body:

Mrs Cei Davis Linn (NLG) - Chair of Governors

Mrs Carole Kirby - Vice Chair of Governors

Mrs Shirley Wong - Clerk

Mrs Monica Juan (NLG)

Mrs Shelia Bryan

Mrs Rebecca Osborne - Executive Head Teacher

Mrs Suman Bedi - Staff Governor

Mr Marcus Miller

Dr Kevin Hopkins

Mrs Sarah Sanders

Mr Richard Albert - Associate

The head teacher is responsible for the day to day management of the school. The Governing Body works closely alongside the head teacher and its purpose is to:

• help the school to set high standards by planning for the school’s future and setting targets for school improvement
• keep the pressure up on school improvement
• be a critical friend to the school, offering support and advice
• help the school respond to the needs of parents and the community
• make the school accountable to the public for what it does
• work with the school on planning, developing policies and keeping the school (and its budget) under review
• exercise its responsibilities and powers in partnership with the head teacher and staff

It is not the Governing Body’s responsibility to intervene in the day-to-day management of the school, unless there are weaknesses in the school, when it then has a duty to take action.

Although raising standards is our key objective, governors also monitor many other aspects of school life – the achievement of different ethnic groups, attendance, behaviour and how our school supports a culture of spiritual development for all pupils and our Christian ethos.

The Governing Body meets at least once each term. Most of the work is done via two subcommittees who meet as often as is needed:

Our Standards Subcommittee covers all matters concerning curriculum, school performance, teaching & learning, safeguarding and child protection, inclusion and pupil discipline. It also oversees the Christian ethos of the school.

Our Central Services Subcommittee oversees finance, personnel, buildings and health & safety. It reviews and agrees the school’s accounts and proposals for budget and keeps track of expenditure. It is responsible for the premises, grounds and extended school facilities and for all staffing policies, pay and benefits.

Regular meetings are held with the head teacher and governors visit the school and staff throughout the year to track progress against our plans and targets.

To contact the Chair of Governors, or the Governing Body, please contact the school office.

Governor Profiles

Cei Davies Linn, NLG

Cei’s background is in medicine and psychology, specialising in trauma counselling.

Her professional work consists of working clinically with clients and lecturing to fellow professionals. Once a year she travels to the USA and Japan to train clinicians and university faculty. Seminar attendees receive continued education units required to maintain their professional license to practice.

Cei has been the Chair of Governors at Long Buckby Infant school for seven years. She is very supportive of collaborative working and governor development and she invited all the cluster chairs to form a Cluster Chair's Forum. The group has been meeting termly for five years with the purpose of support and sharing best practice. The group also invites external advisors in governance. This assists in the self-monitoring outside of the designated schools.

Cei was asked by NCC to become an Additional Governor at a small village primary and was also invited to join the governing body of another school in the county to provide support and additional guidance.

She has successfully completed the Chair of Governors Leadership Programme provided by the National College for School Leadership.

Carole Kirby

Carole is Head of Governance for a local Multi Academy Trust.  She had previously worked as a Local Authority Governor Support Advisor supporting local schools across Northamptonshire on all issues of governance, including: planning and facilitating workshops for governors; creating a Head teacher recruitment pack for governors; organising an annual governance conference, writing a governors’ newsletter and strengthening good governance principles across the county.  Carole has also acted as Investigating Officer on behalf of governing boards on disciplinary and procedural matters and has also conducted External Reviews of Governance.

Carole has previously been Chair of Governors of a small, village Primary school in Bedfordshire.  She has worked as a Teaching Assistant (specialising in English as an additional language) in a large secondary school and then trained as a teacher in an FE college teaching English and Law to A Level.  During that employment Carole became Deputy Head of Department for Academic Studies and also became a Teaching and Innovation Leader.

Sheila Bryan

Sheila is retired from having worked in Nationwide Building Society for 23 years. She spent many of these years as a manager in a number of business areas.

Sheila has been a school governor for over 7 years at Standens Barn Primary School, in Northampton; she has a particular expertise in finance. She has been chair of governors for more than two years and has successfully completed numerous courses, including the leadership course run by The National College of Teaching and Leadership.

Last year Sheila’s governing body was awarded Governor Mark by GLM and she presented the benefits of this award at the Northamptonshire Governor Conference.   She has also chaired a panel of governors holding a disciplinary hearing, dealing with serious safeguarding issues, and has also conducted an investigation into safeguarding matters at another school.

Terms of Office – IEB from August 2016

Pecuniary Interest:

CoG Standens Barn Primary

Director Inspire Multi Academy Trust

Monica Juan

Monica is Chair of Governors at Easton Garford CE Primary School in Northamptonshire and a National Leader of Governance. She also sits on the Peterborough Diocese Education Trust Governance committee. Monica currently works as a Governor Support Advisor for Northampton County Council and has been seconded to LGSS (Local Government Support Services) to plan and deliver all governor training across the county. She also advises and supports local governing boards on all matters of governance and has acted as an independent Investigating Officer for another governing board.

Dr Kevin Hopkins

Kevin has enjoyed an extremely varied career with time spent in Scientific Research, Finance Director and General Manager roles, including periods working on each of five continents.  He has held senior leadership positions in Bulk Chemical, Heavy Engineering, Fire & Security, Manned Guarding, Compliance and Facilities Management businesses.  His knowledge of Finance, HR and Facilities has proved valuable at various times over his past 8 years as a Foundation Governor, being particularly useful to the Finance, Business and Health & Safety committees.  Kevin has also managed volunteer working parties from a number of his businesses who have undertaken redevelopment and redecoration projects within the School and School Grounds.  He currently runs his own business providing finance and general business advice to a select group of Small Businesses across Northamptonshire.

In his own time, Kevin is a top level Hockey Umpire and spends winter weekends officiating at games and tournaments all over the country.  He is currently planning a major 2019 event for the South Midlands Orienteering Club and is Treasurer of the Collingtree Allotments Association.  Kevin and his family are active contributors to the Abbey Centre Baptist Church in East Hunsbury where he has a long history of planning and running fund-raising events.  Both of Kevin’s children have undertaken their entire Primary Education at the School and he remains committed to supporting the School on the continued journey toward excellence!

Appointed 20/12/10 - by Peterborough Diocese, for a four year term up to 19/12/14 - Foundation Governor.

Appointed 20/12/14 - by Peterborough Diocese, for a four year term up to 19/12/18 - Foundation Governor.

Acted as a Shadow Governor to IEB (Interim Executive Board)

Appointed 21/02/18 - by Peterborough Diocese, for a four year term up to 20/02/22 - Foundation Governor. 

No associated business interests or pecuniary interests - (throughout period of service; and now).

Dates of our Full Governor Board meetings

TBC