St Mary's Governing Body 2025/2026
Welcome to the Governing Body of St Mary's
Who are the governors?
School governors are drawn from the school community and are volunteers who wish to make a positive contribution to children’s education. Our priorities include raising standards, improving the quality of teaching and making sure that children are safe.
At St Mary’s there are spaces for 16 governors, including governors elected by parents/carers and by staff, governors from the church community and those appointed by the Local Authority. We meet formally every term and also regularly for committee meetings. The Chair of Governors meets with the Headteacher regularly. All governors visit to see how well we are doing across the school.
What difference do we make?
Governors consider strategic issues, including the appointment of the Headteacher. We spend a lot of time looking at how children are learning, and children’s progress and achievement. We also set and monitor the school budget. We examine lots of evidence about the school – from test results to your responses to the parents’ questionnaire – in order to identify priorities for the coming year. We are responsible for providing support, and we are also under a duty to challenge.
We are always trying to improve our communication with you so that you are more aware of what we are doing in school and have the change to raise concerns with us. Please use the parents’ questionnaire to let us have feedback or you can leave a letter for the Chair of Governors at the school office.
Thank you very much for your support.
Dave Bassford (Chair of Governors)
November 2025
School governors are drawn from the school community and are volunteers who wish to make a positive contribution to children’s education. Our priorities include raising standards, improving the quality of teaching and making sure that children are safe.
At St Mary’s there are spaces for 16 governors, including governors elected by parents/carers and by staff, governors from the church community and those appointed by the Local Authority. We meet formally every term and also regularly for committee meetings. The Chair of Governors meets with the Headteacher regularly. All governors visit to see how well we are doing across the school.
What difference do we make?
Governors consider strategic issues, including the appointment of the Headteacher. We spend a lot of time looking at how children are learning, and children’s progress and achievement. We also set and monitor the school budget. We examine lots of evidence about the school – from test results to your responses to the parents’ questionnaire – in order to identify priorities for the coming year. We are responsible for providing support, and we are also under a duty to challenge.
We are always trying to improve our communication with you so that you are more aware of what we are doing in school and have the change to raise concerns with us. Please use the parents’ questionnaire to let us have feedback or you can leave a letter for the Chair of Governors at the school office.
Thank you very much for your support.
Dave Bassford (Chair of Governors)
November 2025
St Mary’s School Governors (ID 1392)
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Dave BassfordChair of Governors
Dave Bassford
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Paula AndersonVice-Chair of Governors
Paula Anderson
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Julia PringVice-Chair of Governors
Julia Pring
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Mark McLeishParent Governor
Mark McLeish
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Mohamed JallohParent Governor
Mohamed Jalloh
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Father David Adamson-HillSchool Governor
Father David Adamson-Hill
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Kate RichesSchool Governor
Kate Riches
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Ayesha Lahai-TaylorSchool Governor
Ayesha Lahai-Taylor
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Marcia SkinnerSchool Governor
Marcia Skinner
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Chris StringfellowSchool Governor
Chris Stringfellow
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Kevin WhippsSchool Governor
Kevin Whipps
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Christine GrahamHeadteacher
Christine Graham
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Vicki SteadStaff Governor
Vicki Stead
The Bishop of Southwark's Certificate in School Governance
We are proud to have received this certificate in recognition of the work of our Governing Body and the regular training that Governors undertake to ensure they are up to date with key developments in Education and School Governance. The Governing Body are currently renewing the Bishop's Certificate in the 25/26 academic year.
