Heber Primary School

I was a school governor at two schools, and chair for three years at Heber Primary School in South London, where I learnt a lot about good governance.

In his own account of the chairmanship: “I chaired the school during a period of a great deal of change, which in many ways I've found just as challenging as my day job.” What that involved: leading the school from Needs Improvement to an OFSTED rating of Good, with a great deal of progress towards an Outstanding rating for teaching and leadership; hiring a new Head and Deputy Head and restructuring the senior leadership; running a formal process to potentially merge with another local school and form a multi-academy trust, which after much work concluded that the school should keep its current status; running a six-month procurement process under EU regulations; responding to a public consultation about the school's largest feeder secondary; and establishing a vision and school development plan to take the school on to Outstanding.