Our Governors

I have been involved with the North Star Federation since its creation and prior to that was a governor for Rushall Primary School.

My experience comes from working in industry followed by a move into the Health Service where I was involved in service planning and general management, and then moving on to inspection and governance within NHS England.

I am a retired magistrate having served in both Aldridge and Walsall courts for almost 30 years.

I am a keen amateur astronomer, although the cloudy skies in this country limit this hobby. I am also a trainer with Aldridge dog club. 

I feel that the experience gained in all my work has enabled me to bring an analytical and fair approach to my governor role and, like all members of the North Star team, want to see the Federation continue to develop and provide an excellent opportunity for all its children. 

I am an LA Governor and Vice Chair. My background is in education, having taught for 40 years in the primary sector. I was Deputy Headteacher at Rushall Primary School for 28 of those years and reluctantly retired in 2014.

I am married with two grown up daughters. My younger daughter attended Rushall Primary School.

My role as a governor has enabled me to maintain links with the wonderful and talented team and of course the children and their families.

It has been a privilege to be a part of the journey of the North Star Federation and I am very proud of how it has evolved. I look forward to guide and support all future projects and challenges that we may face.

Quality family time is very important to me. My two lively grandsons certainly keep me on my toes, as does my spritely 95 year old father.

I love being outside, enjoying peaceful walks and gardening.

I am the newly appointed parent governor. I have two children, one who attends Rushall Primary and one who attends Oakwood. 

I have spent the past 8 years working for The Prince's Trust with young people with various challenges on their personal, social and developmental skills through a variety of mediums. I am an outdoor activities instructor by trade and thoroughly enjoy working with children in this environment. 

I am looking forward to getting stuck into my new role over the coming months. 

I work in the school office and have done so for a number of years; I love getting to know the children and the parents and seeing the children grow and flourish across the federation. 

Working in the office environment, I see all of the hard work put in by all of the staff and Senior Leaders to make the federation a wonderful place for the children to be. 

I have three grown up children and three dogs who keep us busy and enjoy walks whatever the weather!

I retired as Headteacher of Oakwood School quite early on in the North Star Federation (December 2016).

My background is in education; mainstream and special and I wanted to remain in touch and offer my support as a Governor.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey so far and look forward to the expansion of the federation, both short and long term.

Both of my daughters are teachers, a passion in our family. 

I am a dog lover having just had Porter a 12 week old Golden Retriever; I just love the great outdoors. I love spending time with my family and helping with the school run with my grandsons.

I am a qualified accountant with experience in several sectors; my current employer being in Higher Education (University), where I head up the Commercial Finance department. 

Having joined the governing body as the North Star Federation formed, I've enjoyed the growth, prospects, and challenges to date and those to come.

I am a married, retired solicitor with three adult children and six grandchildren aged 6 and under. 

I practised law with my own company for almost 40 years dealing primarily with family and property law.  I bring to the governing body table my specialist legal knowledge, an analytical mind, problem solving mentality and experience of running a company as well as enthusiasm for and commitment to the wonderful people and children who make up the North Star Federation .

Now retired, I have spent all of my working life in management roles including 30 years in the NHS and the last 9 years for a medical devices manufacturer.

Integral to all of these roles was the efficient and effective management of resources, financial, human and material whilst adhering to strict standards and regulations.

I am married with two adult children and two grandchildren.

I have bought into the positive ethos of the North Star Federation and will continue to support the amazing staff in the ongoing pursuit of educational excellence and personal development of all the children in each of the schools. 

I began my teaching career as a Secondary PE teacher in Leeds; moving on to become Head of Department, Head of Year and then Assistant Headteacher. During this time some of the areas I led on included monitoring and assessment, PSHE, Health and Safety, I have also line managed numerous departments such as Geography.

I then moved into school improvement and became a Curriculum Manager specialising in Health and Wellbeing, PSHE etc.  I became a School Improvement Partner and Ofsted Inspector.  

I have now retired however I am a volunteer with St John Ambulance.  Currently my role is Assistant Chief Commissioner, line managing eight Regional Commissioners and I am part of the Executive Leadership Team. Some of my other recent roles include leading the Vaccination programme (which recruited, trained and deployed 27000 volunteers within four months) and Chaired the Sustainable Estates Commission.

I have worked within the area of Special Educational Needs for over 30 years as a teacher, deputy head teacher within SLD/PMLD schools and within Local Authorities. I have had various operational and strategic roles and at present am working as a SEND Commissioner within a Local Authority. 

I am a mum of three to two grown up young men and a seventeen-year-old daughter who is taking her A levels this year. My family includes Tom our chocolate Labrador.

As my children have grown up and I have more time I have wanted to give more time to voluntary roles and I am a SEND governor at a one form entry primary school in Birmingham.

After qualifying as a teacher in 1999, my career started as a primary mainstream teacher. After two years of teaching, I became a SENCO and started an MA with a focus on of the benefits of mainstream and special schools working in partnership.  In 2003, I moved into special education, teaching at Oakwood School where I gained essential experience which has shaped my future.

In 2009, I moved to Rushall Primary School, taking up the position of Assistant Head Teacher with responsibility for Inclusion and in 2012 became Rushall’s Headteacher. 

The North Star Federation, a hard federation of Rushall Primary and Oakwood School, was created in January 2018. I am proud to be the founding Executive Headteacher of our wonderful federation.

I have used my experience to support a number of schools in challenging circumstances and have twice been seconded to Walsall LA to support Walsall’s SEND agenda.

Having originally trained in fine art (BA Hons Painting, Canterbury School of Art and MA Printmaking, Camberwell School of Art) I fell in love with teaching through a part time job that I had whilst at Camberwell.  I completed a PGCE at Reading University and taught in Basingstoke, Hampshire before moving to Walsall.  

Since starting at Rushall I have had many roles including SENCO, English lead, Early Years lead, Art lead, Assistant Headteacher and now Head of School.  I am a Specialist Leader of Education in Early Years and am passionate about Early Years education and the importance of this phase for children and their carers.  I am immensely proud to have been part of the team that has shaped Rushall Primary into the school that it is today; through its journey to becoming part of the North Star Federation, together with Oakwood School.  

It is a great privilege to work for North Star and to be part of this amazing school community.

I am currently Head of School at Oakwood though I have had the pleasure of working at Rushall and then at Oakwood in different roles for almost 20 years.  There has always been a link between the schools, and I have been in the fortunate position to have seen and been part of that relationship growing to the formation on the North Star Federation.   

Through this time, I have seen our young people grow, move on and also come back to the Federation as teachers and TA’s or to complete their work experience to join the North Star family once more.  I look forward to continuing to support our young people and families at Oakwood and Rushall.  

I am delighted and feel privileged to start my journey as part of the North Star Federation Governing body this year.  

I began my teaching career as a NQT at Oakwood in September 2007 and over the last 16 years I have built a wealth of expertise with working with the most amazing and aspirational SEND pupils in Walsall. I have had the exciting opportunity to evolve in my role from class teacher, to Maths and Curriculum lead, then Assistant Head. I have most recently take on the role of Head of School for Secondary, which has provided me with the exciting opportunity to lead our new journey into our own unique Secondary provision at Oakwood, whilst always upholding our vision and mission . I am also really excited about the future development of Oakwood, as well as our ever evolving federation as a whole. 

I have a true passion for learning and most recently completed my Masters in teaching and learning, which my research project closely focused on the benefits of a special and mainstream school working as a multi setting site. My National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) was also successfully completed in July 2023, this has aspired and prepared me for the next step in my career into headship. 

I studied Computing Science at University and worked at Walsall Childrens’ services for my industry placement year, where I worked at Oakwood School one day a week.  Following my graduation, I was employed as an IT technician at Oakwood and started to teach ICT alongside class teachers.

I moved to Rushall Primary School in 2012 in a similar role.  When ICT became Computing, I wrote the new curriculum and taught alongside class teachers.

In 2015, I completed my teaching qualification through Wolverhampton University’s School Direct pathway.  I have had many roles across Oakwood and Rushall including ICT Technician, Digital Technology Lead, Class Teacher, Computing Lead, DT Lead and Assistant Head of School.  

I have been fortunate enough to work across the federation since its creation in 2018, as part of the leadership team; developing the use of technology and curriculum across the schools.  

I am excited for the future development of the federation and both schools.