About Us - meet our governors
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"St Andrew's CE Primary School Yetminster is one of the top Dorset Primary Schools!Year 6 pupils at St Andrew's are to be congratulated for their excellent results in the summer 2011 National Curriculum Tests (SATs).The Primary School League Tables were published by the Department for Education just before Christmas. Out of the 172 Dorset primary schools, St Andrew's was placed 3rd for their results in Maths and English. This success follows the school's very encouraging Ofsted inspection in May 2011. All our class teachers, support staff and teaching assistants have worked together co-operatively and efficiently throughout the years to achieve this success; a team effort from the moment our children come into school. Children at St Andrew's are lucky to be taught by such an excellent team. Well done everyone!!! Lead by Headteacher Paul Miller, the school continues to build a reputation as a high-achieving and happy school. As a result pupil numbers are still steadily increasing and we now have 160 children on roll, compared with 149 in September 2010 . We have a new Deputy Head this term. Jane Prelagouskas joins us from a school in South Wales and we are very pleased to welcome her into the school community. She will be a great addition to an already talented staff." Judy Ferretter Chair of Governors | |
"The Governors of St Andrew's want to play an active part in the life of the school. By way of an introduction to the current Governing Body we would like you to know who we are and to read a little bit about us. We hope the following will be interesting and informative and help to make us a visible and recognisable presence around the school. | ) |
Judy Ferretter, Chair of GovernorsI have lived in the village for five years since moving with my husband from Surrey in March 2007. We have two grown-up children in their late thirties. Our son is a university teacher in Texas and our daughter is an artist and lives in Brighton. We have four grandchildren.My background is in education. I have worked in a wide variety of schools in my career, teaching all age ranges from sixth form to pre-school. My final school post was ten years as headteacher of a Church of England junior school in Epsom with 350 pupils on roll. After that, I was a freelance education consultant for thirteen years mainly working in Surrey, Kingston-upon-Thames, Wokingham and on the Isle of Wight. I still occasionally work in Surrey to assist with the assessment of writing at Key Stage One. I really enjoy the challenge of being Chair of Governors at St. Andrew's School and working closely with our headteacher, staff, parents and the wider school community. | ) |
Paul Sparks, Deputy Chair of Governors, Chair of Finance & EnvironmentParent governorhave lived in Yetminster for fourteen years and have two children at St Andrews. I have been a governor at St Andrews since 2008, and also at another local school since 2002, and have always been close to primary education (my wife is, and my mother was, a primary school teacher!). I myself am a lead engineer in the aerospace software industry, and try to bring the benefit of a business perspective to running a school. My goal as a governor is to help the children at St Andrews to have the same opportunities in education, and life, that I have enjoyed. I am happy to be Vice Chair for St Andrews this year, and happier still that Judy has kindly taken the Chair. | ) |
Paul Miller, Heateacher | ) |
Reverend Simon Brignall, Foundation, People & CurriculumI have recently arrived from Thame in Oxforshire but I have known this part of Dorset since childhood so it's good to be living here now.I am Priest in charge of the six churches of the Wriggle Valley Benefice which covers the whole catchment area of St. Andrew's Primary School. I love to be in and around the school and to share in your assemblies on Monday and Thursday. My special interests at St. Andrew's will be the Eco school programme and the RE curriculum. We were so glad that Annie our daughter had the opportunity to come to St. Andrew's for her last two terms. It has given me the chance to see the school as a parent as well as a governor. | ) |
Jackie Parks, Community governor, Chair People & CurriculumI became a governor in late 2009 and was appointed a community governor. Before retiring, I was employed in youth work, probation and social services specialising in child care and adoption. Peter and I married shortly before moving to Yetminster in 1997 and have 4 children between us by our previous spouses, who sadly both died. We now enjoy 9 grandchildren, who are scattered worldwide enabling us to travel extensively. We both love Yetminster and its community and I look forward to contributing to the success of St. Andrew's school under our new headteacher, Paul | ) |
Margaret Bedding, Foundation governor, People & CurriculumI have been a Foundation Governor at St Andrews School for several years and I support links between the Church, the community, and the school. My role is to encourage and share in the Christian ethos of the school .I have lived in Yetminster for nineteen years and am married with two sons and a lively group of grandchildren. Before retiring, I had a very rewarding career as a primary school teacher, and during my early years in Yetminster I was fortunate to be able to teach part-time both at St Andrews and Thornford Schools. | ) |
Rosie Cunningham, Parent governor, Finance & EnvironmentWe have lived in Dorset for four years having moved back to England from South Africa where the children were born. Originally from Dorset and having been to school in Sherborne and Taunton, I am very happy to have moved back to my "spiritual home". My children are both at St. Andrew's and absolutely love going to school, looking forward to their challenging days and interacting with their wide range of friends. My husband and I own and run a bakery in Sherborne called Puddings & Pies which proves challenging and rewarding at the same time. I have been a Governor at St. Andrew's for two years with particular focus on Early Years, making sure that our children get the best start to their school life as possible. We are lucky to have an excellent team of teachers at St. Andrew's and our recent top place in the Dorset school league table supports their valuable work. | ) |
Jaquie Marsh, Parent governor, People & CurriculumI live in Halstock with my partner of eighteen years and our daughter. I am a registered nurse specialising in Intensive Care and anaesthetics. My hobbies include photography, art/ craft and natural history.As a parent governor my focus at present is to look at pupil achievement and enjoyment, gifted and talented, curriculum extension and opportunities within the school and to observe how this is implemented within the classroom. | ) |
Moira Lyons-Montgomery, Staff governor,Finance & EnvironmentI was privileged to start working at St Andrew's nearly two years ago in the Reception class shortly after my own daughter started school. I had previously volunteered doing 'readers' on a regular basis and it was a great way to become familiar with school routine, rhetoric and policy. I now work as a one-to-one Teaching Assistant in Year 1 and have close links with SEN. My husband is an equine vet for a Practice near Dorchester with a clientele base around this lovely area. Originally from New Zealand I exchange visits with family there as often as I can and have travelled in many wonderful out-of-the-way places around the world. I have experience of ownership and management of small businesses, second the accounts of Holnest church and am a committee member of the Yeovil Mountaineering Club and look forward to contributing as a Governor to the running of this wonderful school. | ) |
Fiona Payne, Staff governor,People & Curriculum | ) |
Rob Cole, Parent Governor, Finance & EnvironmentI have lived in Yetminster with my wife Rebecca for nearly 7 years. Our son Matthew started reception in September. I am a qualified accountant and am studying towards my MBA, which I hope to complete in January. I work as a Finance & Business Manager at a large Secondary School in Weymouth and prior to this job, worked for Dorset County Council on school funding and strategic budget planning. As a parent governor, I hope to support the governing body and school with my finance / buildings background and more so to support the teaching, learning and educational opportunities for the pupils within the school. | ) |
Becki Cooke, Parent governor,People & CurriculumI moved to Yetminster just over 6 years ago with my husband, Andrew and our two daughters Charlotte yr6 and Samantha yr3. Prior to having the girls, I worked in Admin for a variety of organisations and am quite a methodical person. For the past 4 years I have worked within the village and have forged links within the community. Until recently I have been the chairperson of the school's PTA and have planned a number of events to raise much needed funds for extra curriculum activities, I have found this role to be very rewarding and feel the time has come for me to contribute further within our school by becoming a Governor. | ) |
Emma Harris, Parent Governor, Finance & EnvironmentI moved to Leigh in 2009 with my husband, David, and 3 boys (aged 18, 15 and 9) from Somerset (from Bristol 5 years previous to that) when my youngest son started at St Andrew's School. I was at university in Bristol and my degree in Accounting & Finance took me to London in 1988 where I worked in Options & Futures and then as a Quantitative Analyst for a City bank. I moved back to Bristol after getting married and worked in various different industries before having my children. As a child of an army family I had several homes all over the world including Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, Poland, Northern Ireland and Scotland but was at boarding school in Somerset (near my grandparents) so have subsequently dug my heels firmly into the English West Country (never to be removed!!). I have a keen interest in education and one day would like to teach Maths. Being a Governor of St Andrew's school seems a good place to start to get to know young people who have such a hunger for learning! | ) |
Simon Jones, Parent Governor, Finance & Environment | ) |