I am privileged to be Chair of Governors of  Poltair School. I am also a Governor at Pondhu school.

I started my teaching career in a large Primary school in Hampshire, before moving to Cornwall with my husband Philip. We have three daughters, Catherine who is a teacher, Alison is a food scientist and Emma who is a physiologist, all three girls attended Poltair.

My first teaching post in Cornwall was at Carclaze Infants’ school. After seven years, there followed my three headships, at Grampound, St. Austell Infants school (forerunner of Pondhu school), and Trenance Infants school Newquay.

In 1994 I joined Cornwall’s Education Advisory Service. With responsibility for the schools in north Cornwall. I enjoyed visiting schools and observing the quality of education in our schools. Most of all I enjoyed talking to the children. I do have some tales to tell!

As well as my ‘day job’, I was also an Ofted inspector, reporting on fourteen schools across the South West. My preference is to work with schools over a sustained period to achieve the required improvements.

Finally, after several moves ‘onwards and upwards,’ I was appointed Cornwall’s Chief Inspector of schools, a post I held until my retirement.

It is my firm belief that all our children deserve the best education possible and, working with everyone at Poltair school that is what I would hope we would achieve.

In my spare time I like travelling, cooking, family history and reading. When I am not engaged in any of those pursuits, I contribute to the activities of St Austell Soroptimists. And last but not least I am Church Warden at St Paul’s Church Charlestown.

I have been a governor at Poltair School since late 2021 after my daughter joined the school in September of that year. Previously I was a governor at her primary school in Wiltshire. 

Having relocated, I wanted to ensure that I contributed to the local community and although I don’t have a background in education, my experience across multiple senior management roles in a variety of industries lends itself well to holding school leaders to account and providing an appropriate level of challenge to ensure fantastic outcomes for the children at the school.

I believe that with good leadership, schools can provide inspiration and opportunity for young people to excel, despite the geographical and economical challenges that are experienced in this community in particular.

In my spare time, I can normally be found in one of three places, the kitchen, the beach or at the football. 

I have been involved as a Governor at Gorran, Bugle and Poltair School for twenty- five years. I therefore bring a range of experience to my role at Poltair having been chair and vice chair.

I have worked within the education system within Cornwall for 39 years, initially as a teaching assistant at Bugle, then training and working as a teacher in various schools in Cornwall. I went on to work as a Special Educational Needs advisor for Early Years and I have been the Headteacher and Lead for the Early Years Service, Specialist Team since 2010. My current role since 2022 is as Lead Officer for Early Years Inclusion and SEND. Over the last six years I have become an Early Years Ofsted Inspector, carrying out regular inspections outside of Cornwall.

I am married to Nick who attended Poltair School and I have two boys Lee and Jack who both also attended Poltair, Lee is now a Teacher himself and Jack works in security. I am blessed with a grandson who inspires and amazes me every day.

I enjoy being part of the Poltair community and supporting the school in its journey to raise aspirations and improve outcomes for all students. We have seen rapid improvement over the last few years. It is always a joy visiting the school and seeing the aspiring young people on their journey to adulthood being supported by a truly committed team.

I have been a Trustee of CELT since it’s inception, and prior to that was a trustee with one of it’s forerunners, PLT.  I am a Governor both Poltair and Penrice, and at both schools I act as a bridge between the Trust and the Local Governors. 

My background is not in education, but in engineering.  I spent some 30 years working as a telecoms engineer with BT starting out as an Apprentice in Penzance before moving to London, eventually leaving as a senior manager.  After leaving BT I spent some 5 years working with other telecoms companies both in the UK and Europe.  My skill set includes Project Management, Product Management, Process Engineering, Logistics and Network Design.

After the telecoms bubble burst I changed career direction quite radically, and worked for several years at an aerospace company which maintains airliners, ending up as their Management Accountant.   After finally retiring at about the 3^rd attempt, I spent several years as an adviser with Citizens Advice and I am also currently a volunteer Watchkeeper and trainer with NCI Charlestown.

Although I have no educational background I am passionate about education.  In particular I want to build a system that can inspire young people to achieve.  As a parent (some years ago now) my daughter was quite badly failed by the school system and I want to help build a system that doesn’t do failure.

In my spare time I enjoy motorcycling, especially motorcycle touring, and so far have managed to tick off 18 separate European countries on my assorted tours.