If you have any questions about these roles, and/or would like to find out more and apply to be a Malmesbury School Governor please contact Elaine Smith, the Clerk to the Governors, via the school email address: admin@malmesbury.wilts.sch.uk marking it FAO Elaine Smith

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Pen Portraits

Tamsyn Luggar – Co-opted Governor (Chair)

Tamsyn was elected to the Governing Body in July 2018.  She has been a School Governor since 2012, initially at Lea and Garsdon Primary School and then at Westonbirt School.  Tamsyn has a degree in Geography and qualified as a Chartered Mineral and Waste Surveyor.  She is also a swim coach with Malmesbury Marlins ASC.

Deborah Gray – Co-opted Governor (Vice Chair)

Deborah joined the Governing Body in September 2000 and served as Chair from 2004 until 2018. Both her children attended Malmesbury School and, although their needs were different, they both thrived and enjoyed their time at the school. Years on, they would say that Malmesbury School made them who they are today. Deborah is a freelance food and travel writer who enjoys yoga, literature, live music and theatre.

Sharon Millar – Co-opted Governor

Sharon joined the Governing Body in 2008, having just moved to the area from Northern Ireland where she worked as 6th Form Study Manager with one of the Province’s leading Grammar Schools. She now lives and works in Malmesbury running her own Recruitment and Management Consultancy business. She has until recently been a Childline Volunteer involving support for children in long term residential or foster care. She has three sons, one of whom attended Malmesbury School and a stepson who attended the school.

Brett Jouny – Headteacher

Brett joined the Governing Body as an ex-officio member on his appointment in September 2021.

Sue Poolman– Co-opted Governor

Sue joined the Governing Body in 2012. She practised as a solicitor in East London for over twenty years, specialising in Legally Aided Family and Criminal cases. After this she spent a decade living in Switzerland, where she took an active part at her daughters’ school. She moved to Malmesbury in 2009 and is now involved with various local organisations, including the Athelstan Museum, Carnival and Oxfam.

Hayley Twist – Staff Governor

Hayley joined the Governing Body in 2016. She teaches Science at Malmesbury School. Hayley is currently on maternity leave

Lara Farahar – Co-opted Governor

Lara Farahar joined the Governing Body in 2021 and has three children at Malmesbury School. Lara lives in Malmesbury with her family. She is a primary school teacher as well as a speech and drama tutor and examiner for LAMDA.

David Mitchell – Co-opted Governor

David became a parent governor in 2008 when both his daughters were at the school and became the first Chair of the Athelstan Trust in 2015. After a several years break, he returned to the Malmesbury Governing Body in 2021.  He owns a brand consultancy working with a Formula 1 team , F1 drivers and various corporate clients. He is also a keen wildlife photographer.

Amy Lydiate – Parent Governor

Amy Lydiate joined the Malmesbury School Governing Body as a Parent Governor in December 2021. A qualified Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) teacher who has worked across Adult, Secondary and Specialist Education, she brings with her a depth of experience. With three children also attending Malmesbury School, Amy is excited to be a part of the school’s journey.

Tom Summerbee – Staff Governor

Tom joined the Governing Body in 2022.  He teaches Modern Foreign Languages in Malmesbury School.

Catherine Oxtoby (Co-opted Governor)

Catherine joined the Governing Body in 2022.  She qualified as a vet and worked in local practices for 13 years before undertaking a PhD at Nottingham vet school. She currently works for a bespoke insurance company assessing and underwriting veterinary risk, and supervises 3 PhD students. She has two boys who both attend the school and is married to Tom – one of the directors at The George Vets in town.

Brian Fung (Co-opted Governor)

Brian joined the Governing Body in 2022.  He is originally from Hong Kong, having moved to the United Kingdom in 2021.

Florence Yu – Parent Governor

Florence joined the Governing Body in 2022.  Originally from Hong Kong, she has a background in human resources management.  She has also led a large number of programmes collaborating with schools, healthcare professionals, environmental groups, charities in areas covering nutrition education, active healthy living, D&I and sustainability projects.

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How to contact the Governors
Any of the governors can be contacted by writing to them at the school address or emails can be directed to: admin@malmesbury.wilts.sch.uk marked FAO Clerk of Governors.

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Message from Chair of Governors July 2023

As we approach the end of term, and the end of the academic year, I have taken the opportunity to reflect on the valuable contribution that the Local Governing Board (LGB) has made in supporting Malmesbury School over the last 12 months and wanted to share with you an overview of our work.

One of the first tasks of the academic year was to approve the School Improvement Plan. This Plan is used by Mr Jouny and the Senior Leadership Team to map out the plans for the development of the school over the academic year. During the year, we have reviewed and challenged the progress that has been made in achieving the improvements set out in the plan. The focus for this year’s plan included:

• Developing students’ fluency, confidence and enjoyment in reading
• Embedding the school values and improving behaviour
• Enhancing the assembly and tutorial programme
• Further embedding the work on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)
• Further growth of our 6th Form

Through the long Autumn term, we scrutinised our GCSE and A Level results, which continue to be strong, maintaining our position as, not only one of the highest performing schools in Wiltshire, but the South West region. We have individually attended meetings with the Staff to consider the results at a Faculty level, and as an LGB to understand our results in a local and national context.

In February we reviewed the curriculum that we offer our students from Year 7 through to Year 13, to ensure that we continue to offer a diverse curriculum that not only challenges our academic students, but also supports our students for whom vocational courses may be more appropriate.

In March we considered the strategic aims of the school and set the following aims for the next 5 years.

1. To sustain a safe, happy and caring environment.
2. To support learning and personal development and to prioritise well-being and celebrate endeavour and achievement of the whole school community.
3. To provide high quality, inspirational teaching, excellent facilities and a fully appropriate, broad and inclusive curriculum for every student.
4. To equip our young people to succeed in the wider world with an enthusiasm and confidence for life and learning, resilience and a willingness to contribute positively to the wider community.
5. To inform and engage parents/carers to support every aspect of their child’s learning and development and to become actively involved in the success of the school. To maintain a strong reputation for the school within the local community and to encourage their active participation and engagement with the school.
6. To further develop as a centre of professional learning. To be recognised for raising standards here and in the wider educational community and for attracting, nurturing and retaining the best quality staff.

Through the year we have reviewed a number of key policies and procedures. These reviews have included consultation with staff, students and you, our parents and carers. The policies reviewed have included:

• The Behaviour Policy
• The Mobile Phone Policy
• The Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy
• The Uniform Policy

We have considered how, as a school, we link with our feeder schools to ensure a smooth transition of students from primary into Year 7. We have learnt about the exceptional careers advice that our students receive from both staff and students. We have challenged staff about the iLearn curriculum, to ensure that it continues to respond to current issues and to equip our students for life in a modern rapidly changing world.

School attendance has been an area of focus not only for us at Malmesbury, but also across the Athelstan Trust and nationally. As Governors, we have continued to monitor school attendance, to understand the reasons for non-attendance and the work that both the academic and pastoral teams are doing to support students to return to school.

Likewise, Governors have been actively involved in behaviour management throughout the year. We have convened a number of behaviour panels, which form an important part of our school behaviour management strategies.

Beyond our termly meetings, rarely a week goes by without a Governor calling into school: to meet with the senior leadership team or members of staff, to attend student forums with an opportunity to hear directly from our student body, to help judge competitions, or to interview potential new members of staff.

This year the LGB welcomed a number of new Governors. Tom Summerbee and Tillie Rundle joined us as a staff governor, Florence Yu was appointed as a parent governor. We were also joined by Catherine Oxtoby, Brian Fung, Liz Stethridge and Dan Badman. During the year Alex Revans, Blair Thompson and Caroline Wild stood down as governors. If you would like to learn more about the governors, please see their profiles which are found at https://malmesbury.wilts.sch.uk/governors/.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the Governors for their passion and dedication to ensuring that Malmesbury School continues to be a Happy, Caring and Excellent school for our staff, students and the community that it serves.

I wish you all a wonderful summer holiday.

Yours sincerely,

Tamsyn Luggar
Chair of Governors