Governors

Welcome from our Chair of Governors

Welcome to Walberton & Binsted CE Primary School, our beautiful, well-equipped village school set in wonderful grounds. I have been Chair of Governors since October 2014, having previously been Co-Chair with Diana Levantine.
I am so pleased that at Walberton our Christian ethos encourages kind, thoughtful, responsible behaviour and provides a supportive community where everyone’s contribution is valued. The wonderful warmth that permeates the entire school from happy and polite children never ceases to lift my heart, no matter how many times I visit the school! I know that the entire team at our school understand the importance of every day in each child’s life, and we believe that all our children have the right to the best possible learning experiences during their time with us.
The day-to-day running of our school and the co-ordination of the planning and development is the responsibility of our Headteacher, Mrs Brockhurst, supported by the leadership team. The delivery of the curriculum is the responsibility of our teachers, supported by teaching assistants.
To monitor the effectiveness of our school we, as a governing body, ask questions, review the impact of policies and practice, and assess the progress being made against plans and targets. It is of a great help in these tasks that we are fortunate enough to have a well-informed and dedicated governing body with governors who take a genuine and active interest in all aspects of school life. Our governors come from all walks of life and therefore bring a diverse mixture of skills and experience which really helps us to not only support our Headteacher and her staff but also to challenge them.

Jill Hoskins
Chair of Governors

What do our governors do?

Our governing body is responsible for working with the school to ensure that it delivers a high quality education for every one of our pupils. Together with the headteacher, who is responsible for day-to-day management, we set the school’s aims and policies.

Key roles of governors:

To ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
To hold the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the performance management of staff
To oversee the financial performance of the school and make sure its money is well spent

Find out more about becoming a governor

If you are interested in becoming a school governor you can find more information from these websites:

Inspiring Governors – Working together to improve school and college governance
SGOSS – Governors for Schools

Meet our Governors

Chair of Governors

Mrs Jill Hoskins

I have been a Governor at Walberton for 10 years and Chair of Governors for 5 years. My own daughter spent 7 very happy years here, and if she were 4 years old again I would, without hesitation, choose Walberton again for her.

I am particularly interested in providing a varied and vibrant curriculum and have a strong interest in the Arts, as I believe the Arts play a vital (but often underestimated) role in our children’s education. I especially love dance and am involved in running the school’s Dance Club, and actively promote as many theatre experiences for our pupils as possible.

For most of my working life I have run my own businesses and so am used to having to turn my hand to anything and everything, the phrase ‘Chief Cook and Bottle Washer’ comes to mind! So I feel exceptionally fortunate to have a team of very dedicated Governors who bring a wealth of experience, from a wide range of backgrounds, to the Governing Body. Although being a Governor can be challenging, working together with such a strong team also makes it immensely rewarding.

I have been a School Governor for 17 years, having been invited to join the Board when I was a member of the Walberton Parish Council. During this time I was privileged to have been Chairman of the Governors and, when Mrs Brockhurst came to the School 5 years ago as our Headteacher, I stepped down and my then Co-Chairman, Jill Hoskins, took over the very important and sometimes difficult, responsibilities of being the Chairman.

The new school was built 12 years ago and as a Board we were very excited by the prospect of having a specially designed building to replace the old one which was built in the 60’s.

I am very proud to still be involved in many aspects of school life and to be Vice-Chairman.

I was trained as a nurse and became a Ward Sister in a London Hospital.

I Co-Founded Snowdrop in 1993, and have been managing the charity on my own for the past 13 years, which has been very challenging, but also very rewarding.

Since I joined the school there have been 6 children who we call ‘Snowdrop children’.These are children who have been diagnosed with a life threatening illness and are cared for by the remarkable Snowdrop Children’s Community Nurses. All of them have recovered and went on to attend senior schools.

I have 3 children, 3 grand daughters and 3 grandsons! Two of my grandchildren, Emily and Edward were both at Walberton and Binsted School from year R to 6.

Co-opted Governor

Mrs Diana Levantine

I am married to Helen and we have three daughters, two guinea pigs and a golden retriever. Our youngest daughter is still at the school and thoroughly enjoys the variety of topics, opportunities and experiences offered throughout her learning journey. Our middle daughter recently left Walberton to join Bishop Luffa and our eldest daughter has just completed a Masters degree in health psychology.

Having spent 35 years working for a global organisation I have recently taken early retirement (or is it a gap year?) to focus on more domestic tasks and to spend more time with my family.

The role of Governor provides a great opportunity to develop an understanding of how schools operate and how I can work with my fellow governors to contribute towards the continued development of all aspects of school life.

Vice Chair of Governors and

Chair of Resources Committee

Mr Richard Hine

Ex Officio Governor

Reverend Tim Ward

I am a vicar of Walberton at St Mary’s Church. I was a parent at the school for nine years. Before being a vicar I taught History at secondary level and now I like to teach about the local History of the Battle of Britain to year 6. I have been a governor of 5 schools and involved in schools’ ministry continuously for 27 years including assemblies and after school clubs. Until recently I was vice chair of an Academy Trust. I am also a sixth form chaplain at Bishop Luffa school.

My wife and I have lived in Walberton for nearly 30 years and I retired from a career in aviation 10 years ago. I am a regular churchgoer and play the guitar in the church music group. Our vicar, Tim Ward, asked me if I would like to become a foundation governor at the school in 2011 and it has been a real privilege to be a part of the school governance team ever since. Our own children all enjoyed their primary education at Walberton and we have always been impressed by the caring environment at the school which nurtures and encourages the children. As a foundation governor I particularly care about the Christian ethos of the school, whilst still being concerned with good educational results. I also have responsibility for all the data which is available from the school and from external websites and attend progress meetings with staff at school so that I can present an accurate picture of the school’s academic standards to the governing body.

Foundation Governor

Mr John Wiles

I was appointed on 10th April 2017 as a Parent Governor, a member of the Curriculum Committee and I am linked with Special Educational Needs (SEN). I am also joint Safeguarding Governor with Madeleine Crawley.

I have lived in Walberton and Fontwell since 2000 and have 3 children, 2 who have been through the school and my youngest is still at Walberton & Binsted C of E school. I owned my own business and taught Adult Education at Northbrook College, Worthing. I have worked and volunteered at the School as a Teaching Assistant, Administrative Assistant and as a Parent Helper.

I have first hand experience in Special Educational Needs, including working with Local Authority Education Departments, Local Health Authorities & Trusts and local Charities that help provide the support for children in Education.

Parent Governor and Safe Guarding Governor

Mrs Annabel Eames

Co-opted Governor, Vice Chair of Resources and Safe Guarding Governor

Mrs Madeleine Crawley

I have two children at the school. Both children have thoroughly enjoyed their journey through the school so far and I have no doubt will continue to do so. I am very lucky to be able have flexible working hours which has allowed me to help out in the children’s classes, go on school trips and assist at PTA events.

My husband and I run an organic sheep, beef and arable farm in Slindon which keeps us fairly busy. I am also a qualified Veterinary Surgeon and after a few years in practice, I worked as a veterinary advisor for 12 years. Currently, I carry out a bit of consultancy work but most of time is now spent on the farm.

I became a Governor so that I could understand more about my children’s education and the school in general as well as enabling me to positively contribute towards the running of the school. It has been, and continues to be, a real privilege to work with such a great team of governors and teaching staff who make this school the happy, safe educational hub it is!

I became the teacher governor voted for by the staff of Walberton, in September 2018. I have been a teacher governor before in Hampshire.

The governors of this school do an amazing job and I feel privileged to part of this amazing team.

My class believe me to be:fun, silly, firm and brilliant at ICT!

This school is a place where I love working; it has a family feel to it where we all care for each other. I feel that once you are a part of Walberton you are always a part of Walberton (Mrs Shilliday, a previous head, always said this about the school too).

Teacher Governor

Mrs Karen Becker

Clerk to the Governors

Mrs Jenny Challis

I joined as Clerk for the Governing Body in March 2019. This is my first role as a Clerk so I am learning as I go, but really enjoying working as part of the team. I have 3 children (2 currently attend Primary School in Felpham, and the other attends Secondary School in Barnham). In my spare time I enjoy walking our dogs along the beach, and playing netball.

I have two children at Walberton and Binsted CE Primary school, both are really happy and settled at the school. I joined the governing team as a parent governor in October, 2019.

I am a qualified teacher for both primary and secondary age ranges. I chose to begin my teaching career in primary school and loved it! Now I tutor on teacher training programmes at the University of Chichester where I am a senior lecturer in primary education. As such, I keep an up to date and working knowledge of the curriculum expectations, legislations and inspection frameworks relevant to primary schools.

I have a real passion and enthusiasm for education and believe my personal experiences as a parent, combined with my professional role, gives me a valuable and varied perspective.

Parent Governor

Mrs Lorna Earle

Photo to follow shortly

As Headteacher, I feel very privileged to be an active member of the Governing Body. I have been a Governor here at Walberton and Binsted for 6 years now, and in my many years of teaching and leadership, I have not yet met a team that work so hard to ensure the well-being of everyone who works and attends the school! They have lots of energy and a wide variety of experience and backgrounds to support the many discussions and meetings we have around school improvement. It is a real pleasure working with members of our Governing Body to continually ‘drive’ the school forwards.

I consider everyone in the school to be my extended family. There is a real warmth and caring ethos where everyone gives the time to get to know our children in the school, including their families, so that we can best support their learning and individual journeys through the school.

My aim is to provide a varied and inspiring curriculum for our young citizens so that they feel equipped and prepared for the wide world ahead of them. I wish for every child to ask big questions, to try new things and learn from their mistakes, to explore and extend their learning and knowledge, doing this with others both willingly and co-operatively.

Nothing pleases me more than a happy child who has come to me to share something new – it makes my role even more rewarding!

Head Teacher

Mrs Laura Brockhurst

PARENTS AREA

Governor Newsletters

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