COULD YOU BE A GOVERNOR?

Ark Putney are recruitng for a parent Governor. 

All parents, carers and guardians of children at the school are eligible to be candidates.  If you would like to be considered, please complete the online form at https://arkonline.org/uk-schools/become-governor by the relevant deadline. The deadline for applications is 9.00am on Friday 1 July or if you would like any support completing this form or have any questions on the role before applying, please contact the Governance Regional Officer, Louise Garcia – louise.garcia@arkonline.org.

CLICK TO VIEW THE JOB DESCRIPTION

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Academies are schools funded by the government with the freedom to govern independently – but all are accountable to the Secretary of State for Education. To share resources and best practice, many are part of multi-academy trusts – a network of schools under one legal body. 

Ark Putney Academy is part of Ark Schools - a leading education charity and one of the country’s top-performing academy operators. Ark is non-denominational and does not make any profit from running its schools. 

Ark’s relationship with the Secretary of State is set out in the master funding agreement. There are also supplemental funding agreements for each individual school in the network, including Ark Putney Academy. 

Ark Schools Master Funding Agreement

Ark Putney Supplemental Funding Agreement

Every school in the Ark network is the legal responsibility of the Ark Schools Board. This board focuses on statutory duties and delegates most day-to-day responsibilities to each school’s individual Local Governing Body (LGB). This means that Ark Putney Academy's governors are able to concentrate on the things that really matter – educational strategy, school outcomes and aspiration. 

The Ark Schools Articles of Association and Decision Making Framework scheme of delegation can be found on the Ark Schools website here. 

CONTACTING THE GOVERNORS 

The LGB meets four times a year. 

The Clerk to the Governors is Titilola Kehinde (titilola.kehinde@arkonline.org). Governors can be contacted through the Clerk. 

OUR LOCAL GOVERNING BODY

Ark Putney Academy's LGB is made up as follows:

  • Six to 10 members appointed by Ark, to include the Chair - usually people with a local connection or interest who are committed to supporting educational opportunity in the area
  • The Principal
  • Two parent governors
  • One teaching staff governor
  • One non-teaching staff governor
  • One local authority representative from the London Borough of Wandsworth

Ark aims to create a balanced group that will have the right skills, connections and dynamic for the LGB to work well and support the school in achieving exceptional performance:

Good insight into the specific challenges at the school and the general challenges of operating top-quality schools
Excellent community links
Specific skills as needed by/relevant to the school
A link to the senior executive team of Ark

Ark Putney Academy Governors

Nayeem Syed (Chair)

Nayeem Syed is a senior lawyer at London Stock Exchange Group, and his work focuses on financial technology, complex outsourcing and global transformation. He is married with two children, 15 and 10, and lives in Wimbledon.

Genevieve Field (Ark Link and SEND Link Governor)

Genevieve has been teaching in London secondary schools since 2009. She was the Professional Mentor for trainee teachers (Teach First and Schools Direct) across multiple schools in the Harris Federation and was also responsible for improving the quality of Teaching and Learning in the school. She currently works for Ark Schools in the Ark Teacher Training Team as a Professional Tutor, School Partnership Lead and Subject Lead for Design & Technology. She gained a Masters Degree in 2007, and completed an NPQML (National Professional Qualification for Middle Leaders) in 2014. Genevieve believes that all children deserve a great education – to allow them to achieve their potential and follow their dreams and is excited about helping Putney make that a reality.

Fiona Forbes (Ark Appointed Governor)

Fiona Forbes is a marketing consultant at Off The Fence Marketing. After graduating from Durham University, Fiona spent a decade working at Unilever before setting up Off the Fence Marketing in 2012. She shares Ark’s aim of giving every Ark pupil an outstanding education and the best possible opportunities.

Christopher Forsyth (Vice Chair, Ark Appointed Governor and Safeguarding Link Governor)

Chris enjoyed a 30 year professional career as a business lawyer, including as a partner at international firm, Freshfields (2000-2015), where served 4 years as co head of the firm's graduate recruitment function. In 2017, Chris joined the pathfinder cohort of the retraining initiative, NowTeach, successfully completing his QTS and PGCE with Ark/Goldsmiths, working as a trainee history teacher at Ark Putney Academy. As an Ark Putney Academy Governor, he will leverage his legal, coaching and teaching experiences to support the school during its current growth phase.

Matthew Jukes (Ark Appointed Governor)

Matthew Jukes works for RTI International and has 20 years of experience as a researcher in international education and child development. His work in low- and middle-income countries looks at social and emotional learning in the classroom, adapting pedagogy to cultural context, evidence-based decision-making in education, and the elements of effectiveness in national literacy programmes. Matthew has taught secondary school students in the Gambia and teachers and graduate students at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Institute of Education in London.  With the focus of Matthew's work so far from home, he is looking to contribute to his own community through an Ark governor role. He has been a fan of Ark's for some time and is looking forward to learning from the work of one of its schools and contributing time and enthusiasm to the mission.

Louise Knight (Ark Appointed Governor)

After three years at Bain & Company as a management consultant, Louise left the corporate sector to work in Education. She gained a PGCE, and now teaches English at Kingston Grammar School, where she thoroughly enjoys the teaching, but misses the opportunity to tackle larger strategic questions and challenges. She hopes to be able to apply both sides of her experience to the governor position.

Silvia Pompeo (Parent Governor)

With children at Ark Putney Academy, Silvia is keen to help on wider school engagement within the local community. Silvia has through her previous role as dental nurse gained safeguarding experience and experience in helping children with anxiety.

Laura Watts (Staff Governor)

Laura Watts is Vice Principal at Ark Putney Academy with responsibility for curriculum, teaching and learning. Since training on a Graduate Teaching Programme in the subject of English, she has been committed to a long-standing and meaningful career in education. She has gained a range of experiences, having fulfilled both pastoral and academic middle leadership roles as a Head of Year and Head of English, but found her passion for teaching and learning on a Lead Practitioner course with The Harris Federation. In pursuit of CPD within leadership, Laura has gained an MA in Education as well as the NPQSL certification; it is the CPD offer within the Ark Network that she is most proud of. She is passionate about her work, and the work of her colleagues, and is keen to ensure her role as governor supports the school further on their journey.

Ben Williams (Ark Appointed Governor; Finance Link Governor)

Ben is very proud to be a governor of Ark Academy Putney. He is a former secondary school Maths teacher who believes passionately in giving students access to the best opportunities regardless of background. Ben is a qualified chartered accountant with experience in auditing academies, charities and not for profit entities and currently works in finance. Ben is also a founding trustee of a widening participation in higher education social enterprise and a former governor at an inner city London Further Education college.

Alison Downey (Principal)

Alison is the Principal of Ark Putney Academy.

 

The Register of Interests 2022-23 for Governors and the Attendance Information 2021-22 can be found here:

PDF iconArk Putney Academy - Governor Register of Interests 2022-23.pdf

PDF iconArk Putney Academy LGB Attendance Log 2021-22.pdf

All appointments are made by the Director of Governance for Ark.  The term of a governor is three years, except for the Principal, who remains a governor for the duration of her time in post.