Cold Ash St Mark's CE Primary School

Chair of Finance & Premises 

I joined the governing board as a Parent governor in October 2021. I am married to Laurence and we live in neighbouring Ashmore Green with our two children Albert and Elizabeth.  

I am new to school governance, but I am passionate about building on the success at St Marks to make it the very best school for all the children it serves.

I am an experience rail professional, having worked in the rail industry for nearly 15 years, my experience is varied but in recent years has focused on third party investment with stakeholder management being at the heart of this. My current role of Industry Programme Director for the Thames Valley area gives me the privilege of leading on the investment in our local area and on the route into Paddington. Building business cases, securing funding, leading teams, delivering on budget to programme and delivery fantastic benefits are all key to my role and some of what I hope to bring into my governance at St Marks.  

Outside of work life is pretty busy with the family but I also love travelling, walking and getting out in the garden and beautiful countryside that we live in.  

Chair of Learning and Progress

Nominated governor for Safeguarding 

I have been involved in educational provision since 2001 and have experience of teaching within two local mainstream secondary provisions and a residential special school. In addition to my general teaching qualification I have completed further training as a qualified Teacher of the Deaf and also hold the SENCO qualification. I have worked within different positions of responsibility including Head of Year, Head of Department and SENCO.

I am currently employed as Vice Principal at Mary Hare school for the Deaf and have specific responsibility for the residential care provision and as the Designated Safeguarding Lead for the school. I am also a member of the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board within West Berkshire.

I moved to Cold Ash in 2013 and have two sons who both attend St Mark’s school. My wife and I are keen to support the local community and contribute to the values and ethos of the school and recognised that the nurturing environment was going to support our sons education.

Nominated governor for Religious Education

Having moved with my family from Thatcham to Cold Ash in 2017, I joined the staff of St Marks around Easter 2019 as a lunchtime supervisor. While this is my first job directly working in a school, I have a varied background where teaching, entertaining and keeping children safe has been a repeating theme. From involvement with YMCA day camps, to teaching archery at various groups and clubs, to volunteering with the Guide and Scout movements, to raising my own children and working at historical sites as a living history demonstrator and re-enactor, I have often found myself outdoors with young people all around.

My official qualifications are in Microbiology and Biochemistry and I have worked previously in the NHS and for a multinational household and body-care company, mostly in a laboratory dealing with quality control of raw materials, finished products and microbial contamination related customer complaints. The rigorous and exacting standards used in science translate well to governorship, as does the desire to learn and improve. In 2006, I gave up the long hours to focus on caring for my family and having a better work life balance. This led to me diversifying my skills into crafting medieval inspired and replica items and trading at medieval events and more recently online, as a sole trader.

I feel that I have reached a stage in my life where I want to put down long term roots and give back to the community in which I am living, the chance to be a governor at St Marks fits well with my desire to serve; while supporting the staff, parents and children of this wonderful village school to strive for greater excellence.

I am mum to Poppy who joined St Marks school in September 2015 and Xander will be joining in September 2019.  I have been an active member of the school association since Poppy joined the school and I believe that St Marks is a fantastic school with great kids.  I want to work on the already amazing foundations to ensure each child not only learns to the best of their ability but makes great friends and memories whilst they are with us.  I will be responsible for the marketing and PR of the school, which is what I am passionate about and hopefully have the right skill set for.

I have a varied professional background starting my career in the hotel and catering arena, training as a chef many moons ago.  After a 6 year career in event and wedding management I joined Mars Chocolate in their marketing team, at the same time as achieving at higher level CIM qualification. I then moved into Sales and had a great time widening my sales and negotiation experience over 2 years. I then went back into the marketing function into Category Management where I have stayed for the last 14 years.  I work 3 days per week and from home which gives me a great work life balance as family is obviously my main focus, and we also have a family self storage business that keeps my husband Drew busy.

In my "spare" time I enjoy cooking, yoga, the theatre and the odd pub quiz!

Sarah Chamberlain - Foundation Governor

Nominated Governor for Health and Safety

I joined as a Foundation Governor in February 2021. I am mum to Edie who is in year 1 at the school.

My expertise is in all things security: I worked in law enforcement for over 20 years before I joined a large high profile organisation 9 years ago where I now manage their physical and personnel security risk.

I hope to be able to use the skills I’ve gained throughout the years to support the school where I can, but my main area of interest is the personal development of the children. 

The academic side is obviously vitally important, but I’m keen that we deliver on the school’s mission and values. I want to ensure we translate this effectively so the children are provided with the best guidance and support to nurture them through this critical stage in their development so they can lead the most fulfilling and enjoyable lives they can, providing them with some fantastic memories of their early days.

 I feel that the governors as a group may not have the right level of visibility, understanding and engagement they should have with parents/carers and staff, and that we are perceived as a group that can’t be reached. I believe that we should have a closer, more open relationship: that we make our group approachable and show we are there to support them as well and would like to see us work to actively raise our profile. 

When I’m not working or managing Edie’s hectic social calendar I like to go running to clear the cobwebs. I love reading and my dream is to find the time to start writing the series of books I’ve started planning! 

Nominated governor for Early Years Foundation Stage and SEND

I qualified as a teacher at Bulmershe College in Reading in 1978 and worked in a mainstream school until moving to Canada for a year with my husband Rick.

On our return to the UK, I qualified as a Teacher of the Deaf at Oxford Brookes and took up a post as Teacher in Charge of a Resource Base in a mainstream school. I have worked as a peripatetic Teacher of the Deaf across 3 Berkshire unitary authorities and am currently a part time class teacher at Mary Hare Primary School for the Deaf.

Originally from Manchester, we moved from Reading to Cold Ash in July 1986. We have 2 adult daughters who both attended St. Mark’s. During their time at school I played an active role in the St. Mark’s School Association.

I have attended St. Mark’s church since 1987 and have been a regular member of the church choir. I was part of the Sunday School team for 15 years. I joined the governing board of St. Mark’s School as a Foundation Governor in May 2020.

In my spare time I love spending time with friends and family, singing in local choirs and enjoying films and the theatre.

Chair of Personnel Committee

I joined the governing board in October 2022 and am new to school governance. I do not have children but have always been interested in giving back to the community in ways that support children. I am currently the leader of 1^st Speen Rainbows (Girl Guiding group for 4-7-year-olds) and previously was an independent visitor with Action for Children.  

At work, I am the Director of Global Marketing for a database management and software company with my focus on building strategies that drive demand and revenue growth. I can utilise my transferable skills for my role in governance – people management and leadership, finance and budgeting, project management, communication and problem-solving.  

When I am not working, I like to keep fit and healthy – particularly in the gym or playing tennis. I have been learning Spanish for the past 4 years and hope to become fluent one day.  

The headteacher is an  ex-oficio governor which means they are a member of the Governing Board by virtue of the position held in the school and do not need to be elected.                                                                                    

My husband Andy and I have lived in Cold Ash since 1994, our three children attended St Marks Primary School. During that time, I played an active role in the School Association. We now have five grandchildren, some of which attend St Marks-so we have a long association with the school and have seen many changes.

I work for West Berkshire District Council in the Public Protection Partnership Team and have provided both enforcement and educational roles within the department. I recently took early retirement, saying that I am presently providing two days a week short term contract with the food team!

I feel the reporting, enforcement and educational skills required within my Public Protection roles are transferable to the role of a school governor. With more time available I feel now I can give back to the school that have given us so much over the years.

I do volunteer work with the Thatcham Community Larder and assist an organisation in Hampshire run a resident’s association. My hobbies include walking, cycling and fly-fishing.  

Anne Hunter - Clerk to Governors