You can contact the Governors at any time by emailing them at governors@stjamesprimaryschool.co.uk or leave a message at the School Office.
Our Governors
Our governors are all volunteers and representatives of the local community, parents, staff and the church. They bring a range of interests, knowledge and skills. and their role is to make important decisions for the school, plan all aspects of the schools’ development and monitor and evaluate its progress. In essence the Governors have the ultimate collective responsibility for ensuring that the school is well managed and run and meets its statutory obligations. They are not involved in day-to-day activities and issues at the school, as this is the remit of the Executive Head and Head of School.
It is the Governing body's duty to:
- Set the strategic direction, vision and ethos of the school.
- Monitor and challenge the progress of the school in achieving its priorities.
- Recruit and appraise the performance of the Executive Head.
- Exercise employer responsibility.
- Ensure the school(s) meet its statutory responsibilities.
- Ensure financial probity.
- Ensure the premises are well managed.
- Report to the school’s stakeholders.
- Hold the Executive Head to account.
Their guiding principle is always to ask ‘will this decision make things better for the children?’ and they play a crucial part in improving and developing the school and helping every child to achieve their potential.
Parent Governor Elections
To find out more about our current Parent Governors elections, please click here
For a nomination form, please click here
Our Governing Body is made up of 12 individuals from the local community, including our Executive Head, Geraldine Gallagher .
We have:
- 1 Executive Head
- 7 Foundation Governors, that include
- A Vicar of St James church
- 2 Governors appointed by the PCC of St James Church
- 2 Governors appointed the LDBS (two current vacancies)
- 2 Governors appointed by Haringey Deanery Synod
- 2 Parent Governors - parents of pupils of the school who are elected by the parent body.
- 4 Co-opted Governors - elected by the Governors to bring necessary expertise.
- 1 Local Authority Governor - nominated by the Local Authority.
- 1 Staff Governor - elected by the staff at the school.
- Associate Members - elected members who work with the Governing Body to provide a required level of expertise. Associate members have no voting rights on committees they have been appointed to..
Key Governor Information
To read of terms of reference, please click here
To read of Code of Conduct, please click here
In the interests of transparency, it is important that all our Governors declare all business and pecuniary interests and that we publish any on our website. You can find further details here
To read our response to Haringey regarding their proposed development of the Cranwood site next door to us, please click here
This year of Governor meetings are on Thursday 29 September 2022, Thursday 8 December 2022, Thursday 9 February 2023, Thursday 30 March 2023, Thursday 25 May 2023, Thursday 13 July 2023.
You can find more information about our Governor's attendance at full Governing body and committee meeting for 2020 - 2021 here
You can read the minutes from our past Governor meetings here.
School Financial Benchmarking - for more information on this, please click here
Past Governors
The following Governors stepped down from the Governing body. We thank them for their energy, time, support and commitment.
Richard Bunce (December 2022)
Louisa Hudson (July 2022)
Kunmi Akindiji (March 2022)
Keith Guthrie (December 2021)
Elaine Banton (September 2021)
Jonathan Gardner (July 2021)
Gareth Davies (2020 - 2021)
Janet Owen, Simon Cuthbertson, Justin Gowen (2019 - 2020)
Carol Lea-Robbins, Natasha Lewis, Emma France (2017-2018)
Kim Ewart (2016-17)
Gaz Daly, Helen Stansfeld, Hugh Reynolds (2015-16)
Our Co Chairs
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Larkin Morton has sixteen years of legal and regulatory experience, most recently as a U.S. qualified lawyer practicing at an international law firm in New York and then in senior compliance roles for an international financial institution in London. She has three daughters at St James Primary and is a member of St James Church. Larkin is a Deanery Governor appointed in 2021 and her term runs until July 2025. Larkin is Co Chair of our Resources committee and she is also our Admissions Link Governor and takes overall responsibility for GDPR.. |
Louise Posocco is our PCC Governor . She also takes on the role of our Communications Link Governor. Louise has three children, with the two youngest attending St James school. Louise brings to the governing body her experience from the charity sector with a specialism in not-for-profit finance. She was appointed in 2019 and her term runs until November 2023. |
Our Governors
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Estelle Addy is Vice Chair and sits on our Resources and Curriculumn committees. She has two children who were at St James Primary and are now at secondary school. Estelle is also the Safeguarding Link Governor, which includes PREVENT and E safety. She is a Deanery Governor and she was appointed in 2014 and her term runs until June 2025. |
Sunny Wong is our elected Parent Governor. He sits on our Resources committee and has over ten years experience in a leading law firm and prior to this, he worked for an international professional services firm. Sunny has two daughters at St James Primary School. He was appointed in 2018 and his term runs until October 2022.
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Rev Mark Murthen is a vicar at St James Church and is our Ex Officio Foundation Governor. He is on our Curriculum committee and is originally from Haringey and is married to Lisa - together they have two daughters who attend St James Primary. Mark was appointed in 2017 and is our Christian Ethos link Governor.. |
Piran Dhillon-Starkings is our LA Governors and has a background in politics and public affairs and is currently the Advisor to the Chair of the Bar Council. Prior to this, she led the public affairs department at the Association of Colleges and focused on government and parliamentary relations. She has also worked for an MEP, MP and political party. Piran is Chair of our Curriculum committee and is our SEN/Inclusion link Governor. She was appointed in 2019 and her term runs September 2023.
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Jolasun Odegbaro has a background in law and currently works in the Oil and Gas Industry. She is married to Soji and they have 3 children. The eldest is at secondary school, the younger two are at St James Primary School. The family are all active members of St James Church. Jolasun sits on our Curriculum committee and she is also our BAME Link Governor. She is a PCC Foundation Governor and was appointed in July 2021 and her term runs until July 2025.
Matt Larner is an LDBS appointed Governor and sits on our Curriculum committee. He is an Assistant Headteacher at a local Secondary school, where he is in charge of all GCSE students, Examination entries and curriculum, and also teaches Science. He is married to Jo and has two boys at St James Primary. He was appointed in May 2022 and his term runs until May 2026 |
Michael Gabbay is our elected Parent Governor in October 2020. He is father to Salome and lectures in mathematical logic, currently in the Philosophy Department at Cambridge University. He has a keen interest in the teaching of Mathematics, Science and the Arts and the core values of intellectual honesty and rigour that accompanies these topics. Michael sits on the Curriculum committee and is our Training and Induction Link Governor. His term runs until October 2024.
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Our Associate Governors
Tania Rezel is Associate Governor who sits on the Curriculum committee with a link role to Early Years. She has a Marketing and Business background, who has been teaching in a secondary school within Haringey, for the past 5 years. She has two children who currently attend St James.
Co Ly-Zhao is an Associate Governor. who sits on the Resources committee. Co brings to the governing body her finance experience (operational and strategic) from the education and charity sector. Co has two children attending schools in Kent.
Our Staff Governors
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Geraldine Gallagher is the Executive Head of St James Primary and is a member of both our committees.
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Penny Kirkley is our School Business Manager and sits on our Resources committee. She is our elected Staff Governor and her term runs until September 2023. |
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