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Welcome to Harlands Community
Meet Our Governors
Meet Our Governors
Maggie Carroll
Co-opted Governor
Co-chair of Governors,
Link Governor for Area 1 of the SDP To establish an outstanding curriculum for all children.
Link Governor for Area 2 of the SDP To raise the standard of English attainment across the school.
Maggie was elected as a co-opted member of the board of governors at Harlands in 2012, since which time she has been re-elected twice. As a governor, Maggie feels a strong sense of pride in having an opportunity to contribute to the school’s vision and strategic direction. Seeing the school, and our children, grow and flourish.
Her background has always been in education, first as a secondary school teacher and then as a teacher educator at the University of Brighton. Since her retirement she has continued to engage with schools and their governance in East Sussex, Brighton and Hove, and beyond.
Maggie is also a Local Support Governor for East Sussex – a scheme where more experienced governors offer support to schools across the county. This is great for getting a sense of the bigger picture across the county.
Michelle Warner
Co-opted Governor
Co-chair of Governors,
Chair of Finance Committee & Safeguarding Link Governor
Michelle is a certified chartered accountant. She started her career at Nestle and followed this with working for a tourism consultancy, a marketing company, a Parish Council (Ditchling) and a property management company. She is now the finance director for a commercial property fund.
Michelle attended Uckfield School and having moved away for University and career returned to East Sussex in 1999.
Michelle has a strong interest in the local community. She has served as a parish councillor and trustee of the Ionides Trust land at Buxted. She has previous experience of school governance, having been a governor at Buxted Church of England Primary School some 12 years ago.
Julia Darke
Parent Governor
Vice Chair of Finance Committee.
Link Governor for Area 6 of the SDP To ensure outstanding learning in the Early Years
Julia was elected to the Governing Body as a Parent Governor in November 2021. Julia has been a parent at the School, including the Nursery, since April 2011. Her two eldest children have since left the school and now attend Uckfield College. Her youngest child is currently in year 3.
Julia is a Chartered Physiotherapist. She enjoyed an NHS career spanning 30 years, including 24 years specialising in Paediatrics (Children,) with a sub-specialism of special needs, particularly the early years of physical, functional and global development. Julia worked in both acute hospital and/or community NHS Trusts throughout East Sussex, Surrey and central London. Her last 18 years in the NHS were spent working with children throughout the community of East Sussex. This included working in partnership with local authority schools.
Julia’s ethos, both personally and professionally, has always been to maximise the global functional development of children to achieve their individual full potential. Early intervention is the key to a successful longer term outcome.
Julia is a strong supporter of Harlands Primary School, currently volunteers her time to hear children read and is enthusiastic about her new role as a ‘critical friend’ to the school.
Lara King
Parent Governor
SEND Vulnerable Children Link.
Lara was elected to the Governing Body as a Parent Governor in November 2021. Lara's two children both attended Harlands, with the eldest moving up to Uckfield College.
As a parent with a child at Harlands, I feel that I can offer an insight into the experience of being part of the school community and represent the needs and views of pupils and parents. I am approachable and flexible, and would actively encourage parents to discuss any concerns that they would like me to feedback constructively. I have over 20 year’s experience working with children with special needs within the NHS and Local Educational Authority, working in a wide range of mainstream, specialist, maintained and independent schools, and am passionate about advocating for the needs of all children. I am familiar with the structure and processes for SEN and believe that this experience, whilst being useful for SEN, will also be transferable to other settings within the school, and allow me to understand and process a broad range of information and data.
Richard Blakeley
Headteacher
Member of Finance Committee.
Richard joined the school in September 2019 moving from Parkside school in Heathfield where he was Headteacher for 7 years.
Before that Richard was Deputy at St Johns School in Crowborough and before that Richard worked as an Advanced Skills teacher in Faversham.
During that time he taught in many different age groups and supported many other local schools across Kent.
Kevin Short
Associate Governor
Member of Finance Committee.
Kevin retired recently after 34 years in the water industry, during which time he gained formal Health and Safety qualifications along with finance. During his career he has managed teams from ten to over ninety operational personnel and teams of mechanical engineers and managers.
He has set up and run educational tours of the water process sites which guided the visitors through the whole process cycle including the science involved. The tours delivered by his teams helped raise money for Chailey Heritage Foundation, their chosen charity.
He now feels he can use his experience as needed in the role of the link Health and Safety governor and, on the finance committee along with other roles.
Laura Hollings
Staff Governor
Deputy Headteacher
Sally May
Associate Governor
Emma Ellwood
Associate Governor
Will Roney
Co-opted Governor
Vice Chair of Governors
Link Governor for Area 5 of the SDP To become a research informed school.
Will Roney is a teacher at a local secondary school. He has worked in schools locally and abroad teaching a variety of subjects including French, German and PSHE.
Outside of school he is a father to his two daughters and he enjoys football, reading, cooking and playing bass guitar.
Michael Imomoh
Co-opted Governor
Link Governor for Area 4 of the SDP To facilitate all children to become confident, resilient and independent learners.
Michael Imomoh works in Higher Education as Senior People Business Partner, where he helps leaders deliver their business strategy through people. Passionate about learning and development, his career spans human resources, project management and analytics. He worked in the private sector internationally before venturing into higher education in the UK. He enjoys volunteering and is interested in how children at Harlands are nurtured to take the next step beyond primary school confidently.
Jamie Keddie
Co-opted Governor
Link Governor for Area 3 of the SDP To raise the standard of Maths attainment across the school.
Jamie has experience within the charity and healthcare sectors, with a focus on how people can have a say in how local services are run. He is passionate about building links between communities and schools, health and other public bodies. He is also a trustee at Uckfield Volunteer Centre. He is interested in how children's individuality can be nurtured in a school and is keen to give support and help where he can to help the learning and experience of all children at Harlands.
Anna Cooper
Parent Governor
Anna has worked in education since 2005, she previously taught in primary schools leading mathematics and is now teaching adults on apprenticeships who have not previously achieved GCSEs.
With two children at the school herself, she is invested in supporting the opportunities that all children at Harlands get to fulfil their individual potential.
Abigail Wilkinson
Co-opted Governor
Abigail has worked in education for over 10 years, specialising in key stage 1 and leading literacy, implementing highly successful initiatives and driving positive change. She is currently the Deputy Headteacher at a local primary school.
She has a passion for early education and, with a young family of two children who currently attend Harlands, is committed to ensuring that all young people at the school have access to engaging and innovative opportunities, allowing them to flourish and achieve their full potential.
Mary Babington
Clerk to Governors
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