CHAIR OF TRUSTEES

A Newham resident with 25 years’ experience in voluntary sector fundraising and communications, with national, local and international charities.  Currently works as a freelance fundraiser and project manager on local projects, and studies part time.

Philippa’s skills include: premises & capital projects, strategic planning, data analysis, communications, community engagement, fundraising and marketing.

TRUSTEE

Yvette trained as a chartered accountant and completed her articles at KPMG giving her a good grounding in Finance and Audit.  She then worked as a consultant specialising in change and working with businesses to make this change happen.

In her career she has led large change programmes and led teams to deliver against these programs.  It was the collaboration with the teams that she enjoyed the most.

In the last 4 years she has worked in Risk, where challenge of the business was key to mitigate key risks and move the business in the right direction. She was Co-Chair of the EMEA Business Risk Committee and a decision maker at the Business Acceptance Committee.

TRUSTEE

Alex’s involvement in governance started in 2012 when he joined the Rushmere governing body as a parent governor. During which time as a governor he served as chair of finance, vice chair, and as chairperson. He was instrumental in Rushmere’s journey from “Requires Improvement” to “Good”. He has been a member of the Suffolk Governors Forum, including a period as chair. 

His career in educational ICT support has given him a clear understanding of how support functions are crucial to the teaching and learning taking place in schools, which he applies to his governance role.

TRUSTEE

Helen has worked in education for many years and has taught and led in both secondary and primary schools. She is currently Head of a Teaching School Alliance in Brighton and Hove.

She has also worked as a consultant for a Local Authority leading on workforce development and governance. She is a trained facilitator and regularly designs and leads development for school teachers and leaders.

Her passion in education has always been developing others so that all children are given the opportunity to learn with the best possible teachers and leaders. This has been achieved through being an outward facing leader, working and learning collaboratively and establishing effective networks.

MEMBER

Founder of IROKO Theatre-in-Education Company, Alex has 20 years’ experience providing practical creative arts activities in schools and higher institutions all over England. He has worked and continues to work as a Consultant for renowned British institutions like the BBC, the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Victoria & Albert Museum, Horniman Museum & Gardens, The British Museum and the Museum of London, Member of the Steering Committee of The British Museum Supplementary School Programme, Member of The British Museum’s Community Steering Group for Object Journeys.

CHAIR OF MEMBERS

A long-standing member of both Kaizen and Eko Pathways schools governing bodies; a member of the safeguarding panel for Newham; an advocate supporting families in need in Newham.

MEMBER

Vivienne Porritt is a leadership consultant working with school leaders on impact, vision, strategy, professional learning and development, and women’s leadership. She is also Vice President of the Chartered College of Teaching in England. Formerly, she was a secondary headteacher, Director for School Partnerships at UCL Institute of Education and a Chair of Governors in London. Vivienne is also a co-founder and, joyously, a Strategic Leader of WomenEd, a global movement that connects, supports and empowers women leaders in education.

She is the co-editor, with Peter Earley, of Effective Practices in CPD, Lessons for School (2009).

Vivienne is also co-editor, with Keziah Featherstone, of 10% Braver: Inspiring Women to Lead Education (2019) Sage Education. She is the co-editor of WomenEd’s second book, Being 10% Braver, published December 2020, Corwin.

Jan has over 24 years of experience in education finance and started as a school receptionist for a Local Authority.

One of Jan’s previous roles was Senior Business Manager for the SEN department of the Local Authority, where her expertise of SEN and High Needs funding grew.  She then moved on to Eleanor Smith Special School (now known as Eko Pathways) and is proud to say she was a key player in the conversion of the first 3 schools to convert to Eko Trust in November 2016. 

As Trust Lead for Finance, Jan strategically manages and reports on all the budgets across the trust.

Having come from specialist school and an SEN background, Jan is proud to be part of an organisation that recognises and has strong ambitions that all children have the right to have their needs met and to be the best they can be.

Teresa Rowland - Trust Lead for Finance, Business and Operations

Teresa is a qualified School Business Manager and has been involved in the education business for nearly 20 years, working across a range of schools from those with only 70 pupils to those with nearly 700.   She has been in the central team since 2022, having joined Eko Trust with Rushmere Hall in 2021, where she was the Business Manager.

Teresa has previous business experience in the financial industry as a commercial underwriter for many years and this understanding has been invaluable in her transfer roles and skills with risk and premises management. 

In her role with the Trust, Teresa strategically manages budgets, contacts and trust-wide procurement, together with supporting School Operations Managers across all the schools.  Teresa is fully committed to securing best value and using best practices, enabling our schools to provide all our pupils the best education we can provide and they deserve.