Governance

Find out more about local governor recruitment here

The Trust Board adheres to the Articles of Association of the Trust and each sub-committee to the Trust Board has specific Terms of Reference that ensure good governance practice at all levels. Each school has a ‘School Board’, which is one of the sub-committees, and as such reports to the Trust Board of Trustees. At the bottom of the page you will find documents pertaining to the work of the Trust Board.

The diagram below outlines the current structure and lines of communication:

Our members and trustees are a committed and talented group who bring a wealth of experience with which to support the Trust. 

Below you will find further details. Those members and trustees marked with an asterisk are also trustees of the Holborn Estate Charity (HEC).

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Members of Danes Educational Trust

HEC appointees:

Linda Clarkson MBE Chair of Members
Education & Management
Chair of St Clement Danes Academy Trust since opening in June 2011. Vice Chair of St Clement Danes School Charitable Foundation from 2007 – 2014.            

Mike Bruce
Finance & Management
A former trustee, appointed as a member in 2019. Now retired, was formerly the Director of Information Technology at Moore Stephens LLP a firm of chartered accountants in London.

Rosemary Hadfield MBE   
Education      
20 years teaching in the UK and abroad in the primary sector. 30 years association with St Clement Danes as a parent, governor and formerly chair of governors. HEC Trustee.  

Rachel Gauke
Legal & Regulatory
Lawyer with a background working as a solicitor in City law firms, specialising in corporate tax law. Experience in tax policy work for an industry body and as a judge in the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber).      

Kath Unger
Human Resources
30 years in HR within the civil service before moving to the private sector in 2010 as HR Manager for a Hertfordshire based insurance broker. Associated with St Clement Danes School as a parent and then a governor from 1998 to 2012.

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Danes Educational Trust Board 

Martin Day, Chair of DET Board Whistleblowing chair@danesedtrust.org.uk
Martin is a semi-retired non-executive director and business consultant. After a long career in the finance industry he moved to the education sector, building international partnerships for Henley Business School and then developing provision of banking degrees at the former Chartered Institute of Bankers, where he was Managing Director.  He is currently a Board member of ABE Global (an international provider of professional qualifications) and ICMP (a rock school offering degrees to the music industry) where he chairs the audit and regulatory compliance committees. He has also been a committee member of public bodies regulating the banking and higher education sectors.

Al Kingsley MBE
Al is an influential voice in UK education, currently serving as a Regional Schools Director’s Advisory Board member for the East of England. With 15 years of experience as a school governor, Al has been instrumental in securing over £30 million in central government funding for new school infrastructure.

Beyond his role as CEO of NetSupport, Al is the Chair of the BESA EdTech Group and the Cambridge and Peterborough SEND panel. He is a champion of vocational pathways, serving as an East of England Apprenticeship Ambassador. Al’s work focuses on the strategic intersection of governance and technology, helping schools develop sustainable digital strategies that prioritize student outcomes and online safety through the use of neurolinguistics and advanced safeguarding tools.

Abolade Odunsi
Abolade is a senior procurement professional working within the manufacturing industry. She holds a degree in Business and Enterprise Management, complemented by a Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply. She has chaired Ascot Road School Board for four years, having been a governor in the Trust for six years. She is bringing her safeguarding governance expertise to the trust board. 

Claire Robins OBE
Claire taught at a number of schools in Hertfordshire before becoming head of Sir John Lawes School in 2006. In 2008, Sir John Lawes became a National Support School and Claire was made a National Leader of Education, since when she has led on school to school support work with a number of schools, leading to the setting up of the Scholars’ Education Trust in 2011. In September 2022, she stepped down as head of SJL and became full-time CEO of the Trust.

Claire sat on the Regional Schools’ Commissioner’s Head Teacher Board for the NWLSC region for 8 years and is also a founder director of the Harpenden Secondary Schools’ Trust, which was established to promote wider educational opportunities across the town. She is a Member of the Harpenden Secondary Education Trust, the governing body for Katherine Warington School, a free school which opened in Harpenden in 2019, and also a trustee of the Atlas Academies Trust and The Kemnal Academies Trust. Claire was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in June 2018 for Services to Education, is a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching, and an honorary fellow of Worcester College, Oxford University. In March 2023 Claire became an Ofsted Inspector.

Louise Soden
Louise started her career teaching and managing English. She became an advisory teacher and, subsequently, a lecturer at Sussex University before becoming a deputy headteacher. She went on to join the advisory service of a new unitary authority, moving to become an assistant director in another newly established authority.

Louise was head of a school in Richmond upon Thames before joining Her Majesty’s Inspectorate (HMI). Following this, Louise joined the DfE as part of the team implementing school improvement partners (SIPs).

She returned to Richmond as Deputy Director and then became an adviser for the DfE. She returned to Ofsted as Regional Director for the East Midlands and National Director for local authorities. Since leaving Ofsted, Louise has been a senior adviser for the DfE and a number of academy trusts. She has been a consultant to the Independent Schools

Inspectorate and also served as a trustee for varied Academy Trusts.

Louise is a governor of Bryanston School and The Brit School for the Performing Arts. She is the safeguarding trustee for the Gabrieli Consort with oversight of their national education Programme. In addition, she chairs IABs for Danes Educational Trust at both Chancellor’s School and The John Warner School.  

Dr Josephine Valentine OBE
A nationally recognised system leader, Josephine has held several influential roles. She led the Herts & Bucks Teaching School Alliance and served as regional lead for Teaching Schools across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire. She was also a member of the Department for Education’s Headteacher Reference Group. As co-founder and lead practitioner of Growing the Top, a national programme run in partnership with Challenge Partners, she supports the development of outstanding school leaders and schools.

Josephine is currently an elected member of the DfE’s Regional Director’s Advisory Board for the Eastern Region. As a National Leader of Education, she has provided school improvement support to numerous schools in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and continues to offer expert advice and coaching to Headteachers on all aspects of leadership.

Josephine chairs the Board of Trustees for The Brilliant Club, a charity that mobilises the national PhD community to raise aspirations among disadvantaged students. She also serves on the Education Grant Advisory Board for the Wolfson Foundation and a trustee at The Brit School for Performing Arts.

 

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Chairs of Danes Educational Trust School Boards

Abolade Odunsi, Ascot Road Primary School Board 

Jan Buoy, Chancellor's School Board

Rob McCarthy, Cranbourne Primary School Board and Roselands Primary School Board

Paul Bateson, Croxley Danes School Board

Jan Stevens, De Havilland Primary School Board

Lewis Barton, Elstree Screen Arts Academy School Board

Clare Charlton, Jupiter Primary School Board

Philippa Desiderio, Lanchester Primary School School Board 

Catherine Rendell, Onslow St Audrey's School Board

Jo Fisher, The Beaconsfield School Board

Louise Soden, The John Warner Interim Action Board

Hannah Stolton, The John Warner School Board

Steve Clarke, St Clement Danes School Board