Our Governors

  • Mrs Angela Jefferies

    Chair of Governing Body

    My name is Angela Jefferies and have been asked to become Chair of Governors at Swansfield Park Primary School. I am a retired Head Teacher and feel I can support the school as I have a background in education. I still work for Northumberland County Council as a School Improvement Partner which gives me access to up to date information about education.
    I was headteacher at Shilbottle First School for twenty years, retiring 4 years ago. Our school was outstanding 3 times and I was a National Leader in Education. We supported a large number of schools throughout Northumberland in leadership and teaching.
    As an Alnwick partnership of schools I have worked with Swansfield Park Primary for many years and already know the school well. Mrs Smith and I were involved in teacher training and developing support across the partnership.
    I am looking forward to getting to know the school better and supporting Mrs Smith and her staff as a ‘critical friend’ as the school develops. My interests are in science and technology and will take the Governor lead in this.
    Over the coming months I will meet all the children and start to become involved in school life so hopefully I will meet parents along the way.

  • Mrs Lauren Chapman

    Governor

    My husband and I have now been in teaching for seventeen years. I started my career teaching in KS1 within a challenging deprived area in Grimsby. I became key stage leader and mentor to newly qualified teachers within my four years in post. We then moved to Alnwick to be closer to family with our niece soon to be born. I have taught in lower key stage two in a neighbouring first school for eleven years and in the last two years returned to Year 2. During this time I have been responsible for leading Literacy and ICT within school and more recently mastery maths. As part of my ICT leadership role I am safety lead and have been trained as a CEOP ambassador and apple teacher. I feel that as Governor I am able to have an accurate insight into teaching and learning at Swansfield, assist with safety matters and support the staff and senior leadership team where needed.
    More recently I have taken on the role of assistant head, helping to lead the school strategically with the school improvement plan and self review. Additionally, as part of my role I lead assessment in school, I assist with special needs reviews and funding applications and am one of the designated safeguarding leads in school. Being part of the strategic committee, I feel I can come with a critical eye and challenge decisions when necessary but most importantly help lead our outstanding school further forward.
    As an appointed parent governor, I can help with the perspective of a parent, my son is extremely happy and content at Swansfield. I consider myself to be an accurate voice of the families and ensure our opinions and points of view on new decisions will be heard. In my spare time, I enjoy woodland walks, beach adventures and spending quality time with family friends. During these challenging COVID times I have learnt even greater the importance of family and the vital role schools provide to the wellbeing of our children. In conclusion, I feel that it is the right time to take on this greater role as a Governor. Making a difference to the lives of our lovely, hard working pupils at Swansfield and help make the school and community an even better place.

  • Mrs Ruth Cunningham-Spence

    Governor

    I am the newest parent member of the governing body and very pleased to be a part of the team bringing a parental perspective. I grew up in West Yorkshire before moving to Alnwick at the age of 16. I have since lived in many places before returning to Alnwick with my husband and two children in 2015 permanently. My son is currently attending Beech class having secured a place in October 2020. My daughter currently attends Shilbottle Primary School and will move to the High School in 2022.
    I am employed by Northumberland County Council as a specialist child law solicitor. I have a particular interest in safeguarding and was engaged in all types of family law in private practice prior to securing the position with the Council in 2016.
    As a new member of the resource management team, I am interested in the opportunity to learn about the plans for the future of the school and the ways in which the visions can be achieved. I am looking forward to liaising with and supporting the staff in their continued commitment to all of the children at Swansfield Park Primary School and I hope that my skills may be of some benefit to the parents, staff and the governing body in the future.
    I very much look forward to meeting parents, staff and of course the children and becoming more involved in Swansfield Primary life as we head into what we hope will be a more positive period for everyone.

  • Mr David Fordham-Scott

    Governor

  • Mr Bill Grisdale

    Governor

  • Mrs Malu Jimenez

    Governor

    I started working in education around the time I was finishing my degree in Biology, in 2004. Back then, I volunteered in schools presenting different environmental education programmes related to nature conservation, recycling, use of resources or climate change. My life by far has not followed a straight line, and after my degree I found myself working in the Arctic and participating in Antarctic expeditions!
    When my newly-wed husband and myself moved to Alnwick, I had started doing school visits delivering Polar Fun Days, where I talked to pupils about my adventures (and misadventures!) in the Arctic and the Antarctic.
    Currently, I combine my role as a mum of a 5-year old girl enrolled at Plum Class and my job as Team Lead for a Widening Participation Programme at Northumberland College, where I help students from disadvantaged backgrounds to progress onto higher education.

  • Mrs Jessica McArdle

    Governor

  • Mrs Chrissy Morris-Watson

    Governor

    Originally from Bath, in the South West of England, we made the move to the North East of England in 2018. This followed a three year stint living in Christchurch, New Zealand. I have a daughter in Year 1 and a son who is soon to start in nursery. Before having the children I was employed for 10 years as a print and embroidery designer for a school uniform company. From a young age, until recently, I was an active member of Girl Guiding and the Scout Association, in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, volunteering with children from age 5 to 14. I am a keen rugby fan and enjoy cricket in the summer months. I love to read and also crochet when I have the time.
    For the past 18 months I have been co-secretary of The Friends of Swansfield Park. This role has enabled me to meet many parents of children across all school years whilst organising various different fundraising events.
    In my role as Parent Governor will I continue to support the successful running of the school for the benefit of the whole school community. I am still settling into this role but I have found it incredibly rewarding so far.

  • Mrs Charlotte Murdy

    Governor

    Having grown up and lived in the local community, I was most pleased to be able to join the Swansfield Park teaching team in 2010. From a young age, I always knew that I wanted to work within Education. I graduated from University in 2007 and have been teaching in Northumberland for 12 years now. I particularly enjoy teaching Mathematics and have been working with the Great North Maths Hub as a Maths Mastery Specialist Teacher across Northumberland and North Tyneside for the past fo years. During my time at Swansfield Park, I have taught across Key Stage 2 and currently work in Larch Class, one of our upper key stage 2 classes. I am the Assistant Head teacher and also have responsibility for curriculum and assessment across key stage 2 as well as Mathematics across the school.
    I am a member of the Strategic Policy and Direction Committee. As part of my work on this committee, I have recently been a member of the staff well-being improvement group and also the homework improvement group, reviewing and updating school policies to ensure that there are consistent and achievable expectations throughout the school. As the school continues to grow and flourish as an established primary school, I have been involved with staff recruitment for key stage 2 staff, ensuring that we employ the most inspiring and motivational staff for the children of Swansfield Park.
    I believe that my role of staff governor gives me the opportunity to bring a different dimension to the discussions in the governance team as well as maintain effective links with the staff voice. I also believe that my role in the Governing Body enables strong links between governance and leadership to be maintained at Swansfield Park.

  • Mrs Eleanor Tamhne

    Governor