Sue Murray - Co-Chair of the Governing Body

Sue Murray is married to Stuart and mother of two adult children - a daughter and a son.  She enjoyed a varied working life mainly in sales and marketing before taking a career break and retraining as a Learning Support Assistant working in a mainstream primary school.  She has been a governor in both mainstream and special schools, primary and secondary and has accumulated over 30 years experience of school governance.

 

She has served as a parish councillor for Borough Green and also as a Borough Councillor for Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council where she held Cabinet roles for Leisure, Youth & Arts and, subsequently, Planning and Transportation.  Sue became Mayor 2009-2011 and is an Honorary Freeman of the Borough of Tonbridge & Malling.

 

Her main relaxation continues to be getting lost in reading a good book!

 

Matthew Balfour - Co-Chair of the Governing Body

I was brought up near where the original Grange Park was based, but have lived in other parts of the country before returning to the area twenty years ago.

I became a governor in 2001 and was chairman of governors from 2007 till 2015 and was very involved in the design, building and move to the new Grange Park School.

Having spent a working life as a Chartered Surveyor, in recent years I have been involved in local government as a parish, borough and now a Kent county councillor, where I am the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport.

 

Tony Williamson - Vice Chair of the Governing Body

Having retired early from my job as Managing Director of a group of engineering/manufacturing businesses in 2004, I was shortly after persuaded to join the Governing Board of Grange Park in the hope that my business experience might make some contribution to the progress of the school.  It was decided that my areas should be ensuring the school had financial stability and, more importantly, focus on teaching and learning progress. The latter has been my passion since becoming a Governor and I am delighted to have witnessed the School’s high attainment achieved in both teaching and our pupils’ learning in preparing them for a happy, and productive, adult life.

 

Kristie Horley

I wanted to volunteer as a Parent Governor because I feel so grateful for what Grange Park are doing for my son. He came from a mainstream setting and I could see the immediate improvement in his wellbeing, both at school and home. I wanted to ensure that as many children as possible were able to receive the same level of expert teaching and nurturing. My son is now at college with Grange Park and the future looks bright for him!

As a parent of neurodiverse children, I have a particular interest in the Teaching and Learning aspect of being a Governor at Grange Park. I know the battles that parents face throughout their child’s school life and the worries about their future. I understand the importance of finding a school setting that allows your child to be the very best they can be in order to thrive and grow into fulfilled young adults. It is important to me that Grange Park continues to strive towards achieving this for all our young people and that it continues to develop and evolve with the ever-changing needs of our wider community.

Sarah Hume

I am Sarah Hume, currently the Teacher Governor and the KS5 Progress leader at Grange Park School. Since joining Grange Park school I have learnt so much about myself as a teacher, leader, listener and colleague, more so than any other role I have ever worked in. Our school community is amazing, we are listened to, supported and guided in everything we do. As a staff governor, I enjoy being the voice of all staff in Grange Park School. I am currently in my 6th year of teaching, teaching a range of pupils, subjects and abilities throughout my career. I am passionate about our schools next steps, our growth, our development in excellence and of course our journey to Outstanding. I am really proud to have successfully led our school into becoming a Silver Rights Respecting School and I am excited to continue this determination to ensure we make our way to Gold. I have always hoped I am an approachable, understanding and thoughtful person and I strive to ensure that this the best possible school for our students and staff. 

 

Nadia Higson 

I have been a Governor at Grange Park School since 2007 when my son Peter was in Year 8.  I was initially a Parent Governor, and then became a Foundation Governor.

I am deputy chair of the Teaching and Learning sub-committee, with particular responsibility for monitoring plans and the progress achieved with the school's Sports/PE and Pupil Premium funding. I am also the Careers Governor.

I am known on the Governing body for my attention to detail, and can usually be relied on to spot the errors in policy and other documents.

Though trained as a scientist I spent most of my career in strategic planning and market research. I am mostly retired, but still occasionally dabble in these as a consultant.

Denise Eden-Green

I volunteered to become a governor at Grange Park School because I wanted to help provide the best possible opportunities for young autistic people to fulfil their potential through high quality education and support.

I first developed my understanding of autism through personal experience, as I have relatives on the autism spectrum. I have also done a considerable amount of training to develop my understanding further.

In my professional life, I have worked in both the public and private sectors. Early in my career, I set up and ran a small family business providing technical services to the creative industries, and later became a marketing manager in a technical services company. In the public sector, I worked at a senior level, on economic development projects, liaising with Kent businesses.

More recently, finding that there was little specialist mental health support for neurodivergent individuals, I trained as a counsellor. Nowadays, part of what I do focuses on counselling neurodivergent adults.

As a Grange Park Governor, I chair the teaching and learning committee, where we look in detail at how pupils are educated and how they progress as individuals. I also have particular responsibility for safeguarding, although safeguarding is part of every governor’s role.

 

Anne-Marie Nelson CBE

Anne-Marie has worked as Chairman, Board Member and Governor in the fields of health, education, financial services and economic development.  She is currently a Corporation (Board) Member of Canterbury College and chairs the Board of Brogdale CIC Ltd., which provides leisure, work experience and opportunities for young people and adults with learning difficulties.  She is Patron of the Kent Abbeyfield Society.

 

Jon Regan

Jon’s background is in Information Technology in Financial services. Having started his career in the Lloyds Insurance market as an Aviation Broker, he moved into information technology and has been engaged in sales, product marketing and systems development. He has been responsible for bringing high technology products to market and also large scale system development and deployment.

Senior roles held in the City included Head of International Sales NCR Financial Services, Managing Director of IT Alexander Howden’s Ltd (Now Aon), Head of Sales and Marketing EMEA Bank of New York,

Jon has been a Director of Hugh Lowe Farms one of the country’s largest soft fruit businesses for over 12 years and now Chairs the company, he is also deputy chairman of Weald Granary, the largest grain storage co-operative in the south east and is the Chairman of Burlington Berries of Tasmania.

Voluntary work includes Governor of Grange Park School, The Kent and Medway Economic Partnership, The Kent BAB Business Advisory Board, West Kent Partnership, West Kent Leader and is Chairman of Mereworth Parish Council

Married with two grown up children and lives on the Farm in Mereworth, Kent.

 

Trevor Williams 

I am one of the parent Governors at Grange Park, my son is in KS5. I have a particular interest in Health & Safety; having had prior roles as H&S representative for the building I worked in & as Safety Manager for a Special School in Medway.
I work as a Capacity Manager in the Media sector and previous site management roles have given me a well rounded background, beneficial to the School’s Governing Body.