Governor Profiles

Claire started as an English teacher at Goffs School in Cheshunt and moved through positions of responsibility at various Hertfordshire schools before becoming Deputy Head at Sir John Lawes.

Ten years ago she became Headteacher and the school achieved an ‘outstanding’ OFSTED grading in 2008. She became an NLE (National Leader of Education) in 2009 and has led Sir John Lawes' work as Education Partner for the Bushey Academy, Samuel Ryder Academy and Sheredes School.

I started my working life as a scientist, took the opportunity to retrain as a solicitor and now work for the Government Legal Department. Close involvement with both Government Ministers and the work of Parliament has proved to be fascinating and genuinely illuminating of how our democracy works.

After 4 years as a governor at a rapidly improving multi-cultural primary school in St Albans, I jumped at the chance to become a governor at SJL. Before taking on the role of Chair of the Governing Body in 2016, I spent a dozen years as governor and then Vice-Chair. While SJL has seen some changes over that time - becoming a Foundation School, then an Academy and finally establishing a Multi-academy Trust, SJL's core values and ethos are unchanged in the form of the SJL ACE. I continue to be amazed by the dedication of our staff and the hard work and enthusiasm of our students.

I have been involved with the Governing body, on and off, for over thirty years as a Teacher Governor. I now serve as a Foundation Governor on behalf of the Harpenden Secondary Schools Trust. In that time I have seen our school transform from a school with a poor reputation to the outstanding school that we now all enjoy today. It is a pleasure to serve on a Governing Body that works very hard to support the Headteacher and her staff. I am currently the governor for Careers Education and Guidance.

Both my children were educated at Sir John Lawes. They are now both teachers so it must be in the blood!

During my time on the Governing body I have served on several committees, been involved in capital build projects, represented the Site team, involved in the bid for our first Specialism, worked in the working groups when we faced closure! So my role has been varied and most enjoyable. Long may that continue.

Having studied French and European studies at Uni I went on to do a master’s course in the United States in Political Science.  There I met my husband and ever since we’ve lived in Harpenden (30 years!).  I went on to have a career in international marketing and product development in interior finishes (fabrics, wallcoverings etc) and in 2001 set up my own business in which I now work part time.

We have two sons, one went to St George’s and then to St Albans Independent College and is now in his last year at Uni.  The other is in Year 10 at SJL.  My husband is an engineer specialising in sustainable building and infrastructure design.

I set up and was chair of the Friends of SJL until last September.  Prior to that I volunteered at Crabtree School setting up and running the gardening club and school allotment for two years.  Before that I was on the After School Club committee at Manland School.

I’m now involved with a local choir and for the last 5 years have been on the (v small!) team who make the costumes for the Mini-Gang at the Harpenden Gang Show.

Since my youngest son joined SJL I’ve come to know SJL well and am delighted to be able to support this progressive and inclusive school, its staff and governing body, in the role of Parent Governor. 

I have been Head of Music at Sir John Lawes School since September 2014 and am in my tenth year of teaching.  I am hugely committed to the school, its students, and its staff.  Through initiatives such as the staff music challenge and staff choir, and involvement in the wellbeing group, I have made a sustained commitment to the school community. 

I am passionate about my work, hard-working, enthusiastic and always willing to go above and beyond - with a smile!

I have lived in Harpenden for 18 years and joined the SJL governing body about four years ago. In addition to being on the main governing body I am Chair of the Resources Committee. Before becoming a governor at SJL I was a parent governor at Grove Junior School.

I am an Actuary by profession specialising in pensions and work for a large consultancy in London. My wife is a Dental Surgeon and we have three children two of whom are at SJL in years 10 and 11.

Outside work, apart from my family, I am involved in a local scout troop and enjoy running, having done the London marathon a few years ago. I also enjoy cycling with a few friends - mainly very early on Sunday mornings!

I have a scientific background in biochemistry having obtained a PhD at the Royal Free Hospital, School of Medicine, University of London working on blood platelets.  Since then I have worked both in the academic and commercial environments in research and development during my career, including cardiovascular and respiratory based medicines.

I am a parent governor and have been for the last six years, working on various aspects of teaching and learning for the school curriculum committee  and more recently as chair of the schools specialisms committee for media and science. I am married with three children, two of which have since left Sir John Lawes for University.

I thoroughly enjoy being part of the Sir John Lawes community and I'm privileged to be appointed staff governor. I commenced my teacher training at Sir John Lawes in September 2002 and was appointed as an English Teacher in September 2003.  In 2005 I became Head of Year, a post I held until I had my first child.  Since then, I have worked as an English Teacher on a part time basis and in September 2017 I was appointed as Literacy Co-ordinator.

I have 3 children all of which are now primary school age. Having served a term as Parent Governor at Crabtree Infants School, I look forward to building on my skills as Staff Governor at Sir John Lawes.

Having studied Medieval Italian and French and lived for a while in Italy, my professional background is in Marketing and Communications and I have worked in a wide range of industries from sports marketing to real estate investment management.  

I have previously held several positions on school Governing Bodies, having been Chair of Governors at Batford Nursery School for 9 years and an additional Governor at schools in St Albans.  I am currently also Vice Chair at Manland Primary School.  I served as a Strategic Leader of Governance for Herts for Learning, assisting other Governing Bodies to carry out self evaluation and work on strategies for improvement.  I find being in schools really interesting and stimulating and am proud to be part of the Governor community at SJL. 

I have a daughter at SJL and my son will be joining in September.  Outside of work, I assist our scout group with organising camps, taking care of all the equipment.  I am a keen squash player and regularly play for local and county teams, with varying degrees of success and now take longer to recover after a match than I ever did before!

I have lived locally for 25 years and have two daughters at SJL. I joined as a parent governor in 2016.

On completion of my degree in computing, I was a founding director of a local computer software company which was subsequently acquired by The Access Group and has gone on to become one of the top 20 British software businesses. I still work for the company within the area of cloud computing and IT security.

Prior to being appointed as a governor I volunteered at Sauncey Wood Primary school. As part of the normal timetabled classes I taught all key stage 2 children computer coding on Windows PCs using Scratch and Android mobile devices using Google’s App Inventor.

I look forward to using my computing and commercial skills to help support the school in delivering education for a changing world.

I have lived in Harpenden with my family for most of the last thirty years. With six children, I first became involved as a Parent Governor at a local primary school in 1999. After living in Berlin for 5 years, where I was an elected Parent class representative in my daughter's German primary school for a couple of years, I returned to Harpenden and was re-elected for a second term as a parent governor. When my youngest daughter transferred to SJL I took the opportunity to become an LEA Governor at another Primary school.

My older three children went to St Georges and the younger three to SJL - four of them are still studying at University. I am very excited to have been elected as a Parent Governor at SJL - the experience I have previously gained as Governor and from bringing up my own family will help me contribute to the work of the Governing body.

I have worked in the Public sector throughout my career. I am currently involved in developing Government Policy on Justice and Home Affairs issues.

What little "me time" I have, after my family, is spent involved in the local branch of the Institute of Advanced Motorists' motorcycle section. I am a keen biker - it is great for blowing away the cobwebs!

I was appointed as a Parent Governor in 2014, both my son and my daughter attended SJL. I am Chair of the School Improvement Committee.  I have been a school governor at Manland since 2008 with the last four years as chair and have been actively involved in setting up the Harpenden Schools Chairs' Forum that shares ideas and best practice across all local schools.

I did a music degree at Manchester University followed by a performance diploma at the Royal Northern College of Music, then moved down to the bright lights of London with my now husband to work as a violinist. We moved to Harpenden in 2001 and I now work for the Hertfordshire Music Service as a violin teacher and freelance as a violinist.

This year I am thrilled to be part of the Senior Prefect team, and contribute to the school at more of a senior level than I would have ever imagined. I am looking forward to continuing the work of the previous senior prefects, and assist in keeping SJL the fantastic school it is, in a way that allows me to pay thanks to the school for the experience and support it has given me.

For A-Levels, I am currently studying Geography, English, and Politics, and I am hoping to study Geography at university before finding a path into journalism.

I feel very privileged to taken part in a wide variety of extra-curricular inside and out of school over the last 6 years; including Senior Mock Trial, Stonewall, Drama and Youth Speaks. I have also been fortunate enough to earn positions such as JLT rep, Form Rep and House Captain, as well as establishing lower school debate club. My proudest moment at SJL has undoubtedly been my EPQ project earlier this year, written about abortion law in El Salvador. Planning and writing it from concept to outcome broadened my knowledge and taught me invaluable skills in researching, and working independently, and I was so thrilled with the outcome.

Ultimately, I’m excited to spend this next year not only co-ordinating the brilliant prefect team, but also bringing my insight of student life at SJL to the governors board, as well as relaying any issues raised by the JLT. 

This year I have the amazing opportunity to represent SJL as Head Student. I look forward to working with all members of our school, from the governors to the Year 7s, to help the community in any way possible.

I am currently studying History, Philosophy and Ethics, and Maths, and I hope to study History & Philosophy at university. In school, my passion for public speaking and giving back to the wider community has led me to a wide variety of extra-curricular activities. This includes a number of public speaking events, debating, my involvement in Anti- Bullying and Send my Friend to School, Mock Trials and my work as a peer mentor. My involvement in public speaking and working in large teams is what gave me the courage to apply for Senior Prefect.

One of my proudest moments of my time at SJL was my involvement in the SFYouth Equality Forum. We created a day full of workshops all centred on gender inequality and the power of speaking up against injustices. This all accumulated in an international conference in Rome, which I had the privilege of attending. I was able to represent the school as well as the UK and present all the work we had done to a large audience of fellow enthusiasts from all over Europe. This really developed my communication skills and my ability to work in a team, skills which later gave me the courage to apply for Senior Prefect.

Ultimately, my goals are to successfully lead our brilliant Prefect team, implement effective changes which help everyone in our student body and generally help improve the excellent school environment we have in here in Sir John Lawes, which I have been able to experience since Year 7.