Alverstoke Church of EnglandGovernors
Chair of Governors - Stephen Pethick
The School is supported and challenged by an active and dedicated board of governors who come from a range of backgrounds and provide a wide range of skills and experience. Many of them are heavily involved in every-day school life and offer a great range of experience and expertise. Governors are often to be seen volunteering in school and accompanying school trips. The governors enjoy an honest and respectful relationship with the Senior Leadership Team, adopting the attitude of critical friend and ensuring that the headteacher can effectively lead, manage and develop the school in line with the school improvement plan. We are all passionate about raising the educational standards of the school and ensuring the ongoing safety and well-being of all staff and children.
The rules of governance of a Church Aided school are different from those of a maintained school in that governors have responsibility for the appointment of staff and for the Christian ethos of the school.
The Governing Body of Alverstoke Junior School comprises 2 Parent Governors, 1 Co-opted Governor, 1 Authority Governor, 1 Staff Governor, the Head Teacher Governor and 8 Foundation Governors, a total of 14 governors. We are constituted under the Instrument of Government.
The 3 core responsibilities of the Governing Body are ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction; holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils and for the performance management of staff; and overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent. The manner in which the Governing Body operate is further defined under the Governing Body Terms of Reference.
Our Governing Body meets 10 times throughout the academic year but also has smaller sub committees that meet to carry out specific tasks such as the Head Teacher Performance Management Panel and the Pay Committee. At the start of each academic year the Governing Body appoints the Chair and Vice Chair and key link positions such as Safeguarding, SEND and H&S. Our experience is that this is the most efficient and effective way of carrying out our responsibilities.
- AJS Governor Attendance Archive 2023 24
- AJS Pecuniary Interest Sept 2024
- GB Terms of Reference 23 24 docx
- Instrument of Government Alverstoke CE Aided Junior School
Meet our Governors
Foundation Governors:
Stephen Pethick - Stephen works as the Children and Families worker for Gosport United Reformed Church. He also runs his own business leading training courses in First Aid, Fire Safety, Food Safety, Safeguarding and Midas minibus driving. He is married to Abigail and they have three lovely daughters. He is a keen scouter and helps to lead a Scout group, he has been a Cub Scout leader since 2002. He is a member of Alverstoke Evangelicial Church where he helps with the tech and teaches in the Sunday school. He also leads services as well being part of the preaching team.
Tim Sharman – Tim is married with 3 adult children, all of whom were pupils at the school in the 90s. He has lived in Alverstoke since 1990, working locally in the RN and defence industry. He is a member of St Mary’s church and sings bass in the choir. He is also a long-standing member of Logos Community Church (Gosport). Now retired, he has served as a Foundation Governor since 2018 and also as supports the school as a volunteer helping with reading and school trips.
Hazel Ward – Hazel is married with 2 adult children and has lived with her family in Alverstoke for 26 years. She works full time as a Commercial Manager in a local government department, having joined the Civil Service more years ago than she cares to remember! She is an attendee of St Mary’s Church Alverstoke and a member of St Mary’s Parochial Church Council. Hazel has served as a Foundation Governor at AJS for over 4 years and is currently the Diocesan Appointed Governor, which means that she is holding the ex officio position on behalf of the principal officiating minister of the parish.
Eleanor Bingham – Eleanor is a Foundation Governor and an active member of St Mary’s Church. She and her husband have lived in Alverstoke for almost 20 years, whilst both serving in the RN. They have two children, the youngest is in Alverstoke Infant School and the eldest in Alverstoke Junior School. She is looking forward to putting her professional knowledge and experience to good use in supporting and developing Alverstoke Junior School. Eleanor is supporting Jean in a safeguarding position.
Local Authority Governors:
Hayley Griffith - Hayley runs her PR and communications business from her home in Alverstoke that she shares with her husband and three children. Their daughter is currently in Year 5 and eldest son in Year 3, their youngest son will eventually join in a few years. Hayley's career is rooted in Public Relations primarily in the Maritime sector. She specialises in managing stakeholders, media relations and crisis communications working with companies to strengthen their messaging and public perception. When not working, Hayley has a love for gardening and dreams of one day being a fully-fledged homesteader. Hayley is hugely passionate about childhood learning and early years development and is very much looking forward to supporting and helping to develop the school.
Parent Governors:
Jenny Hudson - Jenny is a local GP with an interest in children's physical and mental health. She enjoys the outdoors, and using physical activity, nature, and gardening to foster wellbeing in both children and adults. She has held leading children's safeguarding roles in primary care and currently works for Wessex Cancer Alliance as a GP advisor alongside her GP role in Fareham. She relocated to Alverstoke from Glasgow in 2012 with her husband Tom, a naval officer. Their eldest son is in year 3 at AJS and they have twin boys in reception at Alverstoke Infant School. She looks forward to using her experience to help make a positive difference to the future of the school and our children.
Olga Winkle – Olga is a Parent Governor and with that has a very keen interest in the school capitalising on its current strengths and achieving even better outcomes for children, parents and teachers. In her day job, Olga has been managing Learning & Development provision for large organisations for over 12 years, with a track record of improving learning delivery, including English, Maths and IT programmes for the Royal Navy, and most recently leading a strategic large scale cross-government digital upskilling programme, working for the Cabinet Office. Olga has a keen interest in mental health, neurodiversity and inclusion, actively contributing to the relevant ‘people and culture’ steering group in her current place of work. Outside work she enjoys a good book, a bit of gardening, some crafting activities, quality food, theatre and city breaks.
Marissa Ballard - Marissa has worked at Alverstoke Junior for the last twenty years. She started at the school as a newly qualified teacher and has been the deputy headteacher for the last five years. In her current role, Marissa teaches two days a week and leads curriculum and assessment across the school. She enjoys spending time with her family, listening to music and travelling.
Helen Garside - Helen is our newest staff governor and now one of the longest serving teachers at AJS having joined the school in 2009-how time flies! She has taught all year groups within her time here and has enjoyed all of them but particularly likes to lend her experience to supporting children during their transitions into AJS in Year 3 or to prepare children for secondary school towards the end of Year 6. She currently teaches Year 6 and leads RE and Collective Worship for the school which is a real privilege. She has a great husband, two primary aged children and a very fluffy dog. Helen enjoys spending lots of quality time with her family and making the most of every opportunity life gives her.
