Members

Ian is a retired Sergeant having served with North Yorkshire Police for 30 years. He has lived in Tadcaster since joining the Police in 1985 and is married with 5 grown up children. During his career he worked in Tadcaster and Selby and participated in many community-based projects focused on young people in the community.

Ian was a Governor at Riverside School in Tadcaster for 25 years, 21 of which was as Chair of Governors, until he stepped down from this role in July 2020. He completed the inaugural yearlong “Chair of Governors’ Leadership Development Programme” delivered by Carnegie Leaders in Learning in 2015. He was also the Safeguarding Governor and had particular responsibility for Headteacher performance, literacy, pay and appraisal. Ian believed passionately in the school’s residential trips for year 4 and 6 pupils to Malham and Wales and attended these residentials for over 20 years. He is a veteran of 5 OFSTED inspections the most recent of which found the school to be “Good.”

In his spare time Ian is Chair of the United Kingdom Police Fishing Section and apart from fishing Ian enjoys reading, walking and watching Leeds Rhinos and Leeds United.

John has been involved in school governance for over fifteen years. After primary experience, he became a governor at a local secondary school, Archbishop Holgate’s, where he was elected Chair in 2008, a position to which he has held since then. In the last few years governors at the school have successfully dealt with the challenges of a local secondary school closing, school expansion, the growth of a new sixth form, the appointment of a new Headteacher and two major new builds as well as deciding to become an academy and more recently a Teaching School. The school continues to self-evaluate as “outstanding”, the judgment it received at its last OFSTED inspection. He has been asked by two local authorities to work as an additional governor in some very different school contexts. This has included the huge satisfaction of working with the GB and Heads at two primary schools, one in serious weaknesses and one requiring improvement, to achieve “good” judgments in both cases. He also delivers training courses, licensed by the National College, for the National Governors’ Association for current and aspiring GB Chairs. He is passionate about outcomes for children, believing that one of governors’ key roles is to work with the Head and SLT of schools to build aspiration and create “other tomorrows” for pupils. There is a well evidenced link between the quality of governing bodies and the outcomes for learners and he believes that governors need to focus limited resource on things that drive outcomes and “make the boat go faster” ; not just in academic attainment (although this has to be non-negotiable) but also in educating the whole child. Since August 2016 he has chaired the Board of the Pathfinder Multi Academy Trust, a MAT of nine schools based in York now with around 350 staff, more than 3000 young people and an eight figure turnover.

John spent the first half of his working life in various senior sales, marketing and operational roles working for a number of companies including Sainsbury and Nestlé. Since becoming self-employed in 2006 he has built a successful consulting business in both the private and public sectors. He also works as a trainer and specialises in delivering training on leadership and negotiation to more than a dozen blue chip companies in the commercial world in the UK and overseas, as well as working in the education and health sectors. Until resigning in October 2014, he sat as the senior non-executive director and deputy Chairman on a local NHS Hospitals Trust with a £480m turnover where he also chaired the Performance and Finance committee. He runs his own wine importing business.

Alison has enjoyed a varied career path. For the past 8 years she has worked within the charitable sector and is currently Fundraiser for Shannon Trust, a national literacy-focussed charity, contributing to the overall financial viability and sustainability of the organisation. She is a member of the Institute of Fundraising.

Prior to this, Alison had a successful career as a Research Scientist. She has a PhD and was a Research Fellow in the School of Biology, University of Leeds for 9 years.

In her free time, Alison has been a school governor for 9 years, being Vice-Chair for 6 years, with particular responsibility for overseeing the school improvement meetings.

Andrew Smith is the Diocesan Director of Education for the Diocese of York. He is a qualified teacher with over 30 years’ experience in primary education and, prior to this role, was the Headteacher of a voluntary aided church school for over ten years, securing good and outstanding judgements in both Ofsted and SIAMS inspections. Andrew has worked successfully in a number of collaborative partnerships, including within Teaching Schools and with schools overseas, particularly focusing on developing effective school leadership and shared curriculum development.

Andrew currently represents the Diocese of York Educational Trust (DYET) as a corporate Member on Multi Academy Trusts and is a director of DBE Services, a consortia of several Church of England dioceses in the north of England. He is also a Trustee and Council member of the National Society, the body which oversees the work of Church Schools in England and Wales.

Dawn Younge had a career in teaching for over 25 years with particular expertise in early years education. Before moving to Yorkshire she was Deputy Head teacher of an infant school in Warrington. She has worked locally in a number of schools with various needs and challenges. A common thread throughout her teaching career and governance work has been her involvement and commitment to faith schools.

She was appointed as a Foundation Governor at Saxton CE Primary School in 2011 and served as Chair of Governors from 2016 until her resignation from the LGB in July 2019. During this period she was instrumental in the school’s improvement and transition to an academy within the STAR MAT.