Ellington Infant School

The Governing Board

Vikki Bowman

Staff governor and Head teacher

I have been the Headteacher of Ellington Infant School since September 2025. I am excited to lead such a well-established, nurturing school. Along with the Governors, I am passionate about growing the success of the school, and enabling all pupils to have a fantastic and enriching educational experience.

Peter Finn

Parent Governor and Vice Chair of the Governing Board

Peter is responsible for monitoring the school’s Quality of Education.

I have a background in education, having worked with learners of a variety of ages throughout my career. I am passionate about teaching and learning, and I hope that I can use some of my experience to contribute to the successful running of the school.

I feel honoured to be a Governor at Ellington Infants and greatly appreciate the chance to help the school continue to grow and provide the very best education for its pupils.

Stephen Turner

Clerk to the Governing Board

My role is to provide advice to the governing board on governance, constitutional and procedural matters. I attend, minute and support all governing board meetings.

I joined the school as Clerk to the Governors in April 2016. I am delighted to be part of and to provide support to our dedicated team of governors who are passionate about achieving success for the school and its pupils.

Andrea Studden

Local Authority Governor

Andrea is our Safeguarding Governor, which includes additional responsibility for Attendance.

I come from a background in banking and finance and following my retirement I was delighted to be asked to be a Governor at Ellington Infant School. I have young grandchildren and realise the importance of education in their formative years. I am very much looking forward to my new role.

In my spare time I am a keen Pickleball player and run a club that operates locally; I enjoy walking and travelling with my family, sewing and I can usually be found with a book in my hands as I’m an avid reader.

Peter Troke

Co-opted Governor

I am a microbiologist who retired from working at Pfizer 20 years ago and I have lived in Thanet for over 40 years. During this time, I have been a governor or Chair of Governors at seven primary, three secondary and one grammar school(s) as well as at East Kent FE College and the EKC Schools Trust. I have a long-standing interest in education at all levels and in helping local learners to maximise their educational opportunities and their future career prospects.

Xavier Kemp

Co-opted Governor

more details to follow

Vacancy

Co-opted Governor

Danielle Sedgewick

Staff Governor and Class Teacher

Danielle is the lead Governor for Mental Health and Wellbeing.

I am a Year 1 teacher at Ellington Infant School and have been part of the teaching team here for the past four years. I am passionate about our school community and am excited to join the governing board. I look forward to supporting the continued growth and success of the school, and to playing a part in helping every child thrive.

Fiona Pointer

Co-opted Governor

Fiona is our SEND Governor.

I have previously been a governor in a secondary school that one of my sons attended. I was the SEN governor there as my other son has SEN so these children achieving the best they can is very important to me.

Education is such an important part of creating life chances for young people and I am honoured to be a governor and support the school in providing this.

Vacancy

Co-opted Governor

Parent Governor

Vacancy

Co-opted Governor

Vacancy

The purpose of having a governing board is to:

● Help the school to set high standards by planning for the school’s future and setting targets for school improvement

● Keep the pressure up on school improvement

● Be a critical friend to the school, offering support and advice

● Help the school respond to the needs of parents and the community

● Make the school accountable to the public for what it does

● Work with the school on planning, developing policies and keeping the school under review

● Exercise its responsibilities and powers in partnership with the Headteacher and staff

● Not intervene in the day-to-day management of the school unless there are weaknesses in the school, when it then has a duty to take action.

Find out what school governors and trustees do and the key role they play in helping schools to succeed. This short film gives you all the essential information about this rewarding voluntary role. Most people over 18 years old are eligible to govern so, if you’re interested in education and making a difference, watch this film to find out more.

The role of school governors and trustees

Becoming a Governor

Could you be a school governor at Ellington Infant School?

* Do you want all our children to get the best from school?

* Do you have the time and commitment to get to know the school, read papers, attend meetings?

* Do you want to put something back into your community?

* Are you interested in people?

* Are you able to work as part of a team?

* Are you comfortable asking challenging questions?

* Are you open to new ideas and ready to learn?

The Governing Board works as a “whole team”, meeting 6 times per year, once in each term, without any separate committees. An agenda for each meeting will include all the tasks which the governing board is required to consider, and the governing body will ‘commission’ assignments or activities arising from the business of the meeting, which will be recorded in the minutes.

In addition to ‘commissioning’ activities or actions on their behalf, the governing board delegates monitoring activities to ‘monitoring pairs’ or ‘individuals’. This could apply to statutory functions, and/or the priorities of the School Plan.
In each case where a function has been delegated there is a statutory duty to report any action or decision to the governing board at the next meeting.

What have Ofsted said about our Governors.......

"Following an external review, the governing body was restructured. As a result of this streamlining, governance is more strategic and focused more sharply on important priorities. Their regular visits, checks and meetings with leaders are strongly linked with gauging how well school leaders are securing improvement against the improvement plan."

OFSTED

2017

"The governing body is realistic about priorities that need further work. Governors are strongly focused on improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils as well as those that fall just outside this definition. Leaders and governors work diligently to ensure that they spend pupil premium funding wisely. They have carefully identified potential barriers to better outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. Consequently, spending contributes to getting these pupils ready to learn as well as providing targeted academic help. ."

OFSTED

2017

"Governance is effective. Governors know the school well and provide its leaders with appropriate challenge to keep it moving forward strongly."

OFSTED

2017

"Governors undertake regular, pertinent training to develop the necessary understanding and skills to be effective. They use this extremely well. For example, they asked leaders to provide a more precise overview of how well different groups of pupils are doing relative to their starting points."

OFSTED

2017

Ellington Infant School. High Street, St Lawrence, Ramsgate. Kent. CT11 0QH

Tel: 01843 591638 Email: office@ellington-infant.kent.sch.uk