Our Governors
Welcome to the Muswell Hill Primary School Governing Body
As at 1st January 2025 Muswell Hill Primary School has no staff earning more than £100k a year.
In 2019, the Department of Education ran a consultation on their “Financial transparency of local authority maintained schools and academy trusts” document.
The published results can be viewed at the following link:
Introducing our Governors
Governors are appointed for a four-year term.
Sara Sheldon - Co-Chair of Governors 
- Elected as parent governor in January 2023
- Experienced Secondary Teacher & School Leader- Expertise in English and PSHE
- SEN Link Governor; Resources & Finance Committee; Pay Committee
Stuart Webber – Co-Chair of Governors; Chair of Resources Committee
- Elected as co-opted governor in July 2022
- Background in financial services and consultancy
- Currently Associate Partner of global management consulting firm
David Marshall – Curriculum Y1-3 Link Governor
- Elected as co-opted governor in September 2022
- Experienced teacher and Head of English
- Areas of interest include literacy, educational research and CPD leadership
Davina Deniszczyc – Safeguarding Link Governor
- Elected as a parent governor in June 2021
- GP and Medical Director; expertise in healthcare, community and wellbeing
Julia Simmonds – Curriculum Y3-6 Link Governor
- Elected as co-opted governor in March 2024
- Ex solicitor, legal academic and trainer; currently tutoring English to primary and secondary school children
- Staff Wellbeing Link Governor
Muriel Thompson – Link Governor for EYFS
- Elected as staff governor in November 2020
- Anthropology degree, MTeach
- Previous experience in international development and project coordination with an NGO
- Assistant Headteacher; Teaching, Learning and Assessment Lead Year 4-6
Martin Gibbins – Health and Safety Link Governor
- Originally elected as a parent governor in 2018; associate governor for two years before being elected as a co-opted governor in September 2024
- Architect specialising in school design
- Key focus- Health & Safety and Resources Committee
- Passionate about ensuring a safe and inclusive school environment for students, staff and visitors, as well as advising on how to best use resources to maintain an excellent learning and teaching environment
Sarah Gray – Communication Link Governor
- Re-elected as associate governor in July 2024
- Experienced governor and considerable examination/educational project management experience
Ishah Ijaz – Link Governor for Equality and Anti-Racism
- Elected as a parent governor in June 2021
- Experienced regulatory lawyer and policy strategist in economic growth at HM Treasury
- Areas of interest include pupil premium, inclusion and diversity
Additionally, Mandi Howells, our Headteacher, is a member of the Governing Body and Georgina Harcourt-Brown, our Deputy Headteacher and SENDCO is an ex-officio member.
The composition of the Governing Body is outlined in our Instrument of Government which is reviewed annually. It was approved in 2017 and remains unchanged.
We said goodbye and thank you to three of our long-standing governors in July 2024 - Alexa Charnley who had been our Chair of Governors for the last four years, Hilary Plant who had been Vice-Chair (amongst many other things) and Dan Salem who had been with us undertaking many roles (including Chair of the Governing Board prior to Alexa's appointment).
What do we do?
Sara and Stuart introduced themselves and discussed the Governing Body in an online Meet The Governing Body event, see below.
/i/video/video1668608512_2.mp4
The Governing Body provides strategic leadership and accountability in schools. It has three key functions:
- Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent
- Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils
- Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction.
Governors set the aims and objectives for the school and set the policies and targets for achieving those aims and objectives. They monitor and evaluate the progress the school is making and act as a source of challenge and support to the headteacher, they are sometimes referred to as ‘critical friends’.
This means that the Governing Body is involved in:
- Appointing and performance reviewing the head teacher and senior leaders, including making decisions about pay
- Managing budgets and deciding how money is spent
- Engaging with pupils, staff, parents/carers and the school community
- Sitting on panels and making decisions about things such as pupil exclusions and staff disciplinary matters
- Addressing a range of education issues within the school including disadvantaged pupils, pupils with special needs, staff workload and teacher recruitment
- Looking at data and evidence to ask questions and have challenging conversations about the school
Governors must be prepared to adopt the Nolan principles of public life: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.
All governors sign to confirm that they agree to abide by the Code of Conduct.
How do we do this?
We have two Governing Body meetings a term and the business of the Curriculum and Standards Committee and the Resources Committee take place in these meetings. There are additional meetings of the Finance and Pay Committees and working parties as and when required but the bulk of the Governing Body business will take place at the full Governing Body meetings.
Most governors also have 'link governor' roles; this is where a governor takes a particular interest in an area of the school, meeting the teacher(s) responsible for those areas and reporting back to the main Governing Body on progress in these areas in relation to the School Development Plan.
Contacting the Governing Body
If you have any queries or comments do please feel free to contact any member of the Governing Body via the School Office and they will be happy to forward your email or letter; alternatively you can send us an email at:
governors@muswell-hill.haringey.sch.uk
Governing Body Attendance & Meetings
Governing Body Minutes for the current academic year will be posted here when they are formally approved, generally at the following Governing Body meeting.
For Governing Body Attendance 2024-25 click here
For Governing Body Attendance 2023 -24 click here
Register of interest
It is our statutory duty to produce a register of interest, this includes a declaration, business interest and also a declaration of pecuniary interests. Please click here to see the details.