Membership of the Governing Body includes the Head teacher, a staff member, two Foundation Governors, two parent governors and 4 co-opted Governors.  Our role at the school is strategic and one of support and challenge to ensure that children have the best possible education and experience in line with our Vision and Values.  Monitoring the culture and ethos of the school is a key role, such as a ‘foster a nurturing school community’ where all can thrive.

Governors are volunteers whose experiences and expertise are used to monitor school improvement.  To help us in that role, we undertake continuous training to support our link specialist roles such as Health & Safety, Safeguarding, Pupil Premium, SEND (Special Education Needs), wellbeing and EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage).  Currently, we have two vacancies – a co-opted and Foundation governor, if you know of anyone who is interested, please let me know!

Governors meet formally 6 times a year as a Circular Model, and we are supported by our Clerk Professional to ensure that every meeting has the correct agenda and that we are compliant.  We undertake no operational duties, but we are responsible for approving policies and checking that are they correctly applied.  We each visit the school at least 3 times a year on a planned Monitoring Visit to have strategic oversight of our Link governor role and monitor aims of the school improvement plan.  Visits can involve meeting with children and staff, checking the budget monthly, shadowing external visits and making additional informal visits to school events.

The Governing Body helps the school to provide the best possible education for its pupils by: 

• Setting the school's vision and strategic aims, agreeing plans and policies and making creative use of resources

• Monitoring and evaluating performance, supporting and challenging the headteacher in the management of the school,

• Ensuring that the school is accountable to the children and parents it serves, to its local community, to those who fund and maintain it, as well as the staff it employs.

Simon Rudland - Chair of the Governing Body

As Chair of the Governing body, Simon’s focus is to provide an excellent education for all, driven by an aspirational, accessible curriculum and an engaging learning environment.

As Chair, Simon combines career experiences from a variety of industries; from his time in retail, where he has served as Head of Operations at Waitrose, to leisure, as a Director of Virgin Active UK, and most recently in education, as General Manager and Chair of Governors for 16 schools within the Cognita Group, where he was also a member of the European Executive Board. Simon is currently Chief Operating Officer of Highland Court Group, which has its headquarters in Bridge.

Delivering the best possible outcomes for pupils is an area in which Simon is hugely passionate. He recognises that his role is to provide strategic advice and support to the Head Teacher in delivering upon a set of shard objectives, while also offering a listening-ear and professional guidance to the whole staff team here at Littlebourne.

Simon appreciates that the school has developed significantly over time to now be in such a stronh position, while also recognising the challenges that lie ahead within an ever-evolving educational landscape. However, he is a firm believer - along with everyone at Littlebourne - that our Christian vision and values by will continue to drive us to serve our community in the most wholesome way possible.

Claire Ledger - Vice Chair of the Governing Body

Safeguarding and Wellbeing Governor

Claire first became a Governor at Littlebourne School in March 2021.   She has experience of safeguarding children, young people and adults and became a governor to use her personal and professional experience to support the children, governing body and parent community in achieving its goal to continue to provide the children with the best possible educational experience.   

Claire is a keen runner and sports enthusiast and is always looking for new challenges, with the London Marathon top of her list this year. 

Megan Nee

Megan is a Secondary School Literary Lead for a Trust in Kent. Megan cares deeply about ensuring all children leave school being confident, fluent readers that give them the skills to be life long learners and successful members of society.

She has experience teaching English in inner city London schools and most recently rural Canterbury. She is particularly keen to ensure that all children have access to literature from diverse authors who are traditionally marginalised from the literary canon. 

Megan has also worked in an education-based start-up when she lived in the USA, so is passionate about using technology in the classroom to help students make excellent progress.

Outside of the classroom, Megan enjoys films, cooking and the great outdoors!

Dr William Dunn

Dr William Dunn is an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at University College London. He has held roles at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (USA), the European Space Agency (Spain) and at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory (UK). He is particularly passionate about education equity and improving inclusivity and diversity in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects. In this endeavour, he has run the Orbyts research-with-schools programme since 2017, which alongside many awards, won the 2021 NEON award for widening access to education in the UK. 

Will grew up in Thanington and is excited to be back in the area, and particularly to have the opportunity to support Littlebourne school’s vision for pupil premium and SEND students. 

Yvonne Bryant

My name is Yvonne Bryant and I joined the Littlebourne Primary Governing Body in January this year.  I am a Foundation governor, meaning that I am appointed by the Diocese and I have responsibility for SEND and RE. I live in Littlebourne, having moved here with my family two years ago. I love being part of the village community. I was previously a geography teacher and have six years' experience as an office manager in local schools. Currently I work at Canterbury Christ Church University.

Rory Walker - Local Authority Governor

Rory joined the Littlebourne Primary governing body in September 2024. He is a Local Authority Governor with responsibility for Finance and a member of the Pay Review board.

Rory lives in Eastry with his wife and son who has just turned 2 years old and his dog, Olive.

He always had a passion for ensuring children get the very best start in life and believes that a good education is a critical part of a child’s development. Rory want to utilise the skills and experience he has developed to make a positive contribution to Littlebourne.

Rory has worked in retail banking for the last 13 years covering a multitude of management roles in branches and head office. Currently, he is a Policy & Governance Manager, responsible for ensuring the bank remains compliant with the regulators and that customers are getting good outcomes from their interactions with the bank when in financial difficulty. As well as this, he has significant experience in People Leadership and Project Management, Policy & Governance, Banking Regulation and Finance.

 Rory's personal interests include Web Development, Computer Programming and spending quality time with his family.

James McCrossan - Parent Governor

James assumed the role of Governor at Littlebourne School in March 2024, driven by his belief in actively contributing to the development and enhancement of the children's learning environment, ensuring every child receives the best possible opportunities. Serving as a governor allows him to play a meaningful role in shaping school policies, advocating for the needs of the children, and bringing a parental perspective to the issues and challenges the board discusses.

James also serves as the Safeguarding Officer for Littlebourne Cricket Club, where he brings valuable experience in safeguarding children. In his free time, he merges his love for sports with analytical expertise, working as a Performance Analyst at a Semi-Professional football club. In this role, he provides valuable insights for enhancing performance, strategic planning, and leveraging data to drive success

Staff Governors

Mr Simon Hillier (Headteacher)

Mrs Charlotte McLean (SENCO)

Clerk to the Governing Body

Linda Walkerdine :- linda.walkerdine@theeducationpeople.org

FGB Meetings 2023-2024

27 September 2023 

29 November 2023 

31 January 2024 

20 March 2024 

22 May 2024

26 June 2024

17 July (Strategy) 2024

Minutes are available on request from school office.