Governance, policies and inspection reports

Governors

P.J.S. Thompson, Esq. Chairman of Governors

Nimble has been Chairman of the Governors for the past two years .

Following a legal career at Eversheds where he was Deputy Chairman and Senior Partner in Leeds and Manchester he has held a number of non executive positions. These included Chairman of N G Bailey Ltd,Deputy Chairman of Skipton Building Society and Deputy Chairman of the Institute of Directors.

In addition he has been Chairman of Leeds Metropolitan (now Becket) University and EUREKA and Deputy Chairman of Giggleswick school. Currently he is Non executive director of Rushbond plc and Chairman of Arch Resolution, a Harrogate based charity, as well as his small family firm in Darlington.

Both his younger son and grandson were at Aysgarth and both went on to Harrow.

J. Bourne-Arton, Esq. (OA). Data Protection

Old Aysgarthian and current parent of two boys at the school.

Outside of Aysgarth, James is a Barrister specialising in Criminal, Regulatory and Disciplinary work, based in the North East working from St Pauls Chambers (www.stpaulschambers.com).

James is also Chairman of the Nevilles Workhouse Trust – a charity that provides educational grants for children in the parish of Well and Snape.

Mrs. M.A. Bowring, Health and Safety, Pre-Prep

Melissa trained as a nurse at St Thomas’s Hospital and was a ward sister at Bart’s in London for five years, before having two children. She then remarried and gained four step children and had another baby to make 7 all together! They all moved from London to North Lancashire in 2001 to her husband’s family home.

She has had experience as a parent, through her children’s attendance, of 10 schools. Thomas, her youngest boarded at Aysgarth from 2009 to 2014 and then went onto Eton and is now reading Chinese at Oxford.

She has been a Governor since 2014 and has been responsible for Health and Safety and the Pre-Prep.

Mrs C. Cadogan

D.J.C Faber, Esq., Headmaster of Summer Fields Prep School

David Faber is the Headmaster of Summer Fields in Oxford; he is also a governor at Harrow. Educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read Modern Languages, he began a career in politics after university and was the Member of Parliament for Westbury between 1992 and 2001; he held a number of posts during his political career, including Shadow Foreign Minister. He left politics to pursue a career as a writer and historian, and he still teaches and writes about 20th century history, especially the politics of appeasement. He has served for many years as a committee member of the MCC.

David joined the Aysgarth governing body in September 2012.

Mrs. S. Guthe, Pastoral and Boarding

Sarah's involvement with Aysgarth began as a mother of two boys, Digby and Robin, who attended the School from 2008-2013 and 2010-2015 respectively. Growing up in North Yorkshire, as did her parents and grandparents before them, she has, however, had a life-long connection with staff and pupils at Aysgarth.

Sarah worked for the NHS for over 20 years as a speech & language therapist with a specialist interest in working with adults who stammer and adults with functional voice disorders.

Sarah was a governor at Aysgarth from 2011-2015 with responsibility for Health and Safety and was re-appointed in 2017 with responsibility for Pastoral Care and Boarding from 2018. She has recently been appointed onto the Bursary Committee.

A. Land, Esq., Head Master of Harrow School

Alastair Land, Head Master of Harrow School, read Natural Sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was President of the College's Students Union. After completing his PGCE at Cambridge, he began his career at Eton as a teacher of Biology. There he became a Deputy House Master and held several extra-curricular responsibilities. Alastair then spent nine years at Winchester, where he became Master in College and a member of the Senior Management Team. Alastair was Deputy Head Master at Harrow for three years from 2012, before he moved to Repton as Headmaster. He returned to Harrow as Head Master in April 2019.

B.M.L. Hoskyns-Abrahall, Esq. (OA)., Chairman of F & GP Committee

T.E.J. Nolan, Esq, Director of Development, Eton College

W.J. Roe, Esq. Marketing

Bill worked in the retail industry for nearly 30 years in senior leadership and board level roles for Pick ‘n Pay, Safeway, Morrisons and Poundworld. These roles included a wide range of positions across operations, marketing, trading and strategy development.

More recently Bill has gained experience in the leisure and tourism sector, having been the Managing Director of one of the top attractions and historic gardens in The Lakes.

Bill is currently a Board Trustee of Dementia UK and is also a Director of Dementia UK Trading Limited. As well as advising an estate and sitting on the board of their commercial business.

Mrs V. Saville

Victoria is a non practising lawyer having public international law and general commercial law experience. As a lawyer at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office she conducted domestic litigation, negotiated multilateral treaties and UN resolutions and represented the UK at international conferences. She practised in areas such as counter terrorism, sanctions, diplomatic immunity, human rights and law of the sea. Prior to that she was a solicitor at Eversheds, Paris and was part of a team which represented States in investment treaty arbitrations, in the Iran- United States Claims Tribunal and in the International Court of Justice. Having practised as a barrister at 3 Verulam Buildings at the start of her career, she also has experience of general commercial law. Victoria is a mother of 3 boys, 2 of which are currently at Aysgarth and lives in the North York Moors. She has also recently been appointed to be a trustee for another family trust and a small charitable trust, is on the Yorkshire Historic Houses committee and is on a Macmillan Yorkshire committee as a volunteer.

M.C.Wallace, Esq. (OA) F & GP Committee, Risk Management, Chairman of Foundation

Education: Aysgarth, Harrow and Edinburgh University. 5 years in the army with The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and then started working in the City where he has been with Rothschild & Co Wealth Management since 2006 as part of the London based investment team. He lives in Ilkley with his wife and 3 children. Mark's son William was the fourth generation of the family to go to Aysgarth.

C.York, Esq. (OA). F & GP Committee

Clerk to the Governors:

Inspection reports

Parents may request access to the following information:

school's policy on and arrangements for admissions, behaviour and exclusions;
educational and welfare provision for pupils with statements and pupils for whom English is an additional language;
curriculum policy;
policy to promote good behaviour and set out sanctions;
anti-bullying strategy, health and safety policy, first aid policy;
academic performance during the preceding school year, including the results of any public examinations;
complaints procedure, and the number of complaints registered under the formal procedure during the preceding school year; and
a copy of the report of any inspections of the school or boarding provision.

ISI Inspection, 2018

Aysgarth meets the standards in the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, the National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools 2015, and relevant requirements of the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, and associated requirements.’

The Educational Quality inspection, which assesses the quality of the pupils’ academic and other achievements and the quality of the pupils’ personal development found that: