Governors
Welcome to our Governors’ section.
Please find below details of how our Governing body is structured, including the names, categories, responsibilities and terms of appointment for each Governor.
The governors of Edward Wilson Primary School meet three times a year as a full Governing Body and each committee also meets six times a year. Minutes from the Full Governing Body can be found on the school’s website.
Working with the Headteacher and his Senior Leadership Team, the Governing Body play an important role in helping shape and develop the strategic direction of the school; providing skilled support and challenge to ensure that our aspirational targets are achieved.
Our parent governors often attend our weekly Coffee Mornings, held every Thursday. All parents are welcome to attend – please see Mrs Taddese for more information.
OUR GOVERNORS ARE:
MR SIMON MAIR
Chair
Simon has been a governor at Edward Wilson Primary School since July 2016. He works as an IT Consultant at Clifford Chance.
MR SHANE BROGAN
Vice Chair
Shane has been a governor since Summer 2016. Shane currently leads on membership engagement and development at the Co-operative Party, a political party with representation in Parliament that champions British co-operatives. Shane previously worked for youth charities on projects to develop the skills and capacity of young people in Northern Ireland. Shane is a previous governor of Queen’s University Belfast and is also an elected member of the National Council of the Co-op Group of businesses.
MR DARREN GUTTRIDGE
Headteacher
Mr Guttridge has been Headteacher at Edward Wilson Primary School from January 2014 and was previously Deputy Headteacher from 2010. A husband with two young children, Mr. Guttridge has three passions in life: his family, education and sport.
JO-ANNE LING
Staff representative
Ms Ling is the leader for the Early Years Foundation Stage and has worked at Edward Wilson Primary School since 2000.
MR THOMAS JENNINGS
Co- opted
Thomas has been a governor at Edward Wilson Primary since 2014. Thomas is currently an Associate at Herbert Smith Freehills, a leading international law firm, where he specialises in commercial litigation and dispute resolution. Thomas has a keen interest in music, theatre and sport and is passionate about child literacy. Thomas has previous experience of working with children and was formerly employed as a drama teacher at the European School in Brussels, Belgium.
MRS ARIFA AKTAR
Parent
Arifa is a parent governor with two children who are currently pupils at Edward Wilson Primary School. She is part of the PTA at Edward Wilson and is currently volunteering within the local community.
MR BEN POSTER
Co-opted
Ben became a Governor at Edward Wilson in 2018. Being passionate about forging greater equality of opportunity in society, he took up the role as a way of giving back to the community via improving educational outcomes. He currently works as an Associate for Bain Capital, a multi-asset investment management firm, which he joined after graduating from the University Of Oxford with a BA in Economics and Management.
MR DAVID NASH
LA Governor
David has been a governor since 2018. He is a Civil Engineer and the Co-Founder of two startups.
If you are interested in playing a role in our governing body, please contact Simon Mair, Chair of Governors, on CHAIR@EDWARDWILSON.ORG.UK to find out more.
Name | Role on Governing Body | Type of Governor | Term of Office | Declared interests |
Simon Mair
| Chair of Governing Body Safeguarding Governor | Co-opted | July 2016 - July 2024 | None |
Shane Brogan | Vice Chair of Governing Body Chair of Curriculum, Children and Community (CCC) Committee Maths link Governor | Co-opted | July 2016 - July 2024 | None |
Darren Guttridge | Headteacher | N/A | None | |
Jo-Anne Ling | Staff | September 2019 - September 2023 | None | |
Tomas Jennings | Children Engagement | Co-opted | July 2018 - July 2022 | None |
Ben Poster | Chair of Resources Committee and Strategic Review Committee Literacy link Governor | Co-opted | April 2018 - April 2022 | None |
David Nash | Premises, Health and Safety | LA | April 2018 - April 2022 | None |
Arifa Aktar | Parent | July 2018 - July 2022 | None | |
Nariman Abdelrahman | Parent | November 2021 - November 2025 | None | |
Governors from previous year | ||||
Mary Amayo | Co-opted | March 2017 - March 2021 | None | |
Aalaa Al-Memar | Parent | November 2018 - September 2021 | None | |
Catherine Page | Co-opted | January 2020 - September 2021 | None |