Governors 

DECLARATION OF BUSINESS INTERESTS AND OTHER GOVERNANCE INFORMATION

 

WILLIAM ROLLASON

Chair of Governors

William is a chartered accountant, having qualified at KPMG, and has over thirty years’ experience as a main board director of public and private companies, acting at various times as Chairman, CEO, COO and CFO. Currently, he is also a Governor of West Acton Primary School, a maintained school in Ealing.

William is a graduate of St. Andrews University with a French degree and believes strongly in the teaching of modern foreign languages as a core part of the curriculum.

William was appointed a Governor in 2020.

 

 

Kathryn Cooper

Vice Chair

Kathryn is one of the founding group behind the West London Free School and is a Member of the Knowledge Schools Trust Board, and a Trustee of The Knowledge Schools Foundation Trust. Prior to joining the governing body of the secondary she established, and then chaired the governing body of the West London Free School Primary and The Earl’s Court Free School Primary for three years. They were judged outstanding by Ofsted in June 2015 and June 2017 respectively. Her experience in governance began at her children’s primary school in Chiswick where she was the governor for Inclusion for four years. 

Kathryn was educated in the state sector at a rural comprehensive in the New Forest and then in London where she obtained a Business Studies degree, followed by a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Strategy from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Her experience of working with colleagues who have had better educational opportunities than she did, has driven her passion for an excellent education for all.   She is thoroughly committed to the ethos and vision of the West London Free School.

Kathryn was re-appointed to the governing body in November 2022 for a period of three years. She is responsible for safeguarding, and careers.

  

 

NICOLA ARNOLD

Chair of the Finance Sub-Committee

Nicola is Finance Director at St George’s University of London, the only remaining independent medical school in the UK. She was until the end of 2015 the Deputy Finance Director of University College London. She is also a Council member of the ICAEW. Nicola was educated at a grammar school in Kingston before joining Ernst & Young where she qualified as an accountant. She has an interest in equality and widening participation in higher education, having previously sat on the Audit Committee of the Equality Challenge Unit and was also a governor and chair of the Finance and Audit Committee at the UCL Academy (a sponsored Academy in Camden). 

Nicola was appointed governor in 2015.

   

Gilat Levy 

Governor

Gilat Levy joined the Governing body in 2019; She is a Professor of Economics at LSE, where she teaches courses in microeconomic theory and political economy. Previously, she had been a deputy head of teaching for the department of economics at LSE. Gilat passionately believes in non-selective schools such as WLFS and is interested in increasing achievement for all ability levels.

Gilat's children both attend WLFS.

 

KIM STRINGER

Governor

Kim is an HR Director with 25 years experience across FinTech, Digital Media and Entertainment sectors, and has a Masters in Human Resource Management. Kim started her own HR management consultancy in 2010, and works with growing international digital businesses.  She helps organisations develop and scale, working closely with senior leadership teams.   She is particularly interested in talent management, employee engagement, equality and diversity, and the values and culture of dynamic organisations.

Kim lives in Hammersmith, is born and raised in West London, and educated in local state schools. She has had children in WLFS since 2014.  The youngest is still at WLFS, and the oldest has just left Sixth Form.  She is delighted that her children are able to attend such a great local state school.

Kim was appointed a governor in 2021.

   

lulu szego

Staff Governor

Miss Szego graduated from the University of Nottingham with a degree in Geography and completed her PGCE at the same institution. Her interest in Geography is further inspired by a love of travel - most recently with a month-long trip around Japan. 

She is also a keen sportswoman, participating in football and athletics, and particularly javelin and discus, as well as competing in the more unusual Dodgeball Premier League. 

 Lulu was appointed a staff governor in 2021.

 

 

nadia touzani

Governor

Nadia previously served a four-year term as a governor in an early years centre where her children attended.

Nadia speaks five languages, and graduated from The London Institute with an HND in Travel and Tourism Management, later completing a degree in Travel and Tourism at the University of Bedfordshire. She is also a qualified Parent Practitioner delivering Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities, a popular 13-week parenting course with the main objective of enhancing the parent/child relationship. She is now hoping to continue her journey by embarking on becoming a Human Rights Lawyer.

Nadia has three children, two of whom attend WLFS in Years 11 and 9. During her spare time, she enjoys baking, cake decorating, reading, travelling and spending time with her family and friends.

Nadia was appointed a governor in 2021.

 

CHLOE MAWSON

Governor

Chloe is the Deputy Chief Executive of the House of Lords administration and is responsible for all the services that directly support the scrutiny work of the House of Lords. 

Chloe grew up in Devon where she attended her local comprehensive. She has lived in Hammersmith for 20 years. She has one child at WLFS and another at WLFS Primary.

Chloe was previously co-chair of the governing body at WLFS Primary and Earls Court Free School primary for five years. Before that she been elected as the first parent governor in the year WLFSP was originally established.

Chloe was appointed governor in 2022.

 

Marian Doyle

Governor

Marian was educated in Ireland, she attended the University of Ulster, obtained a teaching degree, has an MA in Education Management and holds the National Professional Qualification for Headship, (NPQH).

During her extensive time in education, Marian worked at Haggerston School, Hackney, The Phoenix (formerly Hammersmith School), Holland Park School, and Sacred Heart High School, Hammersmith, as deputy for 17 years and Headteacher for 8 years. She has also been an Advisory teacher for the RBK&C and worked for London Compacts as well as Education Industry Initiative in the late 80s and early 90s. She has extensive experience as a governor serving on the boards of two other schools.

Through all of the varied and wide-ranging roles Marian has undertaken she has always sought to ensure that pupils had excellent educational opportunities through the taught curriculum and wider enrichment programmes. She believes young people are our future and deserve the very best teaching and pastoral care so they can achieve their ambitions. She is determined to enable this through her work as a governor at WLFS.

Marian is married with two sons and a granddaughter.

Marian was appointed governor in 2022.

 

Governing Body

The West London Free School has a board of eight governors who provide strategic leadership and who are ultimately accountable for the performance of the school. The governors, together with the trustees, appoint the headteacher and deputy headteacher. The governors hold the main responsibility for ensuring that the school's finances are spent appropriately and work with the headteacher to make the decisions required to run the school successfully and effectively. 

The role of the governing board is to:

• set the aims and objectives of the school
• set the policies for achieving those aims and objectives
• set and monitor the targets for achieving those aims and objectives
• be a source of challenge and support to the Headteacher, acting as a critical friend. 

The Chair of Governors is William Rollason (w.rollason@ks-t.org) and the Vice-Chair is Kathryn Cooper (k.cooper@ks-t.org). There are three sub-committees who do much of the delegated work of the board. These are the Finance, Infrastructure and Health & Safety Committee, the Education Committee and the Leadership and People Management Committee. The structure of the governing body and its sub-committees can be viewed here.

The governing body hold a termly forum with parents and carers to share plans and updates and to discuss issues and concerns. Information from the most recent Parent Governor Forum can be found here.  

You can view an organogram showing how the Trust relates to the local governing bodies here