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Governors

We are pleased to welcome you to the governors’ section of the site. We hope it will give you an insight into who we are and what we do.

Wolvercote Primary School is an academy managed by the River Learning Trust (RLT). Each school within the RLT is managed by its local governing body and the Senior Leadership Team of the school.

The RLT board delegates three core strategic functions to the governing body:

Setting the vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school, within the context of the RLT
Holding the Headteacher and senior staff to account for the educational performance of the school and its children
Ensuring the school remains within the budget delegated by The River Learning Trust and making sure the money is well spent

What do the Governors do?

Governors get to know the school through meetings and by visiting the school during the day.

We work collaboratively with the Headteacher and senior staff to look at where the school is now, what we want the school to achieve and how are we going to achieve this. We use the published school performance data and additional outcomes from the school’s self-evaluation, to inform priorities in the School Improvement Plan. We set clear, ambitious targets for the school and develop policies and budget and staffing structures to achieve these aims. We also appoint the Headteacher.

The governing body is organised into two sub-committees, which take responsibility for holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance and financial performance of the school. The sub committees are:

Impact Committee - This committee has an overview of the academic performance of the school.
Resources Committee - This committee has an overview of the effectiveness of the school's resources including staffing, equipment and the building and grounds. It also has oversight over the school's budget.

Each governor is allocated to one of the two sub-committees and some governors take on specific responsibilities, for example, Safeguarding and Health & Safety.

Minutes from the Governor meetings are available upon request from the school office.

Who are the Governors?

Chair of Governors: Magali Matsumiya (mmatsumiya@wolvercoteprimary.org)

Vice Chair: Dan Sparrow

Chair of Impact Committee: Paul Buckley

Chair of Resources Committee: Dan Sparrow

Headteacher: Mandy Hayes

Clerk to Governors: Leyla Kizilcay

Parent Governors

Magali Matsumiya
Mary-Jane Newton
Rebecca Williams
Chhaya Auti

Staff Governors

Julia Ryle-Hodges ( Teaching staff)

Community Governors

Dan Sparrow
Paul Buckley
Lucy Higgins
Emily Holdup

LEA Governor

List of Governors who have served within the last 12 months Updated May 2025
Name of Governor	Appointed As	Responsibilities/Link Roles	Date of Appointment and appointed by:	End of office	Meetings Attended SEPT 2023/JULY 2024 (LGB + Committee)
Mandy Hook	Ex-officio by virtue of being the Headteacher of the School	All areas covered by the LGB and committees.	Appointed by virtue of being the Headteacher. September 2022	-	12/12
Magali Matsumiya	Parent Governor	Chair of Governors Resources Committee Finance	Appointed by: Parents April 2022	April 2026	8/9
Paul Buckley	Community Governor	Chair of Impact Committee Personal Development	Appointed by: Local Governing Body June 2021	June 2025	8/8
Mary-Jane Newton	Parent Governor	Impact Committee Children’s wellbeing Communication and PR	Appointed by: Parents January 2021	January 2029	7/8
Dan Sparrow	Parent Governor	Vice Chair of Governors Chair of Resources Committee Health & Safety Safeguarding Medical Care GDPR	Appointed by: Parents December 2020	December 2028	8/9
Rebecca Williams	Parent Governor	Resources Committee Early Years Behaviour for Learning	Appointed by: Parents December 2021	December 2025	7/8
Julia Ryle-Hodges	Staff Governor	Impact Committee Attendance EDI	Appointed by: Staff September 2023	September 2027	8/8
Lucy Higgins	Community Governor	Impact Committee Pupil Premium Looked After Children	Appointed by: Local Governing Body July 2024	July 2028	N/A
Emily Holdup	Community Governor	Impact Committee Flexible Learning	Appointed by: Local Governing Body February 2025	February 2029	N/A
Chhaya Auti	Parent Governor	Resources Committee EDI	Appointed by: Local Governing Body February 2025	February 2029	N/A
Governors who have served in the past 12 months who are no longer governors.
Dylan Price	Community Governor	Resources Committee SEND	Appointed by: Local Governing Body July 2024	ENDED May 2025	N/A
Jo Sandelson	Local Authority Governor	Resources Committee	Appointed by: Local Governing Body November 2022	ENDED November 2024	2/8
Austen Cook	Community Governor	Chair of Governors Resources Committee GDPR Finance	Appointed by: Local Governing Body November 2016 Ext November 2020	ENDED JULY 2024	9/9
Kerrie Butler	Staff Governor	Impact Committee	Appointed by: Staff February 2023	ENDED JULY 2024	2/8

Register of Business Interests of the Governors at Wolvercote Primary School 2024-2025

Governor	Relevant business interests to include: Name of Organisation Nature of Business *Nature of interest	Other educational establishments governed	Relationships with this school’s staff to include: Spouses Partners *Relatives	Date declared
Paul Buckley	Chair of the Wolvercote Neighbourhood Forum	None	None	10/09/2024
Mary-Jane Newton	Oxford University Press Publisher Employment Oxford Union Society Membership Beta Gamma Sigma Society Membership UCL University Alumna The University of Oxford University Alumna Twig Education/Imagine Learning Publisher Employment Artemis Studios Performing Arts School Non-Executive Director/Trustee Nord Anglia Education Employment	None	None	11/09/2024
Daniel Sparrow	Rapid Indigo Ltd IT Services Director	None	None	11/09/2024
Rebecca Williams	The Oxford Trust as an Education Officer The Peguera Trust - Trustee Radley College - Husband works at the college in IT security	None	None	12/09/2024
Mandy Hook	Wolvercote Primary School Education Headteacher	None	None	15/09/2022
Magali Matsumiya	None declared	None	None	09/09/2024
Julia Ryle-Hodges	Staff Member at Wolvercote Primary School Primary Science Teaching Trust Trustee Oxford University Press Father is Chair of the Board	None	None	08/09/2024
Lucy Higgins		None	None	16.09.2024
Emily Holdup	Employed by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office	None	None	09/01/2025
Chhaya Auti	None	None	None	16/01/2025

You can find out more information about The River Learning Trust and Governance here: https ://riverlearningtrust.org/21/key-information