Governors

Governance structure / roles and responsibilities

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Governor Biographies
 

Trudy Nazer

My name is Trudy Nazer and I am Chair of the Governors at Coombe Bissett School. I live in Clarendon with my husband Barry. My daughter, her husband and 3 of our grandchildren also live with us. We have a grandson who is in Fir class and another grandson in Oak class. I retired from full time work in in 2015 but I keep myself very busy with the family together with being a Governor.  I am also a Duty Solicitor and an Appropriate Adult working with the police. During my career I worked as a Criminal Defence Barrister in London, Commercial Director in the Flexible Packaging Industry in Greater Manchester and an Operations Director in the HealthCare Sector also in the Northwest. When I became a Governor, I felt that my legal, commercial and sales experiences may well be helpful.  Due to the financial restraints facing all schools, particularly rural ones in the UK today, I believe that all Governing Bodies will have an extremely challenging and hardworking, but hopefully rewarding time in the future.

Hugh Ballantine-Dykes

My name is Hugh Ballantine Dykes and I am a Foundation Governor at Coombe Bissett CofE School. I have lived with my wife Fiona in Coombe Bissett for 6 years, before which we lived for 16 years near Pitton. I serve on the CB&H PCC and am chairman of the CB&H Cricket Club. I’d love to encourage more young people to take up the game. I also have a passion for singing, currently with three friends in a barber shop quartet. We have four grown-up children, three of whom work and live in London. The fourth lives locally and works for the Trussell Trust. I work at a small Biotech company on the science park at Porton Down that my business partner and I set up in 2009, to develop new veterinary and clinical lateral flow diagnostic methods. At the moment we are a developing a new and affordable test for bovine TB. Our work involves regular R&D grant applications, tight budgeting and cashflow management and scrupulous attention to health and safety, quality assurance and risk management procedures in our laboratories. For 3 years in the 1990’s I ran the Children’s Heart Federation, a national charity dedicated to supporting families with children born with congenital heart defects. Together with a new Chairman, I took it on with almost zero funds in the bank and dysfunctional management and laid the foundations and funding for it to become the national voice for heart children and their families that it still is today. I am happy bringing whatever skills, knowledge and experience I may have to the Board of Governors of the school.

Emma Haworth

I am fortunate enough to be able to say that I am the headteacher of Coombe Bissett! I have been teaching for over twenty five years and have been a head for the past twelve years. My passion in life is teaching! I am at my happiest, during a school day, when I am in a classroom with the children. I love to learn and I love nurturing that love in others. Watching children thrive and flourish is a privilege that I do not take lightly. It is my aim that children should come to school every day with a smile and leave with an even bigger one!

Outside of school, my family is incredibly important. My husband and I have two daughters who are both now at secondary school and family time is very special. The four of us especially enjoy walking the newest addition to our family, our Romanian rescue puppy, Peanut. We love to spend time in our allotment and when we are not there, I am an avid reader with an ever growing pile of books by the bed!

As a family we love to travel and this love grew out of our move to the USA where early in my career, I was a member of a team establishing a brand new school in Houston, Texas. Twelve and a half years later having had two children and having lived in two US states and Seoul, South Korea (and been a member of three start up schools), we came back to the UK. We still have the travel bug, but now are more than happy to confine it to holidays!

I am blessed to be the headteacher at Coombe Bissett – the view from my office window, but more importantly the buzz from the classroom around me and the family feel of the school and its community remind me of this every day.

Naomi Bowers

I’m Naomi Bowers (Mrs Bowers!).  I enjoyed my own education and can remember from a young age many teachers who were a wonderful, positive and encouraging influence along the way, nurturing and scaffolding my learning. Armed with A levels in Psychology, English Literature and Theatre Studies, I went on to Lancaster University and achieved my degree in Theatre and Literature with Creative Writing. I had a few years out after this; travelling and working with children in Pre-schools, youth clubs and on a holiday site! This was eye opening and made me realise that working with children is a huge responsibility. I saw many examples of it being done both negatively and positively. It led me to the decision that I would like to pursue teaching and I embarked on a one year PGCE with a specialism in the Early Years (ages 3 – 7). I have now been teaching for 15 years. Education has changed greatly in this time, but my passion and love for my career has never faltered. Teaching is a privilege and honour and I value every young individual I have the pleasure of meeting and teaching. I enjoy supporting them all in their individual educational journey; celebrating their successes, scaffolding their weaknesses, helping them develop their skills and encouraging their personalities to blossom. Teaching is about so much more than teaching! I am now in my 7^th year of teaching at Coombe Bissett Primary School. I love the ethos of the school, the values and morals we practise that are founded in Christianity. A school has many roles, many in the background, that help the school run day to day and make it the wonderful place for children to come, feel safe, valued and support their learning. The Governors do a remarkable job of supporting Coombe Bissett in all aspects of school life and running. I am proud to be the Teacher Governor, I hope it goes a little way to show the other Governors how much we value their support. 

Lucy Paterson

I am Lucy Paterson, one of the Foundation Governors at Coombe Bissett Primary School. I have always been passionate about education and was excited to join the governing body of such a wonderful school three years ago. I am a qualified teacher and have had experience teaching in an infant school for 8 years before starting my own family. I am now a full-time mother to five children, three of whom joyfully attend Coombe Bissett! I am the Literacy and Maths link governor and sit on the staffing and curriculum committee. As well as enjoying life with a young family my husband and I have been renovating our listed Victorian home in Wilton for the past six years and counting! If I have any spare time, I like to spend it reading or baking. I am also lucky enough to come into school on a regular basis to read with the children.

Brigadier Stephen Gledhill

I am a Foundation Governor of Coombe Bissett School and live in Homington with my wife Gill. We have two grown-up children, one of whom attended Coombe Bissett School back in the 1990’s when we lived in Wilton. Our other daughter is now a Teacher in a Primary school in Bristol. I was a career soldier for 30 years, during which time I served in numerous places and had a wide variety of jobs and responsibilities, including being Director of Army training.  For three years I was also Chair of Governors of both a Service Children’s Primary and Secondary School in Germany. On leaving the Army I became chief executive of a Charity dedicated to helping ex-service personnel find employment and build second careers; a job I retired from two years ago. As well as being a Foundation Governor, I am also a Councillor on Coombe Bissett Parish Council, a Member of the Coombe Bissett with Homington Parochial Church Council and Trustee of a number of Charities. My aim in becoming a Governor is to use the knowledge, skills and experience I have gained to support the School in delivering the very best education to our children.

Dominic Imms

Hello, my name is Dom Imms and I am a Foundation Governor here at the school. I have two children enrolled at Coombe Bissett and we all live together in the village with my wife and Labrador Max. Somehow despite our proximity to the school we are always in a rush to get in for registration on time! In my professional life I am an Investment Banker for a French bank in London. I work with large corporates both nationally and internationally via arranging syndicated strategic funding solutions for mergers and acquisitions,  material capital expenditure projects as well as funding for working capital purposes. Prior to this I ran my own business in Salisbury between 2011 and 2015. Outside of work I am a big rugby fan and volunteer as a rugby coach for the minis at Salisbury Rugby Football Club. I enjoy encouraging the team and teaching them new skills - it's a good run about for me too! The school is a very special place and in my role as a governor I hope to build strong working relationships with the management team and other governors at the school in order to achieve and maintain our shared vision and purpose. 

Fiona Ballantine-Dykes

Hi, I am a Foundation Governor of the School and have lived in Coombe Bissett with my family since 2016 although my connections with Salisbury go back to my own school days.  After a few years as a political editor at BBC Caversham, my professional life has been in the field of counselling and psychotherapy.  Firstly, as a counsellor working in a GP practice and then gradually moving into a range of professional roles - most recently as Deputy CEO and Chief Professional Standards Officer at the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) based in Leicestershire. Luckily, I was able to work much of the time from my home office here in the village.   I still practise as a counsellor and am part of a group of therapists that make up Sarum Counselling, a charity offering low-cost counselling in Salisbury and the surrounding area.  I am very passionate about mental health and well-being and everything that gives children and young people the best start in life and the best support when things go wrong.

In the course of my professional journey, I have served on two Boards of Trustees – as Chair of the Federation of Awarding Bodies and as a trustee and Deputy Chair of the BACP Board.  This has given me a good insight in the role and responsibilities of trustees although I am new to the experience of being a school governor.  I look forward to learning and contributing to Coombe Bissett School in whatever way I can. 

Rebecca Poole

I am Rebecca (Becky) Poole, one of the parent governors of Coome Bissett (CB) Primary School. From September 2022 I will have one daughter at the school as my eldest comes to the end of her CB journey in July 2022.

It has been an absolute pleasure and privilege to act as the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Link Governor for the past 4 years.  During which time I have seen the early years provision go from strength to strength, led by our amazing staff. As my new term begins,  I am excited to be moving on to the challenge of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Link Governor position.

I have tried to be as active as possible within the school community and continue to be involved with the Friends of CB School, helping raise essential funds for the school. 

My professional background is in biological research, having spent many years undertaking lab-based research followed by post-graduate teaching, experiences I hope provide skills that I put to good use as a Governor of our school. In my spare time I can be spotted singing with a local choir or chairing Salisbury's Cafe Scientifique.

Aaron Rendell

I am Aaron Rendell, one of the parent governors of CB Primary School. I have two children at the school, with a 3rd starting in September!

In my early days at the school, I was involved with the ‘Friends of CB’. I hope being a governor, will not only be a great challenge but also a fantastic addition to supporting our school.

By day I am an IT Professional, working closely in the technical world of Microsoft. I hope my skills are put to good use as a Governor of our school! By evening and weekend, I’m an avid DIY’er; you’ll find me close to a DIY store or planning the next house extension!

Harry Martin

I am Harry Martin, one of the parent governors of Coombe Bissett Primary School.  It’s a privilege to be offered the opportunity to support the school, it’s pupils and staff.

My professional background is as an aviation engineer in the Royal Navy, though I’ve been seconded to the government’s defence procurement organisation in Bristol since December 2021.

I’m married to Nikki and we live in Harnham, Salisbury.  My eldest, Toby, joined the school in September 2022 and has a younger brother, Sebastian, who we hope will follow in September 2024.  I’m not organised enough to have much spare time, but most of it is spent running with our Cocker Spaniel, Meg.