Governors

Pat Preston has worked for over 25 years in a variety of marketing roles for Beecham Pharmaceuticals, now GlaxoSmithKline (1981-1984), H Samuel Jewellers (1984-1987), Charles Green Jewellery (1987-1990), Business Link Hereford & Worcester (1997-1999) and Tube Plastics Group (1999-2011). She has also lectured part-time on the CIM Marketing Courses at Worcester College of Technology.

In recent years, working for Robovision Ltd,  Pat has specialised in new product development with a particular focus on intellectual property,  sustainable product sourcing and supply chain management, including the establishment of new partnerships in Eastern Europe and the Far East.

She has served as a Governor at King’s since 2011.

Andrew has spent a career in education. He was Head of History at Tonbridge, Cranleigh, and Cheltenham where he was also Director of Studies. He was Sub Warden, latterly Acting Warden, at Radley College until his retirement there in 2012. He inspected a dozen schools as an ISI school inspector, lectured for the Industrial Society, and for many years ran HMC’s leadership training for senior management. He is governor of four schools and chairman at Summer Fields, Oxford; he is also responsible for developing the partnership between Radley College and a boys Academy in Maidenhead.

He has several published works, including ‘Speeches that Changed Britain’, and a work on the comparative legacies of George Cadbury and Joseph Chamberlain. He is Chairman of the Education Committee and a member of the Finance and General Purposes Committee.

Peter Atkinson served in parishes in South London, Surrey, Bath and West Sussex. He was Principal of Chichester Theological College, and a Canon Residentiary and Chancellor of Chichester Cathedral.

He has published two books: Friendship and the Body of Christ (2005), and The Lion Encyclopedia of the Bible (2009) – an introduction to the Bible for the young reader.

He has been Dean of Worcester, and an ex officio Governor at King’s, since 2007. He is the Vice-Chairman of Governors. and a member of the Finance & General Purposes Committee and the Nominations Committee.

Caroline works as an Education Consultant for the secondary sector operating in a range of settings and contexts and is a serving Ofsted Inspector. She is a Trustee of both UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) and The Rivers C of E Multi Academy Trust.

Caroline was the Headteacher and subsequently Executive Headteacher of Haybridge High School and Sixth Form for twelve years. She oversaw the school becoming a Teaching School and National Support School in 2011 (when Caroline was designated as an NLE – National Leader in Education) and a SCITT (School Centred Initial Teacher Training) in 2015. In 2018 Haybridge formed, in partnership with King Charles I School, the Four Stones Multi Academy Trust.

Caroline served as a representative on the Ofsted West Midlands Headteacher Reference Group and was the Chair of WASH (Worcestershire Association of Secondary Headteachers) from 2017 – 2019.

She has been nominated by the Chapter as a Governor of King’s and is a member of the Education Committee.

Douglas Dale spent two years with Proctor and Gamble, in the marketing department. He then qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse, moving to Worcester in 1980.

He was a partner at the local accountancy firm Ballard Dale Syree Watson LLP. He retired in June 2012, but maintains his business links. He is Managing Director of a family farming and investment company, as well as a Director of The Three Choirs Festival Association Ltd.

He has served as a Governor at King’s since 2011. He is Chairman of the Finance & General Purposes Committee and a member of the Nominations Committee.

Laurie Green served Articles at Parkinson Wright before qualifying as a solicitor. He remained in practice at that firm throughout his working life and was a partner and head of the Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department until retiring from practice in March 2020.

He served as a Governor at Pershore College, a land-based further education college, for thirteen years.

He has served as a Governor at King’s since 2007 and chairs the Health and Safety Committee.

Jabba is an OV and has seen both his eldest children through the foundation system. He currently works as a senior Planner and for Air Products plc playing a role for the Company in its Covid 19 Oxygen strategy for the governments Nightingale Hospitals.

He served as the City’s Civic Mayor in 2018-2019 promoting his Mayoral theme of ‘Love not Hate’ after having held positions as the chairman of licensing and Cabinet member for Housing and Leisure Services.  He has been instrumental in reforming policy and led the successful business case for the new Swimming Pool in Worcester. In his Mayoral Year he fought for and won the right to Award the Freedom for the City for Basil  D’Oliveira, in recognition of his inadvertent role in bringing the end of Apartheid regime in South Africa as well as raising over £35,000 for local charities . Jabba currently Serves as the Vice Chair of Income Generation & Communities Committee at Worcester City Council and is the local ward councillor for the King’s School Worcester. He still plays Cricket for the OV’s and is active in his local community leading a Youth Action Group to help disadvantaged teenagers get the skills and qualifications to succeed.

Paul Walker has held a variety of technical and management roles in the steel industry, and established his own management consultancy.

Since 1995, he has been Managing Director of Malvern Instruments Ltd., which designs and manufactures scientific instrumentation used in the analysis of materials. Sales exceed £100 million, of which ninety percent are exported.

Paul was President of the Hereford and Worcester Chamber of Commerce for five years. He has served as a Non-Executive Director of Malvern Hills Science Park since 1999.

He has served as a Governor at King’s since 2009. He is a member of the Education Committee.

Jeremy Goulding was Headmaster of Shrewsbury School for nine years and retired in 2010. Prior to Shrewsbury he had been Headmaster of the Haberdashers’ Aske’s School, before which he was Headmaster of Prior Park College, Bath. Jeremy began his teaching career at Abingdon School (after a further year at Oxford to complete a PGCE) and then went to Shrewsbury School, where he was appointed Head of Department and Housemaster, before entering the world of Headship.

Jeremy is also a governor of a state boarding grammar school and its partner, a recently-established academy in Shropshire. Both are schools under the aegis of the Haberdashers’ Company, of which he is a Liveryman. He is a member of the Education Committee.

Jane Jarvis is a Human Resources professional, having held posts as HR Officer at McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd. (1987-1996), HR Operations Manager at The Automobile Association (1996-2005), HR Director at Craegmoor Ltd., a nationwide disability care and support provider (2005-2011), HR Director at the NEC Group, Birmingham (since 2011-2018).  She is currently People Director for the Aurora Group, who specialise in the provision of Education and care to children, young people and young adults with special needs.

She has served as a Governor at King’s since 2011, nominated by the Chapter. She is the Safeguarding Governor.

Carolyn Pike is a retired solicitor and was formerly Director of Legal Services at the University of Birmingham. She previously worked in private practice in Birmingham and was an honorary lecturer on post graduate and under graduate programmes, before taking up her role within Legal Services at the University. She is a non-executive director of UM Association Limited and its two associated companies, and was Chairman of the national Association of University Legal Practitioners from 2011 to 2016. She was awarded an OBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honours’ List for services to legal service and higher education.

Carolyn was a former Vice Chairman of Governors for Woodfield Middle School in Redditch and is now Chairman of the Hereford and Worcester Dyslexia Association. She has been nominated by the Chapter as a governor of King’s. She is the Safeguarding Governor.

Leah Tether studied modern languages and medieval French literature at Durham University and is Reader in Medieval Literature and Digital Cultures, Department of English, University of Bristol. She is also the Graduate Dean and Education Director for the Faculty of Arts as well as Co-Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies. Following the completion of her PhD in Medieval Literature at Durham, she became a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Cultures of the Digital Economy Institute at Anglia Ruskin University, before progressing to Principal Lecturer in Publishing. She has a background in trade publishing, having worked at Penguin Books.

She is a member of the Education Committee.

Following in his father’s and grandfather’s educational footsteps Andrew Underwood spent eleven years at King’s Worcester, leaving in 1988. He is a Partner at KPMG, having started his Operations Consulting career with Ernst & Young in 1998, he moved to KPMG in 2006 where he leads KPMG’s UK Supply Chain team and is a member of KPMG’s Global Operations Leadership team.

Andrew has led a number of large operational transformation programmes, with global multi-national organisations across the consumer, retail, telecommunications and financial services industries, with specific focus on driving benefits through cloud-based procurement technology.

Andrew is a member of the Finance and General Purposes Committee

Kate is the CEO of The Rivers CofE Academy Trust, a primary specialist MAT which was created from her vision for a culture of collaboration and her passion to create inspiring learning opportunities and improve life chances for all.  The trust started with three founding schools in 2014 and currently has fifteen good and outstanding primary, first, pre-school and nursery settings together with a thriving teaching school. Kate is also leading on a project to a brand-new, purpose-built, alternative provision primary school in Kidderminster which will become part of the Rivers family. This much-needed provision will open in January 2023 for pupils and families across Worcestershire.

In addition, Kate is also a member of the West Midland’s Headteacher Board, a member of the Department of Education’s Headteacher Reference Group, a National Leader in Education (NLE), a Lead Ofsted Inspector and a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching. She is a driven individual who thrives on challenge and believes that school leadership and school-to-school support are essential to drive school improvement and ensure better outcomes for children. She has an ethos of ‘always learning and is a School Improvement Partner for several MATs/SATs across the Worcestershire area and beyond, and is also a coach/mentor on the DfE’s Trust to Trust Development programme.