Meet the Governors

We currently have 13 governors* on the school’s Governing Body. They are:

• Mr Peter Riley
  Chair of Governors
  Mr Peter Riley

  I became a governor at Valley View in October 2019.ï ¿ ½ I find the role of Governor extremely fulfilling, acting as a critical friend to the school whilst providing challenge, discussion and debate to support staff, parents and students to achieve the best possible outcomes in a safe and welcoming learning environment.

  Prior to my role at Valley View I worked with Whitecote Primary School for 10 years. Initially as a Parent Governor and Vice Chair and for the last 8 years as Chair. As part of this role I undertook a strategic review of process, policies, staffing & outcomes. I am very proud of the work I did with Whitecote.

  I live in Bramley and I am married with two sons, both of ï ¿ ½whom attend Crawshaw Academy.ï ¿ ½ I have a Degree in Business Management and have worked in the recruitment sector for over 20 years, the last 4 years in Education recruitment in the role of Managing Director. My current role encompasses all areas of business management from sales, marketing andHR to business services and finance.

  ï ¿ ½I am safer recruitment and safeguarding trained.ï ¿ ½ My Business is also a ï ¿ ½Child Friendly Leedsï ¿ ½ ambassador.

• Mrs Sarah Griggs
  Co-Headteacher/Associate governor**
  Mrs Sarah Griggs

  I have been a headteacher since 2006. In that time the school has grown from a smaller than average 4-11 school to a large primary school with a nursery. As a small school with a small leadership team initially, there was a need for me to rapidly develop the needs of every aspect of school life. Now as a larger and expanding school there is an ever changing need for new skill sets and an increasing amount of HR and personnel matters.

• Mrs Claire Griffiths
  Co-Headteacher/ Associate Governor**
  Mrs Claire Griffiths

  I have been working in schoolsï ¿ ½since 1994 (hard to believe as I look so young!)

  I like the fact that every day is different and that the children bringï ¿ ½new ideas each day as well.

  My favourite thing - Teaching a lesson and all the children leave with a big smile, knowing they have enjoyed learning and understanding something new.

  A word to describe me "Tenacious!"

• Mrs Judith Monaghan
  Vice Chair
  Mrs Judith Monaghan

  I have been the Chair of Governors at Valley View since 2010.ï ¿ ½ Throughout this time I have enjoyed watching the school grow and develop into the thriving, successful school it is today.ï ¿ ½ One of my children attended Valley View many years ago therefore I have first hand experience of what it is like to be a parent of a child at this school.

  I am particularly proud of the school's sporting achievements in recent years.ï ¿ ½ Sport plays a big part in my family life and I was delighted when I found out that the School had won the Leeds Platinum Award in 2017.ï ¿ ½ This shows how the school values sport and promotes the enjoyment of sport for all pupils and families.

  I currently work for theï ¿ ½government's department of Work and Pensions and have done so for many years.

• Mrs Jackie O'Toole
  Vice Chair
  Mrs Jackie O'Toole

  I have been a Governor at Valley View forï ¿ ½many years.

  I previously worked within the service industry focusing on provision ofï ¿ ½ Facilities Management Services to both private and public sector clients.ï ¿ ½

  I've accrued many years of experience dealing both with procurement and negotiation of legally binding contracts with a keen focus on detailed financial information.ï ¿ ½ I now work part time within the banking industry so am very used to dealing with numbers!

  I have held a management position with responsibilities including the recruitment, induction and on-going support of a team along with the requirement to discipline and (where necessary) dismiss staff.ï ¿ ½ In addition to people management, I had direct responsibility for budgeting, forecasting and ultimate control of finances.ï ¿ ½

  Having spent over twenty years working with large organisations, I have a clear understanding of regulatory requirements.

  I am now the very proud mother of three children (2 of which are at Valley View).ï ¿ ½ I have a keen interest in special educational needs, particularly for those children on the Autistic Spectrum.

• Andrea Lindop
  Co-opted Governor
  Andrea Lindop

  I started working in schools in 2011 and have been a teacher at Valley View since 2015.

  Everyday is different, which is always exciting and it keeps everyone on their toes. One of the best things about working in schools is definitely working with such dedicated staff and children. It is always such a pleasure to see children succeed and to watch their learning journeys throughout their years at school.

  So many funny things happen daily that it would be so hard to choose just one moment. I guess that is what makes this job so special! But one of the best things I love about working in schools is giving children opportunities. For example, seeing children on school trips is always so wonderful and seeing the big, beaming smiles on their faces says it all really!ï ¿ ½

  A word to describe me is 'dedicated'.

• Mrs Lesley Dawson
  Co-opted Governor
  Mrs Lesley Dawson

  As a former police detective working in child abuse, vice and child protection I have extensive knowledge and experience of dealing with children and perpetrators of crime against children.ï ¿ ½

  I have been a day nursery and childcare provider for children from birth to 13 years, for the past 19 years.ï ¿ ½

  I have extensive knowledge of personnel and HR issues, finance and business management.ï ¿ ½ Have some knowledge of marketing and as a company we are going through a re-brand process which is increasing my knowledge and understanding particularly of ï ¿ ½newï ¿ ½ types of marketing such as social media.ï ¿ ½

  I have experience of bidding processes and applications for funding.

  I have good communication and interpersonal skills.ï ¿ ½ Not afraid to deal with conflict and happy to challenge.ï ¿ ½

  I have three sons myself who are now grown up and doing well, so have experience of their education and my expectations are that the children at Valley View will have the same quality of education that my sons had.ï ¿ ½

• Mr Russell Atkins
  Co-opted Governor
  Mr Russell Atkins

  My name is Russell Atkins. I am currently employed by Leeds City Council within the Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Department. In my role as an Enforcement Officer, I am responsible for ensuring the compliance of Taxi and Private Hire drivers, their vehicles, and the companies that they work for. A major part of my role is investigative work, investigating criminal offences regarding licensing legislation and serious public complaints against license holders. Â

  When not at work, I volunteer as a Special Constable with West Yorkshire Police. This is something I am very proud of and really enjoy doing. I feel that I am able to support my local community through policing by making people safe and feel safer. I have been a Special Constable for six years, working in the first instance at Pudsey Police Station and then more recently transferring to Elland Road Police Station in order to step up into a supervisory position. Â

  Alongside my volunteering as a Police Officer, I am also a Civilian Instructor with the Royal Air Force Air Cadets, at 44F (City of Bradford) Squadron. During my teen years I was myself an Air Cadet and attended my local Unit at Thornbury Barracks. I feel that my time with the RAFAC shaped me into the man I am today, giving me life skills, confidence, self-discipline, and pride, enabling me to be the best person that I can be. After aging out of the organisation as a cadet at the age of 20 over 5 years ago, this year I have returned to the Organisation at the request of the Officer Commanding 44F Squadron. As they had lost a huge number of cadets through the COVID-19 pandemic, I was tasked with taking a lead on the recruitment for the Squadron, and I have taken the numbers from 4 cadets when I arrived in April to 28 now, with a further 39 recruits who will begin with us in January 2022. To me it is a privilege to be able to provide the youth of today with the same experiences I was lucky enough to have as a cadet.

  With regards to Valley View, I feel I have a strong connection to the school. I was part of the first group of Year 6 children to be at the school in 2006 after the closures of Rodley and Aire View Primary Schools. I then returned to the school in order to complete two weeks of work experience while I was at High School, and I also now have two nieces in the school. On my recent visit to the school to meet with the Co-Headteachers in order to discuss the roll of a Governor, I was astounded to see the vast changes and improvements to the building. I could see that the children had a wonderful learning environment and could sense a feeling of safety, security and a warmness that must be very inviting to the children and encourages their learning.

  I would consider it to be an honour to be a part of this schools Board of Governors, to have a part in helping to continue its success and assist with taking the school where it is aiming, and it deserves to be.

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• Kate Senior
  Co-opted Governor
  Kate Senior

• Mr George Cull
  Parent Governor
  Mr George Cull

  I joined as a parent governor in May 2022 and I am the parent of Eleanor who started at Valley View in September 2021.

  I want to be a governor to be part of supporting Valley View to provide that great experience of school for all pupils and families.

  I bring  skills and experience from working as part of the leadership team of a sport and physical activity charity, supporting staff and overseeing the financial management of the organisation.

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  In my day to day work I have lots of contact with schools and headteachers in North Yorkshire and  will bring that understanding and insight from this work. Â

  Outside of work, and when I am not acting as a chauffeur for Eleanor, I keep active by playing football and competing in triathlon and this demonstrates why I am particularly keen to ensure that health and wellbeing provides a strong foundation for children to learn and grow.

• Mrs Amy Smith
  Parent Governor
  Mrs Amy Smith

  I am the parent of Rosie who attends Valley View.

  I have worked as an Early Years and Primary School teacher for the last nine years. I am passionate about providing the best experiences for the children I teach and ensuring they are happy at school. I applied for the position of parent governor as I felt I had the time and commitment to give to another school and I strongly believe every child deserves access to a high-quality education.

  Previously I have been a staff governor at my place of work, so have a good knowledge of how to support and challenge the school. I have previously attended governor training which proved really useful to the role and I am keen to learn more through further training.

  I am competent in both Literacy and Numeracy and I take a lead on the Design Technology curriculum at the school I work at. To improve the outcomes for my class I regularly analyse data and feel this a skill which will be needed as a governor.

  I volunteer for a charity supporting bereaved parents. I run monthly support meetings which give parents a safe space to talk openly and my role is to listen, offer comfort and support.

• Becky Maston
  Staff Governor
  Becky Maston

  I have been working in schools since 2015.

  One thing I love about teaching is the variety that every day brings. One hour you can be teaching about the Rivers of the world, then in the next hour you can be learning how to using coding software on the computer! You can also always count on the children to bring variety to your day as you never quite know which direction their inquisitive minds will take the learning.

  One of the funniest things that has happened to me as a teacher is on many occasions being mistaken as one of the children in the class! At 5ft tall, you easily blend into a crowd of Key Stage 2 children!

  The one word that describes me as a professional is 'energetic'.

• Vacancy*
  Co-opted Governor
  Vacancy*

  
  We currently have one vacancy on our Governing Body. If you are interested please contact the school office for more details. Â

• Mrs Amy Roome
  Previous Staff Governor
  Mrs Amy Roome

  I qualified and worked as a training officer for many years ï ¿ ½ transferable skills include good communication, organisation, record keeping, data collection, analysis & evaluation. Aside customer service, data protection and resources management.

  I ran my own business as a baby signing teacher which added financial reporting, health & safety and legal obligations.

  I am mother of two children, one is currently attending this school, so am aware of parental concerns, needs and pride.

  I have been a governor at this school for many years, attending all meetings of the governing body and of the resources sub-committee. As Health & Safety governor I have carried out inspections of the school. I have also been on the interview panel for many new appointments for various roles including teachers, teaching assistants and deputy head teacher.

• Mrs Kathryn Heaton
  Previous Parent Governor
  Mrs Kathryn Heaton

  I have knowledge, skills and experience of working with children, schools, families and wider agencies to support and develop children and young people. I am trained to a high level in safeguarding and often support others in the process. Experience in developing schemes of work and training for school staff in health and well-being, and supporting teachers, parents and others in talking to children about difficult topics. I have knowledge of current key themes, in relation to Ofsted and how schools can work to develop areas within health and wellbeing.

  In addition to my employed role skills and experience, I have many other transferable skills including problem solving, ability to decision make, can challenge and support where needed. I worked and volunteered in the community and have a sound knowledge of the area, background, residents and community of the school. I have 3 children who all currently attend Valley View.

  To date I have been part of resources sub and Expro, however I have recently moved from Expro to CAPS where I feel my knowledge of pupil support and safeguarding can be better utilised.

• Miss Nicola Smith
  Previous Co-opted Governor
  Miss Nicola Smith

  I have been a Governor at Valley View since March 2020. I joined the Governing Body at a challenging time for all schools and have so far found the role to be very interesting and rewarding. It has been a pleasure to see the pride that the Governing Body have in the school, and their hard work and absolute determination to ensure that the school is a welcoming learning environment for all. I hope that I can help the Governing Body by offering an objective view and providing support for the work of ensuring that all children are given the opportunity to thrive at Valley View. I have a keen interest in teaching and learning, and an absolute belief in the transformative power of a good education. Â

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  The entirety of my career has been spent in education settings. I was the first member of my family to attend university, and I initially studied environmental science and then trained as a secondary teacher of Geography and History. I have spent the past 16 years working in several Universities in a variety of outreach, development, and student support roles. In the past decade I moved into an academic role and I am currently a Lecturer at Leeds University Business School where I am Director of a large postgraduate programme, co-lead of a group of academics who focus on teaching and learning enhancement, and I am also carrying out research into student motivations, goals and identities. Â

• Mr Jonathan Mold
  Previous Co-opted Governor
  Mr Jonathan Mold

  I am an experienced professional with a wide range of skills and experience of service delivery and performance management throughout the wider business community and within a variety of global contact centers in support of customer services.

  I have excellent communication skills combined with ICT skills that include advanced Microsoft Excel, Access, Word, PowerPoint, Lotus Notes and various in-house software packages

  I have created, delivered and deployed comprehensive business/operating plans for customer facing/inbound areas whilst providing balanced analysis and performance management support to assist the successful implementation of these plans and new initiatives.

  The ability to understand and convert complex and diverse sales plans into robust and usable long to midterm forecasts on which complicated and binding working patterns were structured and implemented and communicate these plans in understandable formats to business leaders.

  Education and Personal Development

  Member of the Institute of Supervisory Managers [MISM]

  Member if the Institute of Professional Development [IPD]

  Advanced Excel, SAS and Microsoft Applications including Access DB, Power Point and Word

• Mrs Blanche Champion
  Previous Co-opted Governor
  Mrs Blanche Champion

  A former manager for an international hotel company, I have since worked mainly in teaching, education management and training for over 25 years. In my management roles, I was responsible for the development of new initiatives, staff recruitment and training and communicating with the wider public.

  I am a specialist English language and linguistics tutor with a great deal of experience in developing the communication and personal skills of both school children and adults seeking to advance their careers.

  Recently, I have focused on delivering advanced communication courses to groups of senior civil servants, senior managers and teachers working in both the public and private sectors. I enable people to develop their ability to write accurate and concise English and to learn effective listening and verbal communication skills. Leeds is a culturally diverse city and I have taught many pupils whose first, or even second language, is not English.

  I also work with a former government minister in a range of community and voluntary projects, especially for our local West Leeds Credit Union.

  ï ¿ ½Valley Viewï ¿ ½ is an exciting, progressive and very well run school; I am very lucky to be involved as a governor in the development of such a thriving and positive community.

* We currently have one vacancy for a Co-opted governor.

**The two headteachers currently share the Headteacher and Associate governor roles, therefore when it comes to voting the headteachers share one vote.