Our Governors

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As a federation we have a single governing board covering eight schools, with an individual local advisory board for each school. One of the underpinning principles of the Primary Advantage Federation is to ‘promote a collaborative approach whilst developing the capacity of each school to serve its own community and retain its distinct identity.’ The structure of the current Governing Board ensures decisions can be made at local advisory board level and the local advisory boards can closely monitor the work in their school.

Governor Documents

Our Governing Board

  • John Clark

    Chair of the Central Governing Board
    John’s working life has been in education, initially in a further education college then in higher education.  He taught leadership, change management and research methods in a Business School and held a senior post managing research staff and students.  John still supervises a small number...
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  • Robert Adediran

    Foundation Governor, Chair of St John the Baptist Local Advisory Board
    Rob Adediran is Executive Director at the award-winning education charity London Music Masters. In parallel he has been a faculty member at the Verbier Festival and chair of the strategy board for the Lambeth Music Education Hub. Currently, Rob serves on advisory groups for several...
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  • Ralph Eliot

    Co-opted Governor and Chair of the Business & Finance Committee
    Ralph is a management consultant, having previously held similar roles in finance and consulting. Having studied Mathematics at university and spent several years as a financial analyst, Ralph is an experienced problem solver, and is comfortable performing financial and commercial due diligence at the highest...
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  • Jahsita Farrell

    Parent Governor and Springfield Local Advisory Board member
    Jahsita is a mother of two girls who attend Holy Trinity Primary School. Jahsita has over 12 years of experience within the financial services sector where she specialises in risk and compliance.  Jahsita is passionate about young people and plays an active role at the...
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  • Donna Thomas

    Local Authority Governor, Safeguarding Link Governor, Chair of St John & St James Local Advisory Board
    Donna has been a local authority governor on Primary Advantage Federation governing body since 2011 and she has been the Chair of St John and St James local advisory board since 2016. Donna works for London Borough of Hackney Education Department within the Early Years...
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  • Hilary Ryan

    Foundation Governor, Chair of the Outcomes & Provisions Committee
    Hilary was previously a member of De Beauvoir’s governing body for two years and joined the Central Governing Board in 2019. She is very experienced in school improvement work and has also worked as a headteacher. Hilary currently works for Hackney Learning Trust as a...
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  • Rev. Laura Luz

    Foundation Governor, Chair of Holy Trinity Local Advisory Board
    Rev. Laura Fawcett has been Vicar of the United Benefice of Holy Trinity Dalston and All Saints Haggerston since September 2018. Previous to this she served as a curate with the Parish of Putney following her training with Westcott House Cambridge where she completed her...
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  • Arnette Frederick

    Foundation Governor, St Matthias Local Advisory Board member
    Arnette was appointed as a federation governor in 2018, has a son in year 6 and was a Company Director for 5 years.
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  • Mondli Makina

    Parent Governor, member of the Business & Finance Committee
    Mondli has lived within the Hackney/ Islington area for over 30 years and has played an active role in the within her community, from working alongside Hackney Foodbank, to serving on the leadership team at her local church. Mondli read Law at university and went...
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  • Imran Shafi

    Foundation Governor, Member of De Beauvoir Local Advisory Board
    Imran Shafi is a senior civil servant at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Before this role, he was the Prime Minister’s private secretary for public services (including education policy). Imran has been a Hackney resident for five years and lives next to...
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  • Rachael Smith

    Foundation Governor, Chair of Morningside Local Advisory Board
    Rachael has been a Hackney resident for 10 years and is currently a Director at easyJet PLC. Her career spans a variety of consultancy, marketing and commercial leadership positions across a number of sectors. In her corporate role Rachael sits on a number of governing bodies, has a...
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  • Maria Middleton

    Foundation Governor and St Matthias Local Advisory Board member
    Maria is a former primary school teacher who is now a trainee solicitor with Mishcon de Reya. She is eager to use her previous knowledge of the education sector and the new skills from her legal career to support the federation’s schools. Her previous experience...
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