Meet the Governors

Questions for the Governors at Beechwood from the Future Leaders

1. Why did you choose to be a Governor at Beechwood?

2. When you were at primary school, what was your favourite subject and why?

3. Did you have a favourite teacher at school? Describe them.

4. As well as being a Governor here, what's your job?

5. What is your favourite book or author?

6. If you won a million pounds, what would you spend it on?

7. If you got a super power overnight, what would it be and why?

 

Jo Stubbs (Vice Chair & Leadership and Management Chair)

1. I wanted to be part of a local school with a strong family and community ethic where children’s individuality is celebrated.

2. When you were at Primary School, I loved drama, dance and music; I always wanted to be an actress/singer dancer as a career.
 
3. My favourite teacher at school was my Year 6 teacher – he was funny and really took the time to understand when you needed help.
 
4. As well as being a Governor at Beechwood, I am a Family Service Manager with Cheshire East Family Service.
 
5. I love all the Harry Potter books, but I also love autobiographies. I have recently read the book Lion which I think is my current favourite book.
 
6. If I won a million pounds, I would buy my children a house each and go on lots of holidays.
 
7. If I developed a super power overnight, I would like a superpower of invisibility!!!
 

 

 

Donna Reed

1. I was asked to be a governor at Beechwood when I was supporting Mrs. McGee in the school as a Local Leader in Education. I felt quite honoured to be asked by Mrs.McGee and accepted as I feel very strongly about all children receiving the best education they can.

2. When I was at Primary School, My favourite subject was English where I developed a love of reading. I think it was my favourite subject because I especially loved listening to the stories the teachers told at ‘storytime’ at the end of the day.

3. My favourite teacher at school was Mr Redfern. He taught me in my last class in primary school – he had a terrific sense of humour and was always very kind.

4. I used to be a head teacher and after I retired I helped some other head teachers in Stoke to develop their school. But now I have five grandchildren and I look after them for three days a week – but not all at the same time! I am also a governor at Westminster Nursery School.

5. I have lots and lots of favourite authors as I absolutely love reading and my house is full of books. Among my favourite authors are J.K.Rowling (Harry Potter), Francesca Simon (Horrid Henry) and C.S.Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia) + lots of others.

6. If I won a million pounds, I would take all my family to Disneyland in Florida for a terrific holiday and save the rest for my grandchildren’s education and future.

7. If I could develop a superpower, it would be one that could make people accept other people regardless of the colour of their skin or their religion. Too many bad things happen in our world today because some people are intolerant of others and I would love to change their attitudes.

 

Sam Hart (Staff Governor)

1. I put myself forward to be a staff governor so that I can become even more involved in the school and see things from a different perspective.

2. My favourite subject at school was music. I love music in all its forms and I enjoy the challenge of playing an instrument; drums are my favourite.

3. When I was at school, the head teacher was my favourite teacher. He was very supportive to me and we still speak occasionally today.  

4. As well as being a governor, I am currently one of the deputy designated safeguard lead and also a teaching assistant.

5. I do not have a favourite author, however, I enjoy reading psychological thrillers.

6. If I won a million pounds, I would buy myself a top of the range convertible Mini; my mum a bungalow; and my son a quad bike with a big field to ride it on.

7. My superpower would be to be able to read people’s minds.

 

 

Julia Cargill (Learning & Outcomes Chair)

1. I chose to be a governor at Beechwood school as I had just retired from teaching at the school and wanted to continue being involved with some part of it.  Mrs Harper asked me if I was interested in becoming a governor and I was delighted to accept.

2. My favourite subjects at primary school were English and drama.  I loved and still love reading and I wanted to explore all the different books there were and become a good writer.  As a teacher, English was still my favourite subject and encouraging children to love books gave me such satisfaction.  I also loved putting on productions at Beechwood with music and dance.

3. I don’t think I ever had a favourite teacher but I do remember two or three who encouraged me and gave me the confidence to try different things.   I wasn’t very confident when I was young and had been to lots of different schools which can be hard.

4. I was a teacher for 19 years but I’ve now retired.   I loved teaching at Beechwood; I do miss all the children and teachers but I’m also enjoying going for coffees, going walking with my dog, reading when I want to, taking up Nordic walking and I can now do these things during the week!

5. This is a really difficult question as I read so many books.  As a child I loved any adventure or real life stories.  When my children were small, one of my favourite times of the day was when I read to them before bedtime.  I got to love Roald Dahl, Harry Potter books and Horrible Histories.

6. If I won a million pounds I would travel to lots of different countries with John, my husband.  I would help my sons buy a house each and help my family if they needed it.    I don’t think I would spend it all at once, but think carefully about what else I would like to do.

7. If I was a superhero, I would ensure that nobody could hate other people just because they were different; there would be no homeless people and there would be food for everyone.    Everyone would be loved.

Graham Chadwick (Vice Chair)

1. Education is one of the basic building blocks of life, and if I can help in some small way all be it indirectly then it the right thing to do.  Choosing Beechwood was straight forward, it's such a welcoming, caring and nurturing environment, that I feel the skills I have dovetail well with the school.

2. I had two favourite subjects at primary school, Science particularly experiments making rockets as the Apollo Space Programme was in full swing at the time.  I got really engaged with a geography project on Africa and remember making a 3D relief map of Africa, which really awakened an interest in geography.

3. I did have a favourite teacher her name was Mrs Posner a former air hostess who was the first teacher to allow me to write with my left hand, previously I had been chastised and made to write with my right hand! It was Mrs Posner that sparked my interest in geography with enthusiastic tails of her travels.

4. I very pleased to say I’m retired, however I did work for Bentley Motors for 41 years working in a number of different roles, but specialising on Construction, Health and Safety and Environmental Management.

5. Currently my favourite authors are Lee Child and Lara Maiklem, however back in my primary school days it was Enid Blyton.

6. That’s a difficult question to answer, however I would love to buy a small boat to go sea fishing in, then with the remaining £990,000 it would be a case of supporting my family and friends.

7. I'm not sure about a super power but I would love to be able to have a meal and sit chat and learn from some of my personal heros - Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Winston Churchill, Grace Darling, Alan Turning, Bill Shankly to name but a few.

Jill Chadwick (Finance Chair)

1. I was invited to be a Governor which I was honoured to accept.  I have worked at Beechwood for 7 years and would love to still be part of the successful journey the children and staff are working hard to be ‘the best’!

2. My favourite subject was Maths – I enjoyed numbers. The teacher made it fun!

3. I didn’t have one favourite but the reason I liked a few of them was because they encouraged you to try hard and would always listen and help if you didn’t understand and were struggling.

4. I worked in schools, primary and secondary for 24 years and I have just retired!

5. I don’t have a favourite as I like many different types of books such as factual, biographies, the history of places of interest and maps!!

6. If I won a million pounds I would share it with my family and also look at supporting a project in the local community – such as homelessness.

7. My superpower would be to make people be happy!

Kate Shackleton (Parent Governor) 

1. I wanted to be a Governor at Beechwood because I like learning new things and meeting new people. Both of my sons Tom & Aidan come to Beechwood but I’m looking forward to getting to know the school and the children at Beechwood better. I know that schools teach children but I think us adults can learn lots from you kids, from your kindness, your ability to include others and your imagination and ingenuity that makes the world a better place and comes up with new ideas to solve big problems.

2. When I was at primary school I loved Art, we had a teacher called Mr Newnham who was brilliant at pottery and so we always made loads of models in Art with clay, I think we probably did more Art than maths !

3. One of my favourite teachers was Mr Fay. He was brilliant at making books come to life and could make even boring things sound interesting !

4. I work for a charity just up the road from school called Hopes & Beams. I work with children and adults who have disabilities doing fun activities. I also work with other people who live in our community that are all ages from babies right up to people nearly 100 years old ! I get to meet and talk to lots of different people in my job and that’s what I love the most about it. 

5. I have really enjoyed reading the ‘Mr Penguin’ books by Alex T Smith with Tom. Mr Penguin is an adventurer and penguin who loves a fish finger sandwich and with his sidekick Colin the spider who is an expert in Kung Fu they are a brilliant, mystery solving duo ……. It’s very funny and I can’t wait for book 4 out in September.

6. If I had a million pounds ………..mmmmm good question! Well my husband Chris loves writing songs and recording music so I think I’d spend some of it on a home recording studio in the cellar and maybe a new guitar. I think Tom & Aidan would love a set of drums so lots of noise !!! Maybe after that a nice holiday to recover from the noise and then think I’d give a chunk away to other people ……… bit like sharing your sweets ! 

7. If I woke up and I had the power to walk through walls and locked doors that would be brilliant because I’m always either losing or forgetting my keys ! Bit of a boring superpower you might be thinking but not as boring as sitting outside on the step for hours because you can’t get in your own house!

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John Cargill (Chair of Governors)

 

Lesley Ogden

1. I was asked and I wanted to get involved with a local school as I see education as such an important part of life and hoped I would be able to support in some way as I’ve worked in schools all my working life.

2. At primary school my favourite subject was English - I loved reading and finding out about things from books.

3. My favourite teacher at primary was Mr Mawson - the only male teacher we had at primary. He used to make us laugh and when we did PE he also did it. He regularly did handstands but in his suit and all his money used to fall out of his pockets.  At secondary school my favourite teacher was my English teacher, Mrs Grimes. She was so strict but kind too and very cool. She made English even better for me.

4. I was an English teacher but now I only work one day a week and I look after ECTs (Teachers who are new to teaching.

5. I have lots of favourite authors, Matt Haig, John Boyne, Victoria Hyslop,  Rachel Joyce, C H Sansom. I like old authors too, like Jane Austen and the Brontes but I do vary the types of books I read. My favourite book of all time is an American book, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee. I read it in my teens and have read it many many times since. A book to make you think.

6. I find this question difficult to answer as I’m not sure what I’d do. I think I’d want to share it with my children and then give it away to buy books for people who don’t have access to them.

7. There’s a bit of a theme developing here - my super power would be to make everyone read regularly and be able to make them love reading

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Contact the School

Beechwood Primary School

Mrs. S. Harper - Headteacher
Meredith Street
Crewe
Cheshire
CW1 2PH

Main Contact: Miss Taylor

Tel: 01270 214490
Fax: 01270 251529
admin@beechwood.cheshire.sch.uk

SEN Contact: Miss Geary

SEN Email: gearyr@beechwood.cheshire.sch.uk