Meet our Trustees

Sue Brackenbury

The current Vice Chair of Trustees. After a career of more than 40 years in post-16 education, both as a teacher and as a manager, Sue retired in 2013 and volunteered as a school governor.  She was appointed to the governing body of the Great Oaks Federation and also to the governing body of the Frithville and New York Federation; in September 2014 she was elected Chair of both governing bodies.  She is now the newly elected Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Horncastle Education Trust and Chair of the local governing body for Frithville and New York primary academies. Sue has been committed to education for her entire career and is passionate about lifelong learning.  She left school at the age of 16 with ‘O’ levels but through part-time study, she gained many qualifications, both skills-based and professional including a certificate in education and a master’s degree.  She taught a range of subjects in areas of business and teacher training as well as administrative skills and English for speakers of other languages. Sue’s background in management is also very varied and she is able to apply the skills she acquired to the role of governor and chair.  In 2015 she completed the Chair of Governors Development Programme run by the National College of School Leadership and in 2017 she was designated a Local Leader of Governance.  She is trained to undertake external reviews of governance (ERGs).

 

David Bruce

David has worked within the community since leaving school in 1999. He trained with Rotherham Youth Service and worked alongside the Children’s Society in compiling a national charter that recognises the needs and rights of a child in the workplace. David spent 7 years working for Linkage Community Trust as an Independence Tutor; caring and providing education for young people with SEN or learning disabilities. He has also spent time in Poland & Slovenia, teaching in schools about British culture, values and language. David has been the manager at the New Life Centre since 2012, where they provide support to the local community in the form of youth provision, mental health support and sign posting, SEN social evenings, debt management, counselling and much more. The Centre has a good link with Spilsby Primary Academy where he meets with the school mentor once a week in supporting the needs of families within our community. David was a governor of Spilsby Primary and then became Trustee of Infinity once the school joined the Trust in 2016.

 

Rick Chipperfield

Over the past 20 years, Rick has been involved with helping children in many different ways. After working as a teaching assistant in a local special needs school, a local secondary school and two mainstream primary schools, he completed his teacher training through the graduate teacher programme. Since then he has spent 10 years teaching in a village primary school in all key stage two classes. During this time, Rick was fortunate to be both a staff and parent governor. Currently working at a small primary school in a head of school position. Out of school, he is also the chairman of a junior football club which is still going strong after 20 years. His varied roles have helped to not only develop a strong understanding of what effective child centred education looks like but also to appreciate different ways of strategic school improvement.

 

Stuart Griffiths

Stuart first became a school Governor when his, now teenage, children were at Primary School. During this time, he has served as both Chair and Vice Chair. Stuart became a Governor at St Thomas in 2010, serving immediately as Vice Chair, and continued in the role as they joined the Great Oaks Governing body, when St Thomas federated with Wyberton Primary School. For a number of years, he has also served as a Trustee of a local Pre School and is part way through a new building project with them, to facilitate their growth. This has involved liaising with local planners, Lincolnshire County Council and commercial banking. In 2011 Stuart started two businesses, after working in the third sector for eight years. He continues to manage two limited companies manufacturing and retailing window dressings. In the last few years one of businesses has developed into an online retailer, which now accounts for half of the group turnover. Stuart takes a particular interest in the finances, staffing and property management in school and feels that this not only gives him an opportunity to give back to the local community, but it is also a chance to learn new skills for himself.

 

Sean Westaway

Current Chair of the Infinity Academies Trust and a Governor since 2004, Chair of Governors since 2006 in a VC CE Primary School before becoming involved with Infinity in 2014 bringing a strong record of improving governance. Designated as a National Leader of Governance in 2015 and trained to carry out External Reviews of Governance (ERG) and the alliance governor representative on the Kyra Teaching School Alliance Steering Committee.

I am passionate about governance in Lincolnshire, especially Boston and East Lindsey as traditionally these areas have not been well supported. Since designation, I have completed numerous deployments including multiple External Reviews of Governance and several periods spent as an associate governor to mentor either new Chairs or entire governing bodies. I also provide training to new governors and update training to existing governors all through the Kyra TSA governor forums which are run 3 times per year in 3 locations (soon to be 4 locations). This enables me to reach the maximum number of governors I can to provide them with much needed advice, guidance and support.

I have received very positive feedback from the LA (Lincolnshire), my work has been highlighted in Ofsted reports and featured in articles produced by Kyra TSA and Forum Education focussing on rapid school improvement and my role in achieving this.

 

Claire Welberry

After obtaining a degree in Accounting and Finance, from Nottingham Trent University, Claire joined a local firm of Chartered Accountants and three years later, qualified as a member of the ICAEW. She now has over twenty years of post-qualification experience. During her career she has worked in both Accountancy Practice and also within the Manufacturing, Travel and Agricultural industries as a Company Accountant, Project Accountant and Internal Auditor. These roles included producing monthly and year end accounts, VAT returns, Personal and Corporation tax, payroll, Human Resources, budgeting and cash flow forecasts, KPI’s, and both internal and external auditing. She returned to Accountancy practice in 2006 and after a few years became involved in the Academy school sector, preparing year end accounts, carrying out Responsible Officer visits and advising various academies on VAT and other tax matters. In 2012 Claire moved from Accountancy practice and became the Finance/HR Director for a medium sized secondary grammar school, in fact the same school she had attended herself as a child. She is now responsible for not only the Finance, payroll and HR functions within the school but also oversees both the Premises and Catering departments as well. Claire was the Treasurer for Gipsey Bridge Pre-School PTFA from 2005 to 2007, and became the Treasurer for Gipsey Bridge Primary School PTFA from 2008 to 2010. In 2012 Claire had the opportunity to become a school Governor at Gipsey Bridge Primary School, the school her two sons attended at that time. She continued in this role for three years. She is now the Treasurer for QEGS Horncastle PTFA and will remain in this role until 2021. Claire became a Trustee for Infinity Academies Trust in 2020.