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Karen Oliver
Governor - Head of School

Date appointed: 13 March 2023

Jackie Saddington
Chair of the Local Governing Body

Date appointed: 28 October 2019 

I am currently employed as Head of Bi-Borough School Governor Services covering the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea as well as Westminster City Council. I have over twenty years’ experience in school governance covering all sectors. In addition to working in school governance, I am also a governor at Beddington Park Academy in Sutton, which is part of The Step Academy Trust, and until 2018 I chaired a Multi-Academy Trust, which had grown from one school to seven schools, by the time I left. I have been married for thirty years and have two adult daughters. My interests are sport, history, and travel. 

Sarah Buscall
Community

Date appointed: 28 October 2019

Sarah has a background in Law and has been a school governor in various settings for over 15 years. She is married with grown-up children and has lived in West London all her life.

Lucy Nutt
Associate

Date appointed: 29 June 2015

Lucy has over 30 years of experience working in schools and educational management. This includes working in special education and with children from 3 to 18. Lucy has worked for local authorities and within an academy chain. Currently, she is employed by the London Borough of Enfield as the Head of the School and Early Years Improvement Service. She co-authored the LDA book, Assemblies to Teach the Golden Rules. She has a successful track record in the field of standards, inclusion, and safeguarding. She has enabled a range of positive outcomes across school systems including; driving up the percentage of good or better schools in Enfield  (84% to 97% in a period of three years) and developing and implementing strategies across diverse areas (e.g. reading, EYFS, primary/secondary transition.)

Viv Berkeley
Director of Education

Viv joined Ambitious about Autism in May 2014. She has spent the last 22 years working in the further education (FE) sector in various guises - volunteer,  lecturer, coordinator, manager and Head of Department. Her experience is across the sector – FE colleges, Local Authorities, Universities and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). Viv is motivated by social justice, social inclusion and equality and always works from this value base.

Charlotte Warner
Parent Governor

Date appointed: 21 October 2021

Charlotte has a background in NHS management and private sector commercial negotiation, along with an MBA from INSEAD. Charlotte is parent of a child with special needs and was the parent lead for establishing The Rise School.

Matt Emery
Governor

Date appointed: 29 February 2024

Matt is currently employed by Achieving for Children as an SEN Teacher. Hailing from New Zealand, he spent eight years working in secondary schools in New Zealand, holding a variety of positions including time as an Assistant and Acting Deputy Principal. He also spent time on the local youth community trust board in my hometown and saw it as the perfect way to give back to the community. Now living in Feltham, he is looking forward to serving the community as a Governor of the Rise School.

Joanne Heapy
Parent Governor

Date appointed: 11 February 2020