Governing Body

The Governing Body at the school acts to advise on strategy and direction and supports identified linked-areas of the school. The members of the Governing Body are below.

Claudia Bickford-Smith (Chair)

Claudia Bickford-Smith is the Chair of the Governing Body in her capacity as the Nominated Proprietor of the school and as a Director of Kingsley Education Ltd. Claudia oversees financial, legal and regulatory compliance for the school, while chairing the Management Board and reporting to the Board of Directors and shareholders.

Claudia is also CEO of Aldates Global Education Ltd, which has innovative pedagogy, Sustainability Education, Wellbeing, Inclusion and SEND at its heart. She works with the senior team to transform student achievement and there are plans for further research and development of global programmes that aim to make a real difference to learning outcomes.

Claudia began her career as a teacher and has extensive Board and Director-level experience in education: international qualification and assessment development, and school operational management, working with Headteachers and their leadership teams, Ministries of Education, Regulators, and Awarding Bodies. Over the past 30 years, Claudia has led large-scale international curriculum and assessment innovations and teacher professional development programmes, impacting schools worldwide.

With degrees from the University of Cape Town, the University of Cambridge, and UCL’s Institute of Education, Claudia’s thought leadership in education is widely recognized. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (F.R.S.A.) and a member of the Harvard Graduate School of Education Professional Community

Click here to contact Mrs Bickford-Smith directly by email

Claudia Bickford-Smith can also be contacted at Aldates Global Education Ltd, 95-96 St Aldates, Oxford, OX1 1DA.

The members of the Governing Body of Kingsley School are the following:

Mark Richards (Staff and Student Wellbeing)

Mark read music at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth and continued his postgraduate studies at King’s College, London and Cardiff University. Mark has tutored at several universities, but his focus has been school teaching and senior leadership, having latterly closed a sixteen-year service period as Senior Deputy Head at Queen Anne’s School, Caversham.  Mark is now involved in a broad portfolio of educational consultancy, teaching of academic music, school and university governance work. When away from educational activities, Mark enjoys North Devon coastal walks with his wife, Claire and their three golden retrievers, Monty, Rufus and Gideon.

Sally Akam (Curriculum and Inclusion)

Sally has had a 35 year career in secondary education, leading a large Geography Department before joining the SMT of an independent 13 - 18 boarding school as  Assistant Head with responsibilities for curriculum design and development, student tracking and monitoring systems, the school’s tutorial structure and systems , UCAS applications and Careers.

With many years experience as a governor in a range of different settings, Sally is delighted to be a member of the Board of Governors at Kingsley and applaud their unique and inclusive curriculum. She remains passionate about the importance of geography as a school subject, instilling young people with a sense of place and awareness of the wider challenges that society faces including climate change and the need for sustainability.

Steven Church (Boarding & Safeguarding)

Also in attendance at the Governing Board meetings are:

• Mr Robert Pavis, Headteacher, Kingsley School
• Mr Stephen O'Brien, Director of Finance, Kingsley School
• Mr Andrew Trythall, Headteacher, Preparatory School, Kingsley School

The key responsibility of the Governing Body is to ensure that Kingsley School has a clear sense of purpose and strategic direction. Members are responsible for creating an ethos of high expectations for the school and their role is to monitor, evaluate, challenge and support the School. There are six key questions which the Governing Body asks and will be able to answer:

1. How well are we doing?
2. How do we know?
3. Could we do better?
4. What do we need to do to improve further?
5. Are our pupils safe?
6. How well are we promoting staff and pupil wellbeing?

Kingsley Education Limited has offices at G16, Central Court, 25 Southampton Buildings, London, England, WC2A 1AL and is registered with Companies House.
Aldates Global Education​ Ltd has offices at 95-96 St Aldates, Oxford OX1 1DA and is registered with Companies House.