Governance

Jeremy Long – Chair of Trustees

Jeremy is a qualified chartered accountant, who has had a management career in a range of sectors, and with a long-standing interest in skills, training, and education. Jeremy is former chair of the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP), and is co-chair of the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership (OIEP) – an initiative aimed at bringing together businesses, education institutions, the voluntary sector, and the Oxfordshire local authorities, to tackle some of the issues of inequality in the County. Jeremy has several non-executive director business roles, including for National Grid Electricity Transmission, and is an investor in a local energy efficiency installation company Energy My Way. As well as his experience in finance and strategy, he also has extensive expertise in risk management, premises management, HR, and PR and marketing.

Professor Deborah Eyre

Prof Eyre is a global education leader, researcher, writer and influencer. Her career has included a variety of senior education roles in the UK and globally as well as advising governments and educational foundations in the UK, Hong Kong, South Africa, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, USA and Singapore. She was global education director at Nord Anglia Education (2010-2014) and prior to that served as director of the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY), based at the University of Warwick. Aside from her expertise in the field of education, she has considerable experience of strategic management, PR and governance.

Dr Felix Leach

Felix is an associate professor of engineering science at the University of Oxford and tutorial fellow of Keble College. His day job involves teaching and researching engineering, specifically emissions from combustion and air quality. He is a chartered engineer and fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Felix is a member of the Oxford Diocesan Board of Education where he serves on the finance committee. He also has extensive experience in health and safety matters and governance. In his spare time Felix has a passion for music, not only singing himself, but also delivering music education courses with the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. 

Julie McCulloch

Since 2018 Julie has been head of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders where previously she was primary and governance specialist. She was also a board member of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust. Earlier in her career she worked for the education company Pearson, initially publishing teaching and learning resources for primary schools, and more recently leading their work on UK policy. Aside from her expertise in education, she has extensive experience of strategic management, HR, PR and marketing and governance.

Mary Curnock Cook CBE

Mary is an independent education expert serving in a non-executive capacity on a number of boards. From 2010-2017, Mary was chief executive of UCAS. Earlier in her career she held executive and non-executive positions in the education, hospitality, food and biotech sectors. As a NED with Pearson Education, Mary chairs its qualifications committee and also chairs the governing body of the Dyson Institute. She is a non-exec director at the Student Loans Company, the London Interdisciplinary School, the Student Room and Education Cubed, and a trustee at the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI). She has the role of network chair for Emerge Education, the leading edtech investor in Europe. In 2021, Mary took on the chair of the UPP Foundation Student Futures Commission, set up to ensure successful student futures following the pandemic. She is a regular speaker and commentator on HE policy and practice and a recognised champion of the student interest. Mary has an MSc from London Business School and was awarded an OBE in 2000, and a CBE in 2020 for services to further and higher education. She is an honorary fellow of Birkbeck and Goldsmiths and has an honorary doctorate from the University of Gloucestershire. Aside from her extensive experience in the education sector, she brings to the board expertise in risk and strategic management, HR, PR and marketing, legal issues, finance and governance.

Paul James

Paul James is a qualified teacher with over 25 years of experience in schools, including in senior leadership roles in a range of secondary education settings, and as a primary school governor and IEB member. Until 2016 he was headteacher of an Outstanding-rated Oxfordshire comprehensive school of more than 1,900 students, which is a National Teaching School Hub.

The RT Rev Colin Fletcher

For 20 years prior to his retirement, Colin was the Bishop of Dorchester, having responsibility, under the Bishop of Oxford, for the Church of England parishes across Oxfordshire, with the exception of Oxford itself. Prior to that he was the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Chaplain, Vicar of Holy Trinity, Margate, a tutor and curate in Oxford and a curate in Bradford. He has also been a governor of a ‘first wave’ secondary academy (the North Oxford Academy in Banbury) and, more recently, a trustee of the Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust. He has considerable experience in strategic management.

Cathy Burleigh

Cathy is a qualified accountant and has worked in higher education for the past two decades. She is currently the CFO of Oxford Brookes University, where she has been since 2015. She brings skills and experience in the areas of finance, estates, audit and procurement in the education sector, legal issues and HR. Cathy has a deep and valuable understanding of how boards and governance function effectively in large education sector organisations.

Donna Husband

Donna is a senior public health professional with more than 25 years’ experience in the promotion of health and wellbeing in Oxfordshire. For the past decade she has headed up Oxfordshire County Council's Start Well programme, providing strategic leadership around public health initiatives for children and young people. She is public health lead for safeguarding on Oxfordshire’s Child Death Overview Panel and Oxfordshire Children Safeguarding Board, as well as being chair of Oxfordshire’s Multi-Agency Suicide Prevention Group. During the pandemic, Donna delivered the local government public health response supporting education settings. Aside from her extensive safeguarding experience, she brings to the board expertise in strategic management and SEND.

Margaret Stevens

Margaret has recently retired as a professor of economics at the University of Oxford where she had been employed for three decades. She is now an emeritus professor in the Department of Economics, participating in research and occasional consultancy. She recently became a trustee of the Oxfordshire children’s reading charity ARCh. Between 2013 and 2023 she was a governor at Wolvercote Primary School and was chair of governors in 2015 when the school joined RLT. As well as her governance experience, she brings expertise in strategic management, finance and education.

Christian McGuinness

Christian is a school adviser with the Oxford Diocesan Board of Education (ODBE). He is an experienced senior leader and headteacher, having worked in a range of primary school settings of differing size and context. Christian has supported system leadership as a local authority school improvement partner and is also a registered SIAMS inspector. Christian has over 20 years’ experience in school governance, most recently as a foundation governor at a Church of England primary school. He is a Church of England representative on Oxfordshire SACRE. Prior to joining ODBE, Christian also supported initial teacher training at Oxford Brookes University as an associate lecturer. In his spare time, Christian enjoys running and volunteers for South Central Ambulance Service as a first responder, attending emergency 999 calls in his community ahead of an ambulance.

Each school within the trust has their own local governing body (LGB). The core functions of each LGB are as follows:

• Setting the school’s vision, ethos and strategic direction within the principles of the Trust
• Maintaining the effective operation and membership of the LGB
• Overseeing the educational performance of the school: overseeing the financial performance of the school
• Ensuring pupil wellbeing including safeguarding, school safety and security
• Appointment of the headteacher and carrying out their annual performance appraisal

You can find out details of individual school LGBs on the relevant school websites. These can be accessed by VISITING THE SCHOOLS PAGE.