Governance

The Governing Body are a group of individuals committed to providing a good education for local children. Trustees come from a range of backgrounds – education, business, politics and the third sector – and are united in our desire to see local children in the Bermondsey area offered a place in a good local school, and that every pupil attending our school is equipped to fulfil their potential.

The Governing Body determines the strategy for the school and sets its budget, based on advice from the Principal. It delegates to the Principal responsibility for executing the strategy, for the management of the school’s finances, and for all aspects of the operation of the school.  The Governing Body regularly receives and reviews reports from the Principal on all aspects of the school’s performance, finances and operations and holds him to account for executing the agreed strategy, for adhering to the budget and for compliance with applicable law and guidance.

  • The Full Governing Board (FGB) usually meets at least 5 times per year
  • Two main sub-committees,  Standards Committee and Finance Committee and usually meet at least 5 times per year
  • A Pay Committee also meets as required to fulfil its role in relation to staffing, staff appraisal and pay awards
  • An ad-hoc strategy committee has also been established, consisting of the Chairs of each committee plus the Chair of Governors and the Chair of the Trust, to effectively respond to matters regarding the future of the school buildings and the school’s strategic direction and sustainability.

On this page you will find details of our members and trustees, meeting attendance, availability of papers, memorandum of association and articles of association.

Members and Trustees

Category Name Appointing body Term of office Member/

trustee

Chair / committee Relevant interests declared
Principal Marcus Huntley Ex-officio September 2017 – present  Trustee All sub-Committees Liveryman – Worshipful Company of Curriers

Trustee – The Mitchell City of London Charity and Educational Foundation

Mr Huntley was appointed as Principal of The Charter School Bermondsey in September 2017, having held the position of Head of School at City of London Academy Southwark. Mr Huntley has taught in a range of schools in London since qualifying in 2000.

A Religious Studies specialist, Mr Huntley started his teaching career at Wallington Grammar School (Sutton), before moving on to Ernest Bevin College, an all-boys comprehensive in Tooting. During his 10 years there, he progressed through a range of leadership positions with an emphasis on developing whole-school teaching and learning. He joined City of London Academy in January 2012 as Vice Principal responsible for teaching and learning, then progressed to Senior Vice Principal, then Head of School in April 2016.

Mr Huntley holds a Master’s degree in Education from Roehampton University, a PGCE from Westminster College, Oxford, and an undergraduate Batchelor of Arts Honours degree in Religious Studies and Art from Brunel University.

Independent Doug Lewis The Charter School Bermondsey July 2013 – present Member and trustee Chair of Trust

Finance Committee

President, International Social Service Global Network, Director, Handel Mansions Co Ltd
Educated at the local Grammar School and Greenwich Royal Hospital School, Doug Lewis joined the Navy in 1958 as a rating and served for ten years until he was commissioned. In a varied career he served at sea with HRH The Prince of Wales in HMS JUPITER in 1974-75, was Head of the Administration and Logistics Department in the new HMS ARK ROYAL in 1985, and commanded the RN College Greenwich between 1988 and 1990. Much of the second half of his career was spent in the Ministry of Defence, culminating in being responsible for Personnel Policy for the UK Armed Forces between 1995 and 1998 He was also a leading administrator of Navy rugby and eventually became the Chairman, and later President of the RN Rugby Union. On retirement he became the Chief Executive of a leading law firm for four years.  Doug Lewis has been a Trustee of four different charities, with an active fund-raising role in two of them.  He has been Chairman of Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB) since 2004 and is currently also the Chair of the Governing Board of the global International Social Service Network. He became Chair of The Charter School Bermondsey trust in March 2012.
Independent Martin Deutz

Email:

mdeutz@charterbermondsey.org.uk

The Charter School Bermondsey July 2013 – March 2023 Member and trustee Chair of Governors

Finance Committee

Standards Committee

None
Martin Deutz was a founder of the school and worked particularly on the financial and operational aspects of our start-up.  He has since been closely involved in supporting the Principal and the business team during our expansion to our present scale.  He helped set up the school because he believes strongly in the power of education to transform lives and is very committed to advancing our values in everything we do.  For Martin, enrichment has always been a particular priority as he sees this as giving our students the opportunity to expand their interests and experiences.

After graduating in Classics from Cambridge Martin joined KPMG where he became a senior partner in the infrastructure financing advisory business, with a focus on public sector projects in a number of sectors, including transport, health, defence and IT, and regulatory policy.  He worked extensively with clients across the EU and Asia as well as in the UK.  His most famous project was working on the financing of Eurotunnel.  He was also partner in charge of the art collection and the chair of the UK firm’s LGBT staff group. From 2008 to 2010 Martin was Commercial Director at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, advising ministers on the financing of green energy, structuring experimental green energy projects and negotiating with the Treasury to secure funding.

Since 2010 Martin has worked with private clients and a number of voluntary groups, including as a fund-raiser for FRINGE!, an LGBT film festival which takes place annually in Hackney.  In his spare time Martin plays the piano and is a keen art enthusiast.

Co-opted Greg Rosen The Charter School Bermondsey July 2019 – present Member Company Secretary and Director, Newington Communications
Greg has provided strategic counsel to CEOs and Boards across a range of sectors. He founded Newington’s Energy Practice, joining Newington after spells working in government, as a Senior Strategist in Whitehall, and subsequently as Head of Media Strategy for the Mayor of London’s London Development Agency.

Having published three books on British politics, he was a political columnist for the Scotsman newspaper 2006-2010, and more recently he has written for the Spectator, Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Times Red Box, HuffPost, New Statesman and The Critic. He was Consultant Director at Think Tank Reform in 2009-19, for whom he co-wrote three reports on Whitehall reform. He is a former Vice-Chair of the Fabian Society and Visiting Fellow in Politics at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Independent Peter Atherton The Charter School Bermondsey June 2016 – present Trustee Chair of Finance Committee Director, L&M Estates Ltd
Peter has been a Governor since June 2016 and is Chair of the Finance Committee.  Peter currently works as a Corporate Strategy Consultant advising firms largely in the energy sector. Prior to this Peter worked in the City for 20 years as an Equity Analyst.
Independent Grace Majumdar The Charter School Bermondsey March 2018 – July 2022 Trustee Standards Committee None
Grace is a statistician in the Department for Education. After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, she taught Mathematics in Manchester through the Teach First Leadership Development Programme. Prior to joining the Department for Education, Grace spent two years at a London-based education media agency, working with a range of private, public and charitable sector clients to develop and deliver education programmes in the UK and overseas.
Independent Summer Soroush The Charter School Bermondsey November 2019 – May 2022 Trustee Standards Committee
Summer is an experienced Data Analyst working with KPMG UK. She has a MSc in Physical Oceanography accredited by the Institute of Marine Engineering Science and Technology. She enjoys being involved in the local community and being a governor at The Charter School Bermondsey.
Independent Richard Cuevas The Charter School Bermondsey March 2018 – present Trustee Finance Committee Compliance Director for Bank of America

Spouse – Cuevas Law/Keystone Law

Richard currently works as a Regulatory Governance and Compliance professional in the financial services industry, working for the last 10 years in investment banks.  He was called to the Bar in 2002 and spent the early part of his career at The Law Society of England & Wales investigating allegations of professional misconduct against members of the profession. Richard later completed a Masters in Law at the University of Westminster in 2009 before moving into banking.

Richard attended a school not too dissimilar to The Charter School Bermondsey and knows only too well the importance of a good education whatever your background! He is passionate about improving the outcomes for all young students and supporting the School achieve its strategic objectives. Richard is married and has two small children.  In his spare time, he likes to cook and volunteer at other charitable organisations.

Independent Sally Wood The Charter School Bermondsey March 2018 – present Trustee Chair of Governors

Standards Committee

None
Having trained at a large city firm, qualifying as a solicitor in 2015, Sally works as a child protection solicitor for a local authority. As a resident local to the school, Sally was appointed to the board of governors in March 2018, and acts as the safeguarding specialist on the board.
Independent Tristram Jones-Parry The Charter School Bermondsey September 2016 – present Trustee Chair of Standards Committee Governor, Walworth Academy

Governor, Hampton Court House

Chair of Trustees of Alive and Kicking

Tristram Jones-Parry has over 40 years experience working in the Education sector: teaching maths at Dulwich College and Westminster School, as Headmaster of Emanuel School and Westminster School and then as Manager for the Oxfordshire Further Maths Centre. He has taught in various independent schools and taught STEP online for the Further Maths Centre as well as moderating for the University of Oxford’s entry maths exam. Currently, Tristram is Chair of Trustees for the charity ‘Alive and Kicking’ which often sees him travelling to and working in Africa.

Upon his departure from Westminster, Jones-Parry received a great amount of attachment and approval from staff and pupils. He was depicted as “an excellent leader and educator, who devoted his time entirely for the sake of education rather than to building excessive relationship with external high-society figures, who bears a warm heart under a stern appearance, who will always be remembered for picking up rubbish from the Little Dean’s Yard ground.”

As well as being a Governor at The Charter School Bermondsey, Tristram Chairs the Curriculum Committee at Ark Walworth Academy, another secondary school in Southwark.

Co-opted Dale Bassett The Charter School Bermondsey July 2019 – present Member
Dale Bassett is Director of International and Curriculum Strategy at AQA, a leading education charity and the UK’s largest awarding organisation. He leads the organisation’s teams of subject experts who work to support world-class teaching, learning and assessment, and its international qualification delivery as Chair of the Board of Directors of Oxford International AQA Examinations, a joint venture with Oxford University Press. He was previously Head of Product Reform, responsible for the development of reformed GCSEs and A-levels, and Director of Public Policy, using AQA’s research and expertise in assessment to inform education policy.

Prior to joining AQA, Dale was Research Director at The Think Tank Reform. He specialised in education policy, and won the Prospect Think Tank Publication of the Year Award for his influential report, Every teacher matters. On secondment to the Cabinet Office, he served as adviser to the review of barriers to choice in public services.

He was a founding director and Chair of Governors of The Charter School Bermondsey, and is a director of a multi-academy trust in Manchester and a founding trustee of the National Baccalaureate Trust.

Dale regularly speaks and lectures on education reform and has authored reports and contributed to several books on education. Before his career in education, Dale was a City headhunter and co-founder of an online retail business.

Co-opted Leon De Costa The Charter School Bermondsey July 2019 – present Member
Leon de Costa attended London University and qualified as a barrister in 1992.  For eight years he practised criminal law dividing his time equally between defence and prosecution work.  In 2000 he founded what is now Judicium Education and still retains his role as Managing Director.  Leon now lives in Berkshire, though his formative years were spent in Camberwell, South London where he was brought up.  He attended school locally in Peckham.
Elected Parent Governor Lisa Salkeld-Townsley The Charter School Bermondsey November 2019 – present Trustee Standards Committee
Lisa has a child at The Charter School Bermondsey and is also employed at a local Southwark primary school. She has extensive experience of education in roles varying from learning mentor to attendance and safeguarding.
Elected Parent Governor Carrie Lucas The Charter School Bermondsey November 2019 – present Trustee Finance Committee
Carrie has children at The Charter School Bermondsey and works in a local Southwark primary school which is part of the Riverhill Federation. She prides herself on knowledge of the community.
Elected Staff Governor Ben May The Charter School Bermondsey May 2018 – present Trustee Standards Committee
Ben has extensive experience of teaching in the independent and state sector. Previously to taking up his role as Leader of Creative Arts at The Charter School Bermondsey, he was Director of Drama at Ardingly College where he produced two highly successful Arts festivals with a broad range of young people and some of the country’s leading creative practitioners. Whilst teaching in London schools he ran a theatre company for young people with his partner, playwright and novelist Sarah May. The Mayhem Company created work through a unique process of devising whilst collaborating with a professional writer performing plays at The Young Vic, Southwark Playhouse, Royal Court Theatre Local and Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre. Ben is currently developing Play On at The Charter School Bermondsey with Gareth Jones through the Southwark Schools Learning Partnership. Play On will be a digital resource for the teaching of Shakespeare in English and Drama.
Independent Ying Yeung The Charter School Bermondsey March 2022 – present Trustee Standards Committee
Ying has been working in international social policy for over a decade and in education policy for the last five years. She currently works at the Department for Education.  She lives locally in Bermondsey with her partner and child.

Meeting Attendance

The board of trustees has formally met 6 times during the year 2021/22.

Attendance during the year at meetings of the board of trustees was as follows:

Trustee Meetings Attended Out of a possible
Benjamin May 5 6
Carrie Lucas 6 6
Doug Lewis 6 6
Grace Majumdar 5 6
Lisa Salkeld-Townsley 6 6
Marcus Huntley 6 6
Martin Deutz 6 6
Peter Atherton 4 6
Richard Cuevas 6 6
Sally Wood 6 6
Summer Soroush 3 6
Tristram Jones-Parry 6 6
Ying Yeung 2 6

Papers for meetings of the Governing Body

Our Articles of Association require that the following information should be made available at every academy to persons wishing to inspect them:

  • the agenda for every meeting of the trustees (including committee meetings)
  • the draft minutes of every such meeting, if they have been approved by the person acting as chairman of that meeting
  • the signed minutes of every such meeting; and
  • any report, document or other paper considered at any such meeting

There will on occasion be papers or agenda items that are specifically designated as confidential, and as such these would not be released. But if you would like to see a copy of any papers within the above list, please contact chairgovs@charterbermondsey.org.uk

Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association 

Paragraph 4.25 of the Department for Education’s single model funding agreement says that academies and free schools must publish their Memorandum and Articles of Association, along with the Trust’s funding agreement. Please find these documents below for The Charter School Bermondseys Trust.

The Charter School Bermondseys Trust Articles of Association

The Charter School Bermondseys Trust Funding Agreement

The Charter School Bermondseys Trust Funding Agreement – signatory pages