Local Advisory Board

What is a Local Advisory Board (LAB)?

The Prince William School Local Advisory Board is the local tier of governance of East Midlands Academy Trust, and it acts as a sub-committee to the Trust Board. Members of the Local Advisory Board as known as Governors.

The key roles of the LAB are:

To offer proactive support and constructive challenge to the Headteacher
To advise the board of trustees about local issues they need to consider that affect the academy.
To ensure that EMAT vision, mission and values are evident throughout the Academy
Represent the local community.
Represent the Academy in its community.

These roles translate specifically into the following tasks:

ensure that all children receive the best possible education
ensure safeguarding is effective
support the Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team in the development and implementation of the School Development Plan and other relevant plans,
ensure the implementation of Academy policies.
regularly review the Academy’s performance.
oversee and monitor the effectiveness of local strategies
act as a key link between the Academy, parents, and local community.
support the work of the Academy in the community.

The LAB’s role is not to manage the Academy as such. This is done through the Board of Trustees. Therefore, the LAB is not required to take decisions on staff or financial matters affecting the Academy.

Governors at the LAB will gain an understanding of strategic issues that impact on the Academy and will be updated on them regularly by the Headteacher, but they are not required to have direct responsibility for them. Instead the LAB should be in a position to assess the impact of the Academy locally; how it is contributing to the local community, how it is relating to local families and how it understands local issues. This in turn, will enable the LAB to contribute effectively to decisions which may require LAB involvement.

The LAB is drawn from the staff of the school, parents and the wider community that the school serves. The usual term of office for a governor is four years but many members of the LAB stand for re-election and serve more than one term. Members of a LAB need to take a full and active role in fulfilling the role assigned to them by the Board. This will include regular visits to the Academy and attending up to six meetings per year.

To contact any of our governors, please email governance@emat.uk

Governors

Name	Position
Liz Dormor	Headteacher
Richard Fincher	Chair/Co-opted governor
Emma Tansley	Co-opted governor
Duncan Furey	Co-opted governor
Gerald Egbury	Co-opted governor
Jo Giddings	Staff governor

Meet our Governors

Richard Fincher

Richard works in wholesaling and publishing. His working life started in the Royal Navy, and he subsequently joined one of the UK’s largest media companies – EMAP – as a journalist. He worked in the motorcycle, outdoor and fishing divisions, editing Bike magazine and eventually running the fishing titles as General Manager. He then bought a ski media company, which he still runs. During the past decade he has developed online B2B web stores, editorial websites and worked with wider teams bringing digital processes into his existing businesses. Alongside the media company he has interests in companies involved with distribution and wholesale in the personal care market.

He is currently the Vice Chair of the Local Advisory Board at Prince William, with responsibility for working with the 6th Form and the Career team. He has been a Trust-appointed governor for three years.

Richard currently has three children at Prince William.

Emma Tansley

Emma is an qualified architect with nearly 20 years’ experience who has worked all over the UK and also in Australia. She initially specialised in school buildings, including the procurement of 8 school buildings through the Building School for the Future initiative. More recently she set up her own practice locally and now concentrates her work more on domestic and heritage buildings.

As a pupil at PWS herself in the 1980’s, Emma was keen to give something back to the school, becoming a governor in 2012. She has chaired various committees and focus groups and has maintained her role as safeguarding governor for the past 5 years. With a very personal connection to the school, Emma is our longest serving governor.

Duncan Furey

Duncan has worked in various leadership positions in International Development for the past 20 years working mainly in the Middle East and North Africa with a focus on new business development and program management.

Duncan has a Masters Degree in International Relations and has just completed a second Masters in Business Administration.

Duncan is has been Trustee for a US based charity Networks for Change for the past 3 years and has been a governor at PWS for the past 12 months.

Gerald Egbury

Gerald is a senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University with a range of portfolios.

Gerald has worked in the NHS and both further and higher education with a career span of over 30 years. He has a MA in Educational Leadership and Management and is a member of the Institute of Leadership and Management (MinstLM), Fellow of the Society of Education and Training (FSET) with Qualified Teacher Status and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Association (SFHEA).

His experience has helped him to develop many demonstrable personal 'people' qualities over the years including resilience, organisational and communication skills, and a clear enthusiastic approach to education.

Jo Giddings

Jo has worked in schools for 18 years, starting as a Teaching Assistant at Oundle Middle School and Clerk to the Governors at Oundle Primary School. She changed to a Staff Governor at the Middle School for two years and was the link between the governors and staff. During this time the school went through a change to a two-tier system from a three tier.

Jo is a Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead within the Pastoral Team at PWS dealing with any student welfare issues arising. She has been on a number of training courses to help with this, including Child Sexual Exploitation, Emotional Regulation, Domestic Abuse, Emotional Support, Alcohol with the Young Person and Drug abuse (both parental and child).

Jo herself went to Prince William School, many moons ago! And both her children have gone through the school, one through 6th form and on to university.