Meet our Trustees

Louisa Davies, Chair of Trustees.

Louisa has over a decade's experience in education & governance. She first became a governor at Lydney C of E in 2008 and then joined Aylburton Governing Body. She has been a Chair since 2014. Louisa is a Local Leader of Governance and provides both formal & informal support to other Chairs and Governing Bodies in the area.

Louisa is a qualified teacher and has worked with children and young people in many roles, giving her good knowledge of a range of different educational settings including working with children with SEND, Children in Care, at academies, state schools, faith schools and Further Education. She currently teaches at a Secondary Academy in South Gloucestershire.

Rachel Dare, Chief Executive Officer

Rachel has been a headteacher and executive school leader in different local authorities in England & Wales. After a first headship in Monmouthshire, she became Executive Headteacher in Gloucestershire in 2013, leading the schools to form the successful Severn Federation. Rachel was proud to open the Severn Federation Academy Trust in January 2021. Rachel is passionate about supporting schools to provide excellent education and providing creative school support solutions.

Qualifications include:

B.Ed hons Educations (specialism Music), M.Ed Child Psycology, NPQH; and in 2018 was designated as a National Leader of Education.

Mark Higginson, Chair of Audit & Risk Committee

With a background in education, I have been able to bring relevant knowledge and skills to the Trust board. I am diligent in updating my understanding of issues that currently impact the education sector due to my personal and professional interests. My experience in a leadership capacity at a primary school means that I am familiar with data analysis related to academic attainment.

I have been involved in the Trust's strategic planning and in setting realistic, measurable goals. I work collaboratively with the board to maintain high standards in our duties and responsibilities as a Trust board.

My commitment to the Trust's success began with a personal desire to see improvements in educational standards, outcomes, opportunities, and social mobility for children in the Forest of Dean. I wanted to play my part in bringing about the changes and improvements I felt were needed. As the Trust has grown, my beliefs and values remain the same but now extend to all children within the Trust. My views align closely with the Trust’s values, which prioritize inclusivity, inspiration, and nurturing. This means that my actions and questions as a trustee are always focused on the best interests of the children and stakeholders within the Trust, contributing to effective governance that achieves these aims.

My focus for the future continues to center on developing and deepening the Christian vision, aims and objectives of the Trust. I will continue to promote these values and hold the leadership to account in a supportive, challenging and constructive way. My monitoring of all of the decisions and actions of the trust will be mindful of how well we are meeting those objectives. 

Beth Boughton, Chair of Finance Committee

Beth is the Managing Director of Ubico Ltd. and brings skills and experience to the Trust including communicating in a wide variety of forums and to a wide variety of audiences, listening and responding to feedback, analysing and interpreting reports and data, experience of managing and monitoring large budgets and interpreting financial reports, producing performance indicators and measuring (and celebrating) successes, or intervening and supporting to make improvements where these are sometimes necessary.

Beth has previous experience of governing schools, as a governor for the Newnham St. Peter's Governing Body. Beth believe that as well as offering a good learning environment for our children, school needs to be an enjoyable and rewarding experience wherever possible.

Mohammed Rizwan, Chair of Ethos & Education Committee

I work in the Civil Service and have been here since 2018. I currently work at HMRC, where I make sure businesses are paying the right amount of tax at the right time. I do this by interviewing businesses and examining their records which I reconcile with tax legislation. I’m also a manager, ensuring my reports are being the best they can be. I do this by supporting and guiding them.

I am an examiner for Pearson, where I examine GCSE English, A Level English (Poetry), and an international English paper.

In my current role, I am part of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion network because I am very committed to improving outcomes for people of all backgrounds. I’m particularly interested in social mobility, but I understand how important intersectionality is in understanding and removing barriers to progression and success, whatever that may look like.

I have been teaching for over 10 years, and I would like to see what it’s like on the other side, where decisions are made. I want to develop my skills in decision making, business awareness, influencing and negotiation and finance, especially, and I think being a trustee will help me to do this.

Buy my main reason to become a trustee is to use my existing skills and experience to improve outcomes for children. I’m a huge believer in making the world a better place and the earlier we get started, the better things will be. Improving outcomes for children is one important way to do this.

I am keen to be involved outside my local area and I think I could bring my knowledge of working in a more diverse community to the Forest area. I am also interested in social mobility, and I’d like to gain more experience in this area. I’d like to help increase social mobility in any way I can.

Having worked in adult education, I appreciate the importance of getting education right from the very beginning.

Pam Howell

I have 35 years' experience in Primary Education, including 19 years as a headteacher. During my headship I was also recognised as a National Leader of Education. Since September 2022 I have refocused my efforts on helping school leadership teams develop teaching and learning within their schools for the benefit of their pupils.

My educational journey has always been about the child and the enrichment we can bring about to their lives. 

I am also driven by the desire to develop and inspire our future profession; guiding and supporting colleagues to achieve their full potential. 

Through strong teamwork and collaboration with all stakeholders I have been fortunate to lead schools from positions of Inadequate and Requires Improvement to Good and Ourstanding judgements. 

In the words of Nelson Mandela: ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Emma Howell

After graduating with a degree in primary initial teacher training, I went on to work in infant and primary schools in Cambridgeshire and Wiltshire. I completed my MA and took on the roles of student mentor, Key Stage leader and maths subject leader. Following 16 years of primary classroom experience I moved into Initial Teacher Training, joining a vibrant maths team at the University of Gloucestershire. After leading the UoG BEd primary programme for a number of years, I have moved to the role of Primary Partnership Lead. In this role, I oversee the school experience modules of our post and undergraduate ITE programmes and work closely with local primary schools and mentors to establish and develop strong partnerships. I continue to work with the primary maths team and with our regional Maths Hub to deliver CPD programmes to primary school colleagues.  Other aspects of my work in recent years have included being a school governor in my home town of Stroud, an External Examiner for ITE providers across the country, a QTS apprenticeship assessor, and I am also a published author, having contributed to a journal article and two chapters in books written by the UoG Primary Tutor Team. 

Reverend David Ibbotson

David has worked in education for almost all his career.  He has taught chemistry in a mixture of maintained and independent schools and was a deputy headteacher for 15 years before being ordained in the Church of England.  In the last ten years before retirement, he was a school chaplain in a number of boarding schools.  Throughout his career he has been passionate about the well-being and progress of pupils and education in the widest sense.  He has been a governor in a number of schools and a schools' inspector with the Independent Schools Inspectorate.  He is based in the Forest of Dean and enjoying retirement in this beautiful part of the world.

Ashleigh Child

After graduating with a degree in Maths and Meteorology Ashleigh returned to Gloucestershire and completed the ACA qualification with a local accountancy firm. Now, as a chartered accountant and with 10 years audit experience working with academies, charities and businesses, she can bring her skills to the SFAT board. Using this financial and regulatory knowledge, Ashleigh can support the Trust, being part of the finance and audit & risk committees. 

Ashleigh is looking forward to working with the other trustees and leadership team to support the Trust in its vision and ethos. 

Register of Interests & Trustee Responsibilities

RETIRED TRUSTEES

REGISTER OF INTEREST

Trustees Attendance

Board of Trustee Meetings

2024-2025

Board of Trustees Meetings

2023-2024

Finance Committee Meetings

24-25

Finance Committee Meetings

2023-2024

Audit & Risk Committee Meetings

2024-2025

Audit & Risk Committee Meetings

2023-2024

Ethos & Education Committee Meetings

2024-2025

Ethos & Education Committee Meetings

2023-2024