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Please find below details of how our Governing body is structured, including the names, categories, responsibilities and terms of appointment for each Governor.

Acting Chair of Governors 

Martin Levy

Martin was educated at Watford Boys' Grammar School in Hertfordshire before commencing a career in finance. He has worked for the Lloyds Banking Group for twenty-seven years, principally in commercial banking. He currently has overall responsibility for clients in education, healthcare, legal and property sectors across Kent & East Sussex.

He is married to Nicola and his son was a pupil at Steephill.

Personal interests include most sports, especially football, golf, rugby union and badminton. He has season tickets for Watford FC, a club he has supported since his early childhood.

His responsibilities as Acting Chair include oversight of the school's finances and undertaking internal audits. 

Contact details: martinlevy@steephill.co.uk

The Governing Board is divided into 3 sub-committees:

• Finance and Strategy Sub-committee

Martin Levy (Chair)

Sandra Scotting

Clare Tucker (Bursar)

Helen Millward (Head)

•  Education Sub-committee

Jenny Smith Spark

Helen Millward (Head)

•  Welfare, Health and Safety

Jenny Smith Spark

Doreen Page

Helen Millward (Head)

Clare Tucker (Bursar)

Sandra Scotting MBE

Sandra's son was at Steephill School from the age of three and a half years and then progressed to the Dartford Grammar School for Boys. During her son's years at Steephill School she was instrumental in helping to set up the school as a Charitable Trust to ensure that it continued after the death of its founder Miss Eileen Bignold and she has been a governor ever since.

Sandra is responsible for liaising with the Charity Commission, completing the annual returns and keeping up with current changes in the rules and regulations governing charities. She also liaises with the auditor when completing the annual accounts. She is now retired from her job as intellectual property executive for a national newspaper group, but her experience allows her to bring some basic legal as well as accounting knowledge to the board of governors.

She spent 12 years running a charity that raised money to build a war memorial in East London to the worst civilian disaster in WW2 – the Bethnal Green tube disaster. Now the memorial is in place she is still involved in the upkeep of it, as well as being part of RAFT – Retrofit Action for Tomorrow. This CIC provides educational programmes and professional retrofit advice to schools, local organisations and the wider community in a proactive response to the climate emergency. With that, gardening, her local historical society, running a branch of Foresters Friendly Society and Steephill, there isn't much free time left for other interests, though her love of reading will prevail one day.

Doreen Page

Doreen worked as a personnel officer for Lloyds Bank International for many years and then until September 2010 for the National Health Service coordinating the 'Out of Hours GP Service'. She is now semi-retired but works part time in a GP's surgery. She has been associated with Steephill since 1987 when her son joined the Nursery as one of Miss Bignold's "tiny's".

When the school was under threat of closure in 1990 Doreen assisted her fellow governors to help set up the school as a charitable trust. Doreen is responsible for the school's catering, ensuring that the school maintains high standards of food preparation and adheres to dietary controls and hygiene guidelines. She also assists with personnel matters.

Her personal interests include history and gardening.

Jenny Smith-Spark

Jenny has a long and active involvement with Steephill School. Her three children flourished at Miss Bignold's and loved their time here. Jenny was the first Secretary of FOSS when it was set up to support the School by fund-raising for its educational resources. A graduate teacher in secondary school special needs education, Jenny became Headteacher at Steephill to build on Miss Bignold’s excellent work. After six years, once the School was flourishing again, Jenny became Deputy Head of the first integrated secondary school Unit in Kent for pupils with autism. Jenny has continued since then as Steephill’s Governor for SEND and Safeguarding. She holds current Certificates in Safer Recruitment in Education and for Keeping Children Safe Online also for Safeguarding Children – A Guide for Governors. Jenny follows educational matters through parliamentary debates, the DofE, ISA, the NEU and the NSPCC. She has lived in Fawkham Valley for many years and is on the Committee of The Friends of Fawkham Church, where our School Services are held. Jenny loves nature and animal life and she believes in the value of Forest School for our pupils. She is interested in equestrian sport, athletics also women’s rugby and considers that all Steephill sports should be accessible to all our pupils to enjoy.