The Senior Leadership Team
Emily Newton
Headteacher
Miss Newton has been at King Athelstan since 2004. She joined the team at King Athelstan as Deputy Head and took over as Head in 2007. She has worked in Kingston Schools for 20 years, teaching across the primary age range, but mainly in Reception, Year 2 and Year 6. In the past Miss Newton has enjoyed leading a range of areas including Maths, English, KS2 and Early Years Foundation Stage. She is passionate about achieving the very best outcomes for every child and loves working with the amazing team of staff and families at King Athelstan. She is one of our Designated Safeguarding Leads, along with Miss Govan and Mrs Ramkissoon. She leads on the strategic development of the school. With a background in drama, she spends most of her spare time rehearsing for the next production or helping to organise the artistic programme at a local community arts centre.
Naomi Ahearn
Deputy Headteacher
Mrs Ahearn starting working at King Athelstan in 2007. Since joining King Athelstan, she has taught in many year groups across the school, however mostly in Years 1 and 6. She is passionate about children’s literacy development and igniting their love of reading. She was the English Lead for over 6 years and has also worked as an English School-Based Adviser for Kingston and Richmond. In 2020 she took on the role of Assistant Headteacher at King Athelstan and especially enjoyed her Teaching and Learning and Assessment responsibility, as it allowed her to work with all of the amazing children and teachers across the school. Mrs Ahearn became Deputy Headteacher in July 2022. Outside of school, she enjoys going to the theatre and spending lots of time with her friends and family.
Alice Govan
Assistant Headteacher - Inclusion, and Designated Safeguarding Lead
Miss Govan joined King Athelstan in April 2018 having previously worked for 7 years as an Inclusion Leader in Richmond Upon Thames. She began as a Teaching Assistant in a special school and her belief in the importance of high quality provision, and aspirational outcomes, for pupils with additional needs has been the main driver of her teaching career. Ms Govan has responsibility for leading Inclusion at King Athelstan, and is one of our Designated Safeguarding Leads along with Miss Newton and Mrs Ramkissoon. She is the school SENCO. Outside of school she spends any free time on artistic pursuits and enjoying the great outdoors with her young family.
Alice Alexander
EYFS Lead
Alice joined King Athelstan in 2025. She started her education journey working in nurseries across Bristol where she then went on to study a degree in Primary Education. She moved to London for 2 years before heading off to Australia. In Australia, she worked recruiting Early Years Teachers across Sydney. From Sydney, she then moved to Dubai for 3 years where she was Head of Year 2. Since Dubai, Alice has worked in Wandsworth Schools as an Early Years and Phonics Lead. She is about to complete her National Professional Qualification in Early Years Leadership (NPQEYL). Alice is passionate about the Early Years and will often be found reading the latest research or listening to a podcast on how our youngest children learn best! In Alice's spare time, she loves spending time with her family and friends and going on holiday to discover new countries.
