Governors

Caroline Dawes

Chair, Parent Governor

Caroline has two children at King Athelstan Primary school and was elected as a parent governor in 2020. She became Chair of the Governors in July 2022. Her day job involves leading children's services policy for London Councils, working for all the London boroughs. Through her work she is acutely aware of the current pressures facing schools and wants to support King Athelstan to continue to deliver an excellent education to all our children. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, cooking, films and playing tennis.

Majeed Neky

Parent Governor

Majeed is a civil servant who has worked for multiple Government Departments and has previous experience in local government and in the charity sector. Before joining King Athelstan as a parent governor, he was previously a governor at another local primary school. Majeed lives locally in Surbiton with his wife, two sons and two naughty cats.

Asha Lodh

Co-Opted Governor

Several years ago Asha gave up editing books for a living to become an artist for almost no living. She loves motherhood, her rubbish Shopper bike, swimming at Hampton Open Air Pool, tending the allotment and knitting. One day soon she will stop complaining about children’s books and get round to writing one of her own.

Joanne Mitchinson

Co-Opted Governor

Joanne has a background in business transformation and technology, working for one of the Big 4 accountancies – the world’s largest accounting organisations. She has a passion for helping and supporting others develop and has undertaken activities such as: mentoring, establishing a woman’s network and volunteering with schools to support on a variety of initiatives including – working with the STEMettes to promote girls into STEM subjects, prepping children for interviews & work, and teaching children to code. Joanne lives locally and became a governor to support and give back to the local community, leveraging the skills she has.

Emily Newton

Headteacher

Vida Stevens

Staff Governor

Vida joined the King Athelstan family in 2016 and since then has always been in a reception class. She has also had opportunities to run after school clubs with Year 2 and Year 6. Vida has spent her career working with children in a variety of settings but always in Early Years. This includes day nurseries, nannying, childminding and 16 years in another community school. Vida is a keen reader and gets huge pleasure being part of the reception children's reading journey from the very beginning. Once they can read, the children are able to do so much more, and you're never lonely with a book! Away from school, she enjoys long walks by the river, watching crime drama, theatre, exhibitions and eating out.

Kate Hendry

Clerk to the Governors