The School Governors
Our governors are at the heart of how the school operates.If you want to contact the chair of governors or any other governor please leave a message or a letter at the school office and your request will be passed on to the relevant governor.
The role of the governing body
Critical friends
All maintained schools in England have a governing board which is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction of the school. A key role is to act as a ‘critical friend’: to support, to challenge, and to ask questions.
The governing board works in close partnership with the Interim Executive Headteacher and the Local Authority to ensure the school functions well and offers a strong provision for the education of the children it serves.
Membership of the governing board includes parents, teaching staff and representatives from the local community and the Local Authority.
The governing board has a range of powers and duties laid down by various Education Acts. In the main, these responsibilities relate to:
- Setting targets and promoting high standards of educational achievement for all pupils
- Setting the strategic framework within which the school operates
- Management of the school’s budget
- Ensuring that the curriculum for the school is broad and balanced and accessible to all pupils
Governors adopt, review and monitor a range of statutory policies that govern the operation of the school. These policies can be found on this website.
Governors discharge the above responsibilities through two formal governing board meetings each term. In addition, they make termly visits during the school day to monitor the impact of school improvement priorities.
Minutes of meetings are agreed and approved by the board at its next meeting. Minutes are available on request once they have been approved. Please contact the school administration team.
A number of governors also have responsibilities for specific areas within the school. The Terms of Reference outline the specific responsibilities of the governing body.
Instrument of Government
The instrument of government is the document that records the name of the school and the constitution of its governing board.
Instrument of Government – The Lady Margaret and Durdans Park Schools Federation
Skills required of school governors
The National Governance Association (NGA) has published a list of skills required for school governance. An individual governor is not expected to have all the skills listed in the audit, but they should be covered across the governing body:
1 Vacancy – Lady Margaret Primary
1 Vacancy – Durdan’s Park Primary
Helen Rai
Name: Helen Rai
Date of appointment: 2nd June 2014
Term of office: on-going
Category of Governor: Staff Governor – Headteacher
Date of appointment: 31st August 2023
Term of office: 4 years
Category of Governor: Staff Governor
- Co-opted Governors
- Simon Prebble
- Dean Horridge
- Roop Bhinder
- Vinothikaa Thavabalasandran
- Neil Dhayatker
- Yasodara Selvarajah
- Karmjit Mangat
Simon Prebble – Chair of Governors
Dean Horridge – Vice-chair
Roop Bhinder
Vinothikaa Thavabalasandran
Neil Dhayatker
Karmjit Mangat
Yasodara Selvarajah
Name: Simon Prebble
Date of Appointment: 31st August 2023
Term of office: 4 years
Category of Governor: Chair of Governors – Co-opted Member
Link Governor for:
Brief Statement: I am an education consultant working in schools across London. My main focus areas are providing support and challenge to senior leaders in school improvement planning and monitoring and evaluating. I have been the headteacher of 2 primary schools in Ealing. I have worked in education for 30 years in a variety of roles.
For 3 years I was the Principal Primary Adviser for Ealing and led the primary school improvement team. I have a lot of experience of governing boards both as a member and by supporting schools.
I have been a resident in the London Borough of Ealing for 27 years. I believe schools should have high expectations of their children, parents and staff as pupils only have one chance to enable them to be successful in their future lives.
I am looking forward to continuing to work with the governing board to challenge and support the school to improve further.
Name: Dean Horridge
Date of appointment: 31st August 2023
Term of office: 4 years
Category of Governor: Vice Chair of Governors – Co-opted Member
Link Governor for:
Premises/Health & Safety
Brief statement: Dean is an expert in children’s activity and obesity and has 28 years’ experience in working with children, families and communities across a range of sectors, including education, leisure and health & fitness. As head of PE in a primary school he was disappointed at the lack of physical activity his pupils undertook during school holidays. Realising the effects of inactivity during the holidays, Dean started Fit For Sport weekend and holiday activity clubs for school children in 1991. These continue to operate (with over 100 activity camps nationwide) and Fit For Sport has evolved and grown dramatically. It now employs over 500 staff, supports over 200 schools, and engages over one million children through free school and family initiatives. Fit For Sport also trains 23% of the UK’s activity leaders.
A firm believer that the journey to an active life begins with children, his overriding goal for Fit For Sport is to make a positive impact on the health of the nation by engaging and educating children and families through activity on the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
Dean also takes a leading role in championing children’s activity in the health and fitness industry. He sits on Membership Council on the industry trade association ukactive, and also chairs the ukactive Kids Board, helping to develop and promote initiatives to improve children’s activity levels and participation.
Name: Roop Bhinder
Date of appointment: 31st August 2023
Term of office: 4 years
Category of Governor: Co-opted
Link Governor: SEND
Brief statement: I am currently the senior private secretary to the permanent secretary at the Department for Education, with experience working across five Government departments in the UK in a variety of policy, strategy and legislation roles.
I am interested in education, not just because of my day job, but more widely as I have experience mentoring young people trying to get into university as well as teaching study skills whilst I was at university. I strongly believe in education as an enabling tool for social mobility, and believe that all children should get the best start to life. Having grown up not too far from Lady Margaret Primary School, I am delighted to be working with a school where I have a strong understanding of the local area.
I will bring my skills and understanding of policy making, the education system and the local area to my role as governor.
Name: Vinothikaa Thavabalasandran
Date of appointment: 31st August 2023
Term of office: 4 years
Category of Governor: Co-opted
Link Governor:
Brief Statement:
Name: Neil Dhayatker
Date of appointment: 31st August 2023
Term of office: 4 years
Category of Governor: Co-opted
Link Governor:
Brief Statement:
Name: Yasodara Selvarajah
Date of appointment: 31st August 2023
Term of office: 4 years
Category of Governor: Co-opted
Link Governor:
Brief Statement:
Name: Karmjit Mangat
Date of appointment: 31st August 2023
Term of office: 4 years
Category of Governor: Co-opted
Link Governor:
Brief Statement:
Scarlett Szeto
Name: Scarlett Szeto
Date of appointment: 31st August 2023
Term of office: 4 years
Category of Governor: Local Authority/Citizen Governor
Link Governor:
Brief statement:
Governors Register of Interests:
Governors have a legal duty to act in the best interest of the school. Where there are personal or financial interests, which may conflict with this duty, they must identify, prevent and record the conflict. Governors must not be involved in discussions or vote on matters to which their conflict relates.
At Durdan’s Park, governors review a register of interests at the start of every meeting. Governors also declare personal or other interests which might be a potential source of conflict. Please click on the link below for the most up to date register of business interests.
Governor attendance 2022-23
1st September 2022 to 31st August 2023
| Governor | 13/09/2023 | 13/12/2023 | 07/02/2023 | 21/03/2023 | 20/04/2023 | 02/05/2023 | 11/07/2023 |
| Simon Prebble – Chair | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended |
| Dean Horridge – Vice Chair | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended |
| Helen Rai – Executive Headteacher | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended |
| Farhana Sultana – Parent Governor | Attended | Attended | Attended | resigned | |||
| Sara Arshad – Parent Governor | Attended | Attended | Attended | resigned | |||
| Sadia Mughal – Parent Governor | Apologies | Attended | resigned | ||||
| Randip Bains – Co-opted Governor | Apologies | Absent | Apologies | resigned | |||
| Raj Powar – Co-opted Governor | Attended | Attended | resigned | ||||
| Bhavna Wadhera – Staff Governor | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended |
| Roop Bhinder – LA Governor | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended | Attended | Apologies | Apologies |
| Amanda Hancock – Associate Governor | Attended | Attended | resigned |
The governing body of Lady Margaret Primary school will cease on the 31st August 2023. From the 1st September 2023 there will be one governing body for the Lady Margaret and Durdan’s Park Primary Schools’ Federation.