John Taylor Free School

Our Governors

Meet the JTFS Governors

For more information about our governing body, please read their profiles below.

If you would like to contact the governors, please email the Clerk to the LGB at governors@johntaylorfreeschool.co.uk

Chair of Governors

Jeanette Hodgkinson

Ever since Jeanette retired as a criminal barrister in 2005, she has volunteered as a school governor in local primary and secondary schools. Both of her, now grown-up, children were privileged to attend John Taylor High School and her interest in school governance originally came about as a way of giving something back for the excellent education they received. Jeanette joined John Taylor Free School as Chair of its Local Governing Body at the very start of its journey in 2017. She has always been passionate about the role of education in providing better life chances for young people and now, as a very experienced governor, she is proud to be in a position to support the Head of School and her leadership team in delivering their vision for every child to ‘succeed and thrive’. Jeanette is also a member of the JTMAT Audit and Compliance Committee.

Vice Chair of Governors and Safeguarding Governor

Charlotte Hopkins

Charlotte is a serving headteacher of a local Primary Free School that has recently opened with one year group, and will continue to grow year on year, similar to JTFS. Prior to that, she was headteacher of another Burton Primary school and was part of the team that took it out of Special Measures to Good. She knows the Burton area well and is looking forward to offering her 25 years’ experience in education to help bring the JTFS vision to life, that all students will ‘succeed and thrive’.

Ian Burns

Ian Burns is the Managing Director of Cameron Homes Limited, a privately owned residential developer; a position held since 1994. Ian has experience as a Local Authority Councillor working at both Parish and District level. He was a Trustee of the Armitage with Handsacre Village Hall and has lived in Burton-on-Trent for the last 11 years. Ian has a keen interest in supporting the transition of young people from education to the work place.

Michael Chiles

Michael is an experienced senior leader and principal examiner, with over 14 years  experience of working in several secondary schools. In more recent years, Michael has worked with schools delivering training, both nationally and internationally, to support teachers in their approaches to implementing effective assessment and feedback practices. Michael has written several books with John Catt including; The CRAFT of Assessment, The Feedback Pendulum and The Sweet Spot. He also sits on the Council of The Chartered College of Teaching.

Maherul Hassan

After gaining his BSc in Psychology, Maherul completed his MSc in HR Management in 2019, and scored amongst the highest from his cohort in Employee Relations and Employment Law.

Since graduating, Maherul quickly developed his generalist HR knowledge and has risen to HR Business Partner working within the NHS.

Maherul also volunteers as a Community Development Coordinator; concentrating on empowering and engaging young people, in addition to running his own Arabic tutoring services. In his spare time, he is an avid reader and a huge football fan.

Elliott Lawley

Liz O'Mara

Staff GovernoR

Andrew Dickson

Andrew is the Senior ICT Technician at John Taylor Free School. He has been working in the education sector for 15 years and has been at the Free School since the outset, having previously been the Network Manager at another Secondary School for over ten years.

He has a wide range of experience from his years working in schools and is looking forward to offering his input into the continual growth and development of John Taylor Free School.

In his spare time, he enjoys playing the Guitar and Photography.

Parent GovernoR

Ting Law

Headteacher

Sue Atkinson

Sue is the Head of School at John Taylor Free School. She has worked in education for the last 23 years with experience of a wide range of schools and different settings. Her extensive leadership experience spans two highly successful Multi-Academy Trusts based in the East Midlands. She has established a Teaching School Alliance and School Centre for Initial Teacher Training and understands the importance of professional learning for teachers and leaders.