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Meet The Governing Body

 

Governors' Impact Statement

As school governors, we are responsible for the strategic direction and the financial performance of Mathilda Marks-Kennedy. We challenge and monitor the School’s Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team. Within this remit, we meet as a full governing body once a term, contribute to the school improvement plan and regularly oversee various aspects of the school through, for example, learning walks, and meetings of three specific committees:

(i) Curriculum Impact, with a Jewish Studies working party

(ii) Finance and Resources, including personnel, premises and security working parties

(iii) Admissions

The Governing Body comprises relevant skills and expertise; our governors work in fields such as law, accountancy, education and communication. Keen to improve and keep our skills updated, we also regularly attend professional governor training. We volunteer our time and energy to promote the School’s vision to the best of our ability while adhering to our inclusive ethos. Indeed, we aim to drive best practices throughout the school in order to match our aspiration that each child receives the best education to enable him or her to fulfil his or her potential.

The Governing Body

The Governing Body is chaired by David Stone and the vice-chair is Zoe Sinclair.  The Governing Body comprises eight Foundation Governors including the Chair, plus six others including Mrs Kaye as Headteacher, ex-officio. 

All 8 foundation governors are appointed by Scopus Jewish Educational Trust which is the school's Foundation Trust and part of the United Synagogue, each for a 3 year term. Other governor terms of office are 4 years: two parent governors are appointed by parent election, one staff governor is appointed by a staff election, one LA governor is appointed by the Local Authority, and one co-opted governor is appointed by the governing body itself.

Mr Smerin, as Deputy Headteacher, is invited to attend Governing Body meetings in a non-voting capacity.

  • Please click here to view the Governing Body Committee Membership
  • Please click here to view the Governing Body Register of Business Interests
  • Please click here to view the Governing Body Committee Meeting Attendance 
  • Please click here to access the MMK Governing Body Code of Conduct

Zoe Sinclair

 Zoe Sinclair

Chair of Governors, Foundation Governor, appointed January 2018 zsinclair@mmks.barnet.sch.uk

Zoe is the Founder of Employees Matter, the largest provider of employee engagement seminars and webinars in the UK.  Zoe works with a wide range of clients across all sectors. In 2017 she joined forces with Jonny Benjamin MBE and Neil Laybourn to start This Can Happen, a corporate mental health conference.

Having owned a nursery in Harpenden for a short time, Zoe developed a further interest in the wellbeing of staff and pupils alike. Zoe sits on the Personnel committee.

She has two children who are both at senior school. They both had a wonderful primary education at a very similar school to MMK and Zoe looks forward to being part of the governing body to give back so that many more children can benefit from the warm and loving ethos of MMK. 

Marc Heller 

Foundation Governor, Premises Governor appointed September 2023

Marc has a law background but has worked in property for many years (developments and lettings).  He has previously been involved in Jewish Charity and Synagogue committees.  Marc has a deep affection for Israel with lots of family and friends living there and developed through many years of being part of Bnei Akiva.

 Marc was very pleased to be recommended to become an MMK governor, giving him the opportunity to give something back to MMK school where his three daughters attended, thrived and where their love of Israel was nurtured and gave them a solid grounding moving into secondary school.  He now looks forward to supporting and contributing to MMK’s continued success.

 Marc is passionate about sport and particularly cricket (a very proud MCC member).  His other interests includes stand-up comedy which helps with growing confidence which is what he believes can encourage children and people of all ages to develop, speak up, volunteer and get involved.    

 He and his family have been residents of Mill Hill for over 20 years and are members of Mill Hill United Synagogue. 

Miriam Kaye

 Miriam Kaye

 Head Teacher/Governor, appointed September 2019 

Miriam has been the headteacher of MMK since September 2019. She has worked in education since 2000. In her previous school she was Deputy Head and SENCo for 7 years. In 2015, she attained her  SENCO accreditation having passed the National Award for SENCO accreditation. 

Miriam has a clear vision to lead our school and this is noted in our most recent Ofsted inspection in November 2021. 

‘Leaders and governors have a good understanding of the school’s current strengths and areas for development. They have appropriate plans in place that are being implemented at pace and are closely monitored 

Miriam is an annual lecturer for the LSJS BA Jewish Education Program where she lectures on Assessment.   

Natasha Livingston

Staff Governor, appointed September 2023

Natasha is a Year 4 teacher at Mathilda Marks-Kennedy and is the PSHE champion across the school. 

Natasha went to the University of Birmingham to study Sociology. She qualified for QTS in 2017. Having taught in Rosh Pinah for a few years, Natasha understands the importance of community.

She is committed to teaching through the objectives of the national curriculum to ensure progress and success. 

Natasha believes that school should be a welcoming, safe place for every child to learn, grow and achieve their goals. She is thrilled to be elected as Staff Governor and bring a new perspective to the governing body.

Matthew Radstone

Parent Governor, appointed November 2020 

Matt is a barrister, specialising in white collar defence work.  He has been involved in Jewish Charity committees for many years and was heavily involved in Jewish youth leadership.

Matt is a member of the Personnel Committee and previously chaired the Admissions Committee. The school's strategic development is very important to him, allied to maintaining the level of excellence that in his view MMK provides.

Matt has three children at MMK. He is passionate about sport, exercise and well-being and believes this is an area that can be further developed at MMK.

Ilana Hutchinson

 

Parent Governor and Chair of Curriculum, appointed August 2023

Ilana is an MMK parent and has been for 10 years. She is a mother of 3 children and two are still at MMK. She feels MMK is a special ‘family’ community.

Following a 15 year career as a primary school teacher, she moved to the charity world and now leads the Schools Programme at Jewish Women’s Aid, educating about healthy relationships and consent.

She is a youth mental health first aider and cares passionately about the wellbeing of young people.

Since Covid, there has been a rise in mental health issues in young people and she would be keen to support in this area.

As parent governor she aim to bring my knowledge of education to support our school in providing our children with the space to learn, grow and foster positive Jewish values that will shape them in their formative years and beyond.

Ben Weiner

Local Authority Governor and SEND Governor, appointed February 2020

Ben Weiner is a clinical psychologist, working in both the NHS and private practice.  Since qualifying he has focused his career on working with children and young people, an area he is extremely passionate about. Ben has experience working in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Learning Disability Services, Local Authorities, Charities and legal proceedings.

Ben is appointed by Barnet as our Local Authority governor. As governor with responsibility for special educational needs (SEN) he liaises regularly with the school SENCO. 

Lee Zucker

Foundation Governor and Safeguarding Governor, appointed October 2022

Lee is Head of HR at Kisharon, a charity with a Jewish ethos which supports children and adults with learning disabilities through its Nursery, School, adult services and social enterprises. She has delivered training including Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Leadership and Management, Safer Recruitment and Safeguarding Reporting. She is an Associate member of the CIPD. 

Lee has a strong background and commitment to Jewish education and community life. She has been an active member of Kenton Synagogue where she grew up, Ichud Shivat Tzion Shul in Tel Aviv where she lived for 13 years, and Finchley United Synagogue which she and her family currently attend. Her two children attended Jewish schools. She taught at New North London and Kenton Cheders and was an active member of the Youth Movement Bnei Akiva. Lee studied for a year at a Jewish Seminary in Israel and has a Master’s degree in Management.

Lee has taken on responsibility for Safeguarding at MMK and is very much looking forward to learning from and contributing to the continued success of MMK. 

Dalia Haber

Foundation Governor, appointed December 2022

 Dalia is a trained primary school teacher and former SENCO. Having done a postgraduate diploma in Specific Learning Difficulties, she is also a trained dyslexia specialist.

Dalia has worked with adults who were on probation, teaching them basic literacy and numeracy skills. However, after more than 20 years working mainly in Primary schools, Dalia now tutors full time, specialising at helping both children and adults with specific learning needs.  She is passionate about education and enabling all learners to achieve success, whatever that may look like.

Aside from teaching, Dalia’s other passion is cooking and food photography. She runs a website and Instagram account which she loves as it helps her relax after the stresses of teaching! 

Dalia has three children, all of whom went to MMK. She has seen what a warm and nurturing environment the school is and she is looking forward to being able to help in any way she can. 

Mark Jackson

Foundation Governor and Chair of Finance, appointed May 2023

Mark is a CFO and Chartered Accountant, having primarily focused on helping start-ups and scale-ups grow, over the last decade.

Mark has sat on the MMK Finance Committee since 2017, helping advise on various areas over this critical and transformational period. 

Mark has been a resident of Mill Hill for nearly 15 years, is a member of Mill Hill Shul and has 2 children in MMK. 

Daniel Braham

Foundation Governor, Chair of Admissions, appointed September 2023

Daniel qualified as a solicitor and worked in a number of roles in the international hotel industry.

Daniel chairs the Admissions Committee and has many years of experience in the Schools Admissions Process.  He has previously chaired the Admissions Committee of another primary school and regularly sits on panels that hear school admissions appeals across the country.

Daniel lives in Mill Hill and has a child in MMK.

Belinda Goodman

  

 Foundation Governor, appointed December 2023 

My name is Belinda Goodman and I am a Primary school teacher who has worked in Barnet schools for almost 30 years. I am also a school based advisor for Barnet which means I provide support and training for staff by running INSET or working with specific teachers. I have delivered many courses for teachers and my specialism is in art and design technology. I have also delivered training on SCITT courses and for newly qualified/early career teachers. 

Originally from Leeds but I have lived in Mill Hill with my family for over 20 years and we are members of Mill Hill Synagogue. Both my sons previously attended Mathilda Marks Kennedy School and had a good experience there. I hope I can bring my knowledge of education and the local community to the governing body and look forward to this challenge. 

Ian Wolfson

 

Co-opted Governor and Premises, appointed June 2024

Ian is delighted to have been asked to be a Governor at MMK, assisting particularly with premises matters and projects. Ian has recently retired, after 45 years as a Chartered Accountant in his own local practice. Outside of this professional career, Ian has always been a hands-on, pragmatic person who enjoys combining problem solving and practical skills with a can do outlook.  Ian is a grandfather of four children, two of whom are currently MMK pupils and one who will start shortly.  As a father of 3 children, Ian worked on the PTA of their Jewish Primary School in the early years of t he school being set up, with key involvement in the voluntary contributions and termly newsletter. During that time, he was on the local Shul Board and was involved with children's services and in combining Shul and school events with the participation of both parents and pupils, especially around the Chagim.  Ian moved with his wife, Lynne, to Mill Hill in 2015 to be near to their children and grandchildren and is pleased to have the opportunity to serve the school community.