Chair of Governors

Mr Alex Sweet

Chair of Governors

admin@gladesmore.com

Mr Alex Sweet is chair of the governing body and is a long serving co-opted governor. He is able to make strong all-round contributions to the effectiveness of the school, with a depth and breadth of knowledge further strengthened by his participation in the Haringey Chair of Governors Forum.  

He can, in particular, call upon his very impressive economic expertise and working knowledge of investment, research and small businesses.  His knowledge has an international dimension as an experienced Portfolio Manager at Highclere International Investors.  

Mr Sweet graduated from Oxford University and has subsequently helped to establish an excellent partnership for the school with St Catherine’s College, Oxford. 

Current Governors (in alphabetical order)

Ms Maureen Black is our longest serving governor, first becoming a governor of the school in 1994. We are very appreciative of her dedication over so many years.  She was selected by Haringey local authority and is attached to Gladesmore.  

She has a wealth of experience and expertise and currently puts this to excellent use as the governor who oversees and checks on safeguarding and Special Educational Needs. Ms Black is also vice chair of the governing body and for many years was chair of the site, finance and personnel committee.  As a result of her vast experience, she is able to guide the effectiveness of school governance. 

Ms Maureen Black

Vice Chair of Governors; SEND Governor; Safeguarding Governor

Ms Elaine Brown

Governor 

Ms Elaine Brown is a deputy head who is employed at the London Academy of Excellence Tottenham (LAET).  LAET is a post-16 provision which is a very popular destination for Gladesmore students.  She is therefore particularly well-placed to aid transition and support post-16 curriculum continuity.

She has an impressive understanding of education and safeguarding and is able to make strong all-round contributions to school improvement.  The governing body particularly benefits from her insight and knowledge of the curriculum.

 We are fortunate that Ms Brown has been co-opted onto the governing body as she can bring her educational expertise, her working knowledge of young people and her strong understanding of our local community to our scrutiny of the school.

Rabbi Shmuel Davidsohn is a leading member of our local Jewish community. He has considerable experience of working with young people and of building links within the community. He is also actively involved in community safety, acting as chair of the Independent advisory group IAG to the Metropolitan Police in the Haringey, and is part of the Met's Diversity IAG and Counter Terrorism IAG.

Having lived in South Tottenham all of his life, he has gained invaluable experience and knowledge of working within the local community as well as being very active within the local Jewish community and community at large. Mr Davidsohn influence in the local community and working with the Local Authority has been instrumental in the development of the area.

He is a senior Youth worker and youth mentor by profession and has been working with young people for over 35 years. He is also the founder and the CEO of Chaverim Youth Organisation, which is a small youth group which started in south Tottenham 33 years ago and now is a national Youth organisation.

Rabbi Shmuel Davidsohn

Governor

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Ms Donnarine Grant

Governor

Ms Donnarine Grant is a long-serving co-opted governor.  Her nephew currently attends Gladesmore and her son also attended (although he has now left us having achieved a strong set of GCSE results).  She is able to support the school calling upon her experience as a parent of children in the school, her knowledge of the local community and also the relevance of her employment at UCL (University of London).  

Ms Jenny Irish is an extremely long-serving and experienced member of staff. She has worked at Gladesmore since 2004 . She therefore has strong links with staff across the school and she is able to provide an insight into the views and experience of staff.

Her work with PGCE students will in particular allow her to articulate the impact of school policies on less experienced/newer members of staff. In addition, the governing body will benefit from considerable pastoral and curriculum expertise. As a Head of Year, she can also speak powerfully to the individual experiences of pupils at GCS. Moreover, the governing body can also rely on her passion and knowledge of developing reading within and across the curriculum. 

Ms Jenny Irish

Teacher Governor

Mr Suhel Musa

Parent Governor

Mr Suhel Musa is a parent governor, who has two children who attend Gladesmore. He is able to make strong contributions to the school calling upon his experience working as a Practice Tutor Assessor, which entails assessing trainee Probation Officers. This entails liaising and working with a multitude of partnership agencies, statutory and voluntary. 

He is also a Trustee of a UK based Charity, Diva UK Welfare Trust, that serves to provide: educational, health and safe drinking water facilities alongside financial support to widows / widowers in the village of Diva, Gujarat State, India.

Ms Annabel Schaafsma is an experienced Managing Director of Moody’s Investors Service. Moody's Corporation is an American financial services company that has supported Gladesmore since 2011. Moody's provide investors with credit ratings, risk analysis, and research for stocks, bonds, and government entities.

We are fortunate that Ms Schaafsma has been co-opted onto the governing body as she is able to make strong all-round contributions to the school and in particular we can call upon her very impressive financial expertise and working knowledge of business and commerce. Ms Schaafsma is chair of the site, finance and personnel committee. 

Ms Annabel Schaafsma

Chair of Site, Finance and Personnel Committee

Ms Susan Williams

Parent Governor

Ms Susan Williams is a long-serving barrister with a focus on criminal law and advocacy, and family law. Specializing in criminal law, she dedicated her career to prosecuting and defending in jury trials in the Crown Courts, particularly cases involving sexual and violent abuse of children.  In 2002, she was appointed a District Judge in the Magistrates' Court at Hammersmith, handling complex trials and cases involving young people charged with serious sex offences and played a significant role in establishing a specialist Drugs Court in Hammersmith and Fulham.

In 2014, she transferred to Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court, overseeing the largest Youth Court in the country, serving young offenders from various areas. She became a part-time judge in the Crown Court as a Recorder in 2006 and held the position until 2018 at Wood Green Crown Court.

Until her retirement in December 2021, she served as the senior judge at High Jury Corner, eventually leading to her appointment as a new governor at Gladesmore where her extensive insight into family law has been a great benefit to the Gladesmore governing body. 

Ms Fiona Jatta is a parent of 2 children who have attended Gladesmore. One child left last year with incredible results which she attributes both to him and the school. Her other child is currently in Year 9. 

She started her teaching career at Gladesmore Community School nearly 30 years ago and have very fond memories of her time there. She has been a Senior Leader for a number of years and therefore has a good understanding of the Education landscape. In addition, she is a serving Ofsted inspector, a role that which is beneficial to the Governing body.

She is passionate about transforming the lives of young people and schools are in a privileged position for this to happen. This takes hard work, dedication and partnership with parents especially. She is committed to holding the leaders of Gladesmore school to account to ensure that all young people can REACH.

Ms Fiona Jatta

Parent Governor