Acting Chair of Governors

Mr Suhel Musa is the Acting Chair of the Governing Body and brings a wealth of professional and community experience to his role. He is also a parent governor, with two children who attend Gladesmore Community School.

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. His role involves liaising and working with a wide range of partnership agencies, including statutory and voluntary organisations. This experience enables him to make a strong contribution to the effective leadership and governance of the school.

Mr Musa is also a Trustee of Diva UK Welfare Trust, a UK-based charity that supports the community of Diva in Gujarat, India. The charity provides educational, healthcare and safe drinking water facilities, as well as financial support to widows and widowers.

As Acting Chair of the Governing Body, Mr Musa works closely with fellow governors and the school leadership team to support effective governance and contribute to the continued development and success of Gladesmore Community School.

Mr Suhel Musa

Acting Chair of Governors; SEND Governor; Safeguarding Governor

Current Governors

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 is now 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 by 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 a 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 regarding 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

Ms Annabel Schaafsma

Chair of Site, Finance and Personnel Committee

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 provides 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 Susan Williams is a long-serving barrister with a focus on criminal law and advocacy, and family law. Specialising 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 the new governor at Gladesmore, where her extensive insight into family law has been a great benefit to the Gladesmore governing body. 

Ms Susan Williams

Parent Governor