Our Staff & Governors

Senior School Heads of Departments

Subject Teachers

Chair and Parent Governor

• Link Governor Safeguarding

Katherine was elected as a Parent Governor in December 2023. She has a Bachelors of Business Administration, with a major in Human Resources and minor in Classical Studies from Bishop’s University in Canada. She has worked in Human Resources as an HR Manager for over 20 years, in both the public and private sectors, supporting managers in recruitment, staff development, absence management, grievances and disciplinary matters. As a Company Director of a construction company for the last ten years, Katherine has managed the Finance, Commercial and Health and Safety functions along with her HR role. Her two sons attend Gosfield School, with one currently in prep and the other in the senior school. She enjoys travel, food, reading and dog walking.

Vice Chair

• Link Governor Pastoral

Jon has been a governor since 2016. He was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester and at Christ’s College, Cambridge where he read Modern Languages. He also spent a year at Munich University, and has a degree in Spanish from the Open University. He spent his career in teaching, first at Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood, and then at Haberdashers’ Aske’s School in Elstree where he was Head of Modern Languages and, in his last 13 years before retirement, Deputy Head. His interests are team games, particularly cricket and rugby, mountain walking, DIY, reading, classical music and theatre.

Principal; ex officio Governor

• Chair of the Strategy Committee

Head of Finance; ex officio Governor

Community Governor

• Chair of the Education Committee
• Link Governor for SEN and GMA

Max started his working life in banking, then was self-employed in high street retail, before studying for a French degree, part time at Birkbeck, London. He gained his PGCE at Homerton, Cambridge and qualified as a teacher of French and German. He was Head of MFL at Gosfield 2001-2006, and later was Head of Learning Support at Friends School Saffron Walden until he retired in 2014.

Apart from the world of education, Max’s hobbies include walking, cycling, gardening, bell-ringing, village life and family. He was a former Chairman of Gosfield Parish Council, and now, having moved out of the village, is a member of his local Parish Council. He was elected to the Governing Council at Gosfield in May 2016

Co-opted Finance Governor

• Chair of the Finance Committee

Chris was appointed as a governor in May 2022. He has been the Finance Director at GFM Holdings in Colchester since August 2020. After reading mechanical engineering at Imperial College, Chris qualified as a chartered accountant at KPMG London before joining their Hong Kong office for 7 years. After a commercial role in the Philippines for 3 years, Chris returned to the UK working as a finance director in the care sector for 10 years and has extensive financial management experience. His interests are travel, basketball and cycling.

Governor elected by the Old Gosfieldians

• Link Governor for 6th Form

Former Head Boy of Gosfield School. Having left Gosfield School in 2013 Ethan was elected to the Governing Council in January 2017 after being elected in by the Old Gosfieldians to represent our alumni.

Ethan’s first hand experience as a former pupil led to him becoming link Governor for sixth form. These roles combined allow a fine balance between maintaining the history of the school whilst appreciating what needs to be done moving forward to best provide our pupils with the very best experience whilst at Gosfield school and for years to come.

Community Governor

Rex was Director of Finance at Anglia Ruskin University for 25 years, previously working at the University of London for 10 years. He also worked for the NHS, Marconi, Debenhams, and Ford. He was a governor for various schools and colleges in Essex for 20+ years. He is now retired having spent 6 years in the USA before returning to Essex in 2020. Two of his granddaughters enrolled at the school in 2022. He is interested in performing arts, sports, family time and travelling. He volunteers to help the homeless and raises funds for numerous charities. Rex was elected in August 2022

Parent Governor Prep

Emma was elected as a Parent Governor in 2019. She is an Audit Director and qualified chartered accountant at KPMG LLP and leads the public sector audit team across East Anglia, working across the Education, Health, Charity, Housing and Government sectors, so has a strong understanding of the education sector as well as finances. Emma sits on the finance committee as part of her Governor role, Her daughter is currently in year 4 having been at Gosfield since Nursery.

Community Governor

Jeremy has been a management consultant for over 30 years working globally for Accenture and currently EY where he is the Operations Director for the UK Firm’s Risk Management and Legal functions.  He has spent the majority of his career driving change transformation, primarily for large global financial institutions.  Prior to his professional career Jeremy read Computer Science and electronics at Durham University, he is also a Queen’s Scout and holds the gold DoE award.  Outside of work Jeremy’s interests include the outdoors, house restoration and classic cars.  Jeremy has 2 older children, and two younger ones, in year 1 and nursery.  Jeremy was co-opted in 2024.

Community Governor

David has been in and around business his whole life. For the last two decades he’s worked as a trusted advisor, life/business strategist, and confidant to ambitious people all over the world. David loves human development and is fortunate enough to have trained with some of the world’s best personal and professional development experts. He helps his clients get clear on what they want and supports them to create fulfilling and successful lives they love. He enjoys speaking and writing, having authored his first book, Where’s Dad?, in 2020. David has two sons at Gosfield and loves spending time with his family, traveling, cooking, sport, and personal growth. David  was elected in September 2024.

Community Governor

Daniel Sakal was a student at Gosfield from reception right up completing his GCSEs, as well as being an overnight boarder when the school used to offer this. He went onto to study at The Colne College and be part of the Football College there.

He then went onto study for a degree in photography & Media arts at the university of the creative arts in Kent.

Son of recently passed away long standing Chair Peter Sakal, he had always promised his dad he would get involved properly with the school one day.

Hobbies include golf, racket sports, running and going to the gym. He was elected in October 2024

Community Governor

Elected Staff representative

Elected Staff representative

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