Staff and Governors

Matthew Judd has over 25 years’ experience of working in independent schools. He is a graduate of the University of Swansea and Queens’ College, Cambridge, reading Geography then Education. During his career Matthew has been a Head of Department and Housemaster at leading HMC schools, and Principal of a fifth and sixth form College in Central London. Prior to joining Leighton Park as Head, he was Second Master and Head of the Preparatory Schools at Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys School, Elstree, which was selected as the Sunday Times Independent School of the Year in his final year. He has been chair of trustees at an education charity, a principal examiner and serves as schools inspector and a school governor. Matthew lives on the Park with his husband.

Email: [email protected]

Dr Eddie Falshaw has been teaching History for over 25 years. A History graduate of Middlesex University, he completed his PGCE at the University of York before taking up residence at Rossall School as a History Master, Rugby Coach and Deputy Housemaster. Before joining Leighton Park, Eddie was Head of History at Hereford Cathedral School for eleven years, where he also ran the 1st XV, 1st VII and 1st XI. He has experience of examining at GCSE, A and EPQ level and has a lifelong thirst for learning, gaining an MA in History and completing his doctoral studies on the topic of technology in education at the University of Reading. He is a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Fellow of the Institute of Boarding and has delivered speeches for conferences in the UK and China as well as acting as an ISI schools inspector over the last 8 years. A passionate Churchillian, traveller and sportsman, he lives on the Park with his wife and two daughters.

Email: [email protected]

Keith Eldridge has more than ten years’ experience in education finance and administration. He has an Economics degree from the University of Leicester and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young, working on audits of charities and commercial businesses. He then worked in London and Frankfurt with KPMG Corporate Finance providing advisory services to a wide range of businesses before joining London Stock Exchange plc as Corporate Finance Manager. Prior to Leighton Park, Keith was Bursar at St Andrew’s School in Pangbourne and Finance Director at John Madejski Academy. Keith lives in Goring with his wife and two children.

John Burnett is a Chartered Marketer with over 16 years’ experience in education marketing. Prior to Leighton Park, John oversaw UCL’s recruitment of graduate and European students and also spent two years leading the university’s Digital Communications. John worked in Swaziland for two years as part of the Skillshare International contract with DFID, where he established a Fair Trade agro-processing business – creating rural livelihoods for people in some of the poorest parts of the country. John lives on the Park with his wife, three children and cat Smudge.

Natasha  has worked in education for over twenty years in state and independent schools. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, and scholar from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama she holds BAhons, MA,  PGCE and NPQSL. She has worked in inner London state schools for 12 years, driving whole school improvement in academic enrichment, co-curricular, pastoral and partnership programmes. Natasha is co-founder of the Berkshire Women’s Leadership Network, leads The Female Lead Society for girls at LP, is a school governor and a deputy DSL, and currently sits on the Reading Educational Partnerships Board. She has won national awards for her partnership work and lives on the Park with her two sons as well as Woody the Cockerpoo.

With almost a quarter of a century’s experience in leading Independent Day and Boarding Schools in England, namely King’s, Sevenoaks and Bryanston, including three years overseas in Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo, Mary has relished being a teacher, Tutor, Departmental Head, Head of Sixth Form, IBDP Coordinator and Member of Academic Leadership Teams as well as being an A Level and IBDP examiner and IBDP IA moderator.  A true believer in the power of education for a better and more peaceful world, as a life-long learner, Mary is an avid reader who loves to develop her intercultural understanding and explore ways of developing effective, humane, strategies that facilitate a holistic education for all.  Already a Masters degree graduate of King’s College, Mary is currently completing an MBA in Educational Leadership (International) with UCL, to remind herself of the self-discipline and collaboration required for successful academic study.

Jenny Powlesland has been teaching for fifteen years. Brought up in Hong Kong, Jenny gained her undergraduate degree in Modern History and English at Oxford University, then worked with the British Council in south-east China and completed her PGCE at Oxford. Before joining Leighton Park in 2018, she spent fourteen years teaching in outstanding state schools in Surrey and Berkshire, as a Head of English and then a Senior Teacher, running programmes for teachers’ continuing professional development, improving the progress of disadvantaged pupils and raising the number of pupils attending Oxbridge. Jenny lives locally with her husband and two children.

Sally Saunders has over 22 years experience of working in Education. She gained a BA Hons in Economic and Social History from the University of Liverpool and a PGCE in History from the University of Reading. Sally has further qualifications Careers Education, Information and Guidance and is a qualified Careers Leader. She is particularly interested in supporting students with their future decisions and helping them to develop key aspects of their character to prepare them for adulthood. Sally began her teaching career at a school in Maidenhead before progressing to Head of Sixth Form and Assistant Head Teacher at an outstanding secondary school in Windsor, where she was in charge of the Windsor Teaching Alliance; responsible for the training and recruitment of new teachers. In addition, Sally was selected from over 400 applicants to represent the UK as part of the Fulbright Teaching Exchange Programme. This involved, exchanging jobs, cars and even homes with an American teacher from Oregon. Sally is still an active Fulbright Scholar Alumni and engages with the various aspects of this life changing programme. She lives locally with her sport loving husband and son.

Helen Taylor has 25 years of teaching experience in a number of different schools: all girls, all boys, independent, state, day and boarding and even a free school. She gained an undergraduate degree in Zoology and Botany from the University of Reading before completing a PGCSE at Oxford University. She spent five years as Head of Biology at Leighton Park before an exciting two years as Vice Principal of a newly established free school. Helen has one daughter in the Sixth Form at Leighton Park and another at university having successfully completed the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme here.

Kees joined us in September 2024 having spent the rest of his career working in outstanding state boarding and grammar schools, most recently Reading School which was awarded State Secondary School of the Year – South East England in the Sunday Times Schools Guide 2024. He is a Geography Teacher by trade, achieving a First Class Master in Arts degree from Durham University, and is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. His previous roles include an SLT secondment for Cultural Sustainability, Sustainability Lead, Head of Department and mentoring ECTs and teacher apprentices. One of his career highlights was helping to develop a Host Programme to support Ukrainian children in Berkshire who were unable to find suitable schools. Kees has a real interest in character education and ensuring students receive a broad, balanced, yet rigorous education, which is one of the reasons he was attracted to working in an IB World School. He is currently studying for his National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership. Kees lives in Oxfordshire and enjoys watersports, often paddling on the river in his spare time.

Our leadership team for Years 9, 10 and 11 & Pre-Sixth is comprised of Merion Taynton (English teacher), Zoe Macpherson (Head of Girls’ Games) and Sam Bates (Biology teacher). The team rotate their responsibilities each year so that they remain with the same cohort of students through their transition from Fryer into the Senior School or as they join in Year 9 and through the duration of their GCSE studies in Years 10 and 11, lending a consistency to the all important relationship between student, parents and the school. The integration of new Pre-Sixth students into Year 11 is supported by the Head of Year’s knowledge and experience with the current cohort enabling them to initiate friendships and organise successful social activities to ensure a happy and positive environment for all.

Our leadership team for Years 9, 10 and 11 & Pre-Sixth is comprised of Merion Taynton (English teacher), Zoe Macpherson (Head of Girls’ Games) and Sam Bates (Biology teacher). The team rotate their responsibilities each year so that they remain with the same cohort of students through their transition from Fryer into the Senior School or as they join in Year 9 and through the duration of their GCSE studies in Years 10 and 11, lending a consistency to the all important relationship between student, parents and the school. The integration of new Pre-Sixth students into Year 11 is supported by the Head of Year’s knowledge and experience with the current cohort enabling them to initiate friendships and organise successful social activities to ensure a happy and positive environment for all.

Our leadership team for Years 9, 10 and 11 & Pre-Sixth is comprised of Merion Taynton (English teacher), Zoe Macpherson (Head of Girls’ Games) and Sam Bates (Biology teacher). The team rotate their responsibilities each year so that they remain with the same cohort of students through their transition from Fryer into the Senior School or as they join in Year 9 and through the duration of their GCSE studies in Years 10 and 11, lending a consistency to the all important relationship between student, parents and the school. The integration of new Pre-Sixth students into Year 11 is supported by the Head of Year’s knowledge and experience with the current cohort enabling them to initiate friendships and organise successful social activities to ensure a happy and positive environment for all.

Pam is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and has broad experience in finance management across a number of sectors including telecoms, engineering and retail. She has worked for the last 14 years in management roles within education and is currently Head of Finance at St Piran’s School.

Pam is based in Reading, living close to the School, and is married with two children, the younger of whom is an Old Leightonian. While a parent at Leighton Park,  Pam acted as Treasurer to the PSC.

Eme is Research Director at the Independent Schools’ Bursars Association focused on strategy and professional development. Prior to moving into the Education sector, she spent 25 years as a technology industry professional developing strategic alliance relationships for leading global technology corporations. She holds an Executive MBA from London Business School and is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Eme is a trustee for a local charity, Smart Works Reading, which helps women who have been out of the workforce to succeed at interview. While a parent at Leighton Park, Eme was a founder member of the Leighton Park STEM Hub team and the PSC Book Group. Eme and her husband Tim have two daughters and a son – all of whom are Old Leightonians.

Lottie is a Quaker and an Old Leightonian. She holds a BA Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford, and an MSc Science Communication from Imperial College, London.

Lottie works in the Museum and Heritage sector as an Interpretation Developer at the Natural History Museum, where she curates new exhibitions and galleries. Her most recent exhibitions for the Natural History Museum have opened in venues around the world, including: Dive in the Jurassic (Bahrain National Museum, 2019), Curiosities of the Natural World (La Musee de la Civilisation, Quebec 2019).

Previously she worked at the Science Museum and curated BepiColombo: Mission to Mercury (2018) and The Last Tsar: Blood and Revolution (2018)

James was educated at St Paul’s School and Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he studied mathematics. He has been a teacher since 1990 and worked at Eton, Westminster and St Paul’s, where he is now the Deputy Head Academic. He is also Vice-Chair of the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust and Chair of the British Mathematics Olympiad Executive Committee. He is married with two children.

Alex is an Old Leightonian, having attended Leighton Park between 2008 and 2015, in Fryer and then Reckitt House, and won the school’s Jorge Hortal Award. He then studied Chinese at SOAS, University of London and Beijing Normal University, specialising in the study of contemporary China and Chinese philosophy. He has published research articles in high-indexed academic journals around the world, in fields ranging from philosophy to technology to international foreign policy.

Alex currently works as a Business Analyst at a technology consulting firm in London, and also volunteers as a fellow of the Sihai weixue Collaborative Learning” project at East China Normal University.

Chris Houston attended Leighton Park between 1975 and 1980. After a gap year in Paris, he read Anglo Saxon, Norse & Celtic and then History at Cambridge University. On graduating from Cambridge he joined the project finance team at Schroders. In the late 1980s and 1990s he advised on the financing and privatisation of many major infrastructure projects in Europe, Asia and Latin America. During this time he spent seven years living in Asia (in Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur). More recently he advised on financings, restructurings and acquisitions in the infrastructure sector in the UK. Over his career he held senior positions at Schroders, Citigroup, Lexicon Partners and Evercore.

Chris is married with three children and lives near Newbury. He is also a Governor of Elstree School.

Naomi is a graduate of Sidcot School, a Quaker school in Somerset. While at school, she became a Quaker. She went on to study Ancient History and Archaeology at Birmingham University. When her children were small she trained as a teacher of IT by working at local colleges of further education and Reading Prison. While working at Reading Prison, Naomi because increasingly interested in criminology. When an opportunity came up to take part in a Quaker introduced prisoner charity, Circles of Support and Accountability, that supported released prisoners in the community, she joined and was among the early volunteers. Naomi spent most of her working life in the IT industry and teaching. When she retired she went back to university to get an MSc in Attachment Theory. Now she spends her time supporting her Quaker Meeting, a member of Quakers in Criminal Justice group, still volunteering with Circles and teaching English to Refugees.

Bruce Johnson is a Quaker and an OL, whose time at LP gave him a springboard in music and drama that has since enriched his life in many ways.  Professionally, Bruce is an HR specialist who has spent the last 20 years working in Higher Education, both as a Lecturer and a Manager, while doing some consultancy work alongside this main career.  Most recently, Bruce has focussed more on his work in industry, setting up a training consultancy whose main mission is to help organisations improve performance by improving their people management practices.  Bruce is part of the core team, delivering Quaker Quest at Friends House in Euston every Monday night, where he regularly gives presentations on a variety topics to do with Quaker faith and practice.

Marion was born and educated in Scotland. Since graduating she has worked and lived in London, Buckinghamshire and Yorkshire; finally settling in Warwickshire in 2015.

Marion began her career in the hospitality industry, working in operations and sales for a leading international hotel brand. She is a qualified and experienced Business and Economics lecturer, and particularly enjoyed teaching on the Warwick University Foundation Programme (WIFP). Marion was Director of Marketing at Ackworth School for 10 years and was responsible for improving domestic and international student recruitment and delivering the overall marketing strategy.

Outside work Marion is a keen walker, bell ringer and bridge player. She lives with her husband and has two grown up children (Ackworth Old Scholars), both of whom now work and live in London.

Andrew Nind trained in mathematics and economics, with degrees from Cambridge University and London School of Economics.  For about thirty years, he has worked in the electricity industry, mainly as a management consultant specialising in the power sector in Britain and Continental Europe.  In recent years, this has meant spending most of his working time assessing the commercial prospects for new wind farms and solar projects, as well as electricity cables from Britain to the Netherlands, Norway, France, Ireland … and even (possibly) Iceland!  Andrew is very interested in how we can live more sustainably; and also very interested in less ‘worthy’ things such as maths problems and classical piano music.  He stubbornly pursues the lost cause of being any good at tennis.  He lives in Reading and attends Quaker Meetings there.  He is happily married to Christina and they have two daughters who are just beginning their careers in the post-Covid19 world.

Leon has an MBA and a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business and Modern Languages from Aston University. He has over 15 years of experience in helping companies achieve digital and process automation transformation and IT change at various multinational companies in the UK and Europe and currently works as a Transformation Consultant.

He’s a lifelong Quaker and an active member of Reading Quaker Meeting and has a passion for developing and learning from the young Quaker community.

Gwenan is a member of Ackworth Local Quaker Meeting and a trustee of Central Yorkshire Area Meeting. For many years Gwenan was school doctor at Ackworth School. Gwenan holds a BA(Hons.) in Humanities with Classics from the Open University and MBChB from Sheffield University as well as Postgraduate Certificates in Primary Care Education and Quaker Studies.

Gwenan is a retired GP and GP trainer. She sings in a choir, plays tuned percussion moderately badly in a brass band and is obsessed with most activities involving yarn and thread.

Matt is a Quaker and Old Leightonian. He attended Leighton Park between 2009 and 2011. He studied Philosophy at King’s College London, before working for the NHS. In 2015, Matt studied a two year law degree at the University of Birmingham and is now training to be a barrister. Matt also volunteers with young Quakers at a week long residential event each summer, an event at which he was a participant as a young person.

Nick attended Leighton Park as a Boarder between 1988 and 1995, in Fryer and then School House. After leaving school, Nick read European Languages and Law in Bristol (spending a year living and working in Paris) before finishing his studies at the College of Law in Guildford.

Nick is now a London-based Partner in global law firm CMS specialising in commercial and real estate litigation. Nick has handled domestic and international disputes across the globe, handling cases in the US, the Turks & Caicos Islands, Ireland and South Africa. Nick has been recognised by the legal directories as a leader in his field. Nick is also the global relationship partner for one of the biggest international hotel brands.

Outside work, Nick continues his passion for sport (developed whilst at Leighton Park) and is a keen triathlete. Nick lives in Hampshire with his wife and two children.

Governors can access the GovernorZone