Welcome to the Governors' page, we will post updates on visits, observations and roles and responsibilities.

• List of Governors including roles and responsibilities and a short introduction
• Register of interest
• Attendance record of Governors meetings

Vacancies

We currently have no vacancies for Governors at Hope School.

Meet the Team

David Blythe : (Chair of Governors) Leadership & Management

David has a managerial background in both the private and public sectors, particularly around  organisational development and quality management systems.  He also has experience as a non-executive director with various organisations.  With a keen interest in the community, David has been a Magistrate since 2000 and was appointed a Governor in 2012.

Maxine O'Neill: Headteacher

Maxine is passionate about inclusion and looking for new strategies to provide inclusive education.  Maxine is now leading the HEARTs project with support of the virtual schools.  Maxine is also a published author. 

Tom Lambeth: Personal Development  

Tom is the director of Food for thought who provides our school dinners.  Tom joined the governors November 2018. 

Dominic Ion : Finance

Dominic is a qualified public sector accountant and auditor, who worked for many years for the Audit Commission before retiring in 2010. He has a son with Asperger’s Syndrome, and he and his wife therefore have first-hand experience of some of the challenges involved in caring for young people with learning disabilities. He has a particular interest in Special Needs education,  Dominic’s philosophy is “Never assume that any young person cannot achieve anything - unless and until it is conclusively proved that they can’t”!’

Sarah Goldman:  Attendance and Attachment/Trauma

Sarah is a birth mother of a now adult son and an adoptive mother of a now adult daughter with Developmental Trauma Disorder. She is a parent champion at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families. In 2018 Sarah promoted a seminar in Liverpool to celebrate the publication of 'Creative Therapies for Complex Trauma: helping children and families in foster care, kinship care or adoption' (Eds. Hendry and Hasler) with presentations by a number of the contributors to an audience of professionals, parents and carers. 

Martin Gorman: Staff Governor

Martin is an experienced SEMH teacher who now leads the outreach provision. 

Jo Millard: Curriculum Governor

Jo is the CEO of Endeavour Education who support a range of schools across the north west to improve their curriculum offer and to improve subject leadership. 

Roxanne Johnston: Parent Governor

Katie has a child who has attended Hope for 2 years. 

Lyndsey Lee: Safeguarding including Behaviour, LA Governor

I have been working with children, young people, and their families for over twenty years within Children’s Services and has been the SEND Lead at Virtual School Liverpool for over three years. I have a strong passion for all things SEND and I champion a person-centred approach to working with children and young people. I have personal experience of navigating the SEN world having a sibling with complex needs this empathy I have is embedded in my practice in striving to get the best for children and young people.

My role in the Virtual School is to manage and maintain an effective and efficient system that ensures the Virtual School is fully compliant with Statutory Guidance and best practice relating to the tracking, monitoring and co-ordination of support for Looked After Children within SEND. I work to standards that propagate excellent educational progress and attain notable outcomes and progressions into positive destinations at each stage of a Looked After Child’s educational journey

Angela Lewis: SEND, Co-opted Governor

Dr. Lewis is an experienced educational psychologist with over 40 years in the field, having worked across five local authorities in the North West and independently since 2014, focusing solely on supporting schools. They have a robust background in individual assessments, consultations, and collaboration with parents, teachers, and social workers, particularly in their specialist role for Looked After Children. Dr. Lewis has conducted investigative work related to sexual abuse, provided expert witness evidence, and delivered training for social workers and foster carers on attachment and trauma. A member of various Social Care panels, including the Adoption Panel, they have also led inset training for schools on learning and behavior, specialized in autism, and volunteered as a counselor for a Liverpool charity for eight years. Their extensive expertise and commitment to child welfare make them a vital asset to the governing body.

Louise Ryder: Co-opted Governor