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Board of Governors

Governors monitor school standards systematically and effectively through focused committees that oversee all aspects of the school and make excellent use of individual governors' particular skills and expertise.

ISI Inspection, January 2016

School Governor Opportunities

Looking to become a School Governor? Please take a look at our Vacancies page for further information regarding the opportunities available.

 

St. Andrew's (Woking) School Trust - Board of Governors

Mr Max Taylor

Chair of Governors
Finance & Property Committee

Appointed November 2020

Max began his Insurance career as a broker in the Aviation division of Willis Faber and Dumas in 1970.  During his 28 years at Willis he was Chief Executive of Aviation, Reinsurance, Willis Faber and Dumas and Chief Operating Officer of Willis Corroon.  Max also fulfilled assignments in Japan and the USA.  In 1988 Max was elected as Chairman of Lloyd’s.  After completing a three year term as Chairman of Lloyd’s Max joined Insurance Broker Aon UK as deputy Chairman.  He retired from Aon at the beginning of 2008.

Max has held posts as Chairman of the Lloyd's Insurance Brokers' Committee, President of the Insurance Institute of London, Chairman of The European Federation of Intermediary Associations and Chairman of the British Insurance Brokers Association.

Other recent posts include Chair of Council of the University of Surrey where he is now a Pro-Chancellor, a Director of Qatar Insurance services, Director of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, Chairman of the Mitsui-Sumitomo London Companies, Chairman of ANV Syndicates Ltd and Chairman of Pioneer Underwriters Ltd.  He is currently Chairman of Premia Managing Agency Ltd at Lloyd’s and Chairman of Cobalt Insurance Holdings Ltd.

Mr Max Taylor can be contacted c/o the School: St. Andrew's (Woking) School Trust, Church Hill House, Wilson Way, Horsell, Woking, Surrey GU21 4QW.

Mr John Bueno

Finance & Property & Health & Safety Committees
Business Manager

Appointed September 2020 

For the last 18 years John has worked in the Independent School Sector as a Bursar, 13 years full time and for the last five years, in various interim roles. John has worked in Senior & Preparatory, day & boarding and single sex & co-educational schools. His hands-on experience has involved substantial building projects, the merger of two senior schools and large staff reorganisations including most recently, a school’s withdrawal from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.

Prior to becoming a Bursar, John spent 23 years in the Oil & Gas business in various managerial, operational, commercial and financial roles. As a family, they were fortunate enough to spend 13 of those years as expatriates in Texas, Asia and Latin America.

John is looking forward to serving as a Governor at St. Andrew’s School where he hopes his experience can contribute to the future good fortune of the school.

 

Ms Wee-Lin Chua

HR & Education Committees
Solicitor

Appointed September 2020 (past parent)

Wee-Lin Chua is a solicitor with over 20 years’ experience of advising clients on data protection/privacy, technology, intellectual property and internal governance matters. 

She is currently Vice President, Privacy at a leading US media and entertainment company, where she helps her internal clients to achieve their business objectives while complying with privacy laws in multiple jurisdictions.  Previously, she worked at Citibank in London, where she was a trusted advisor to 3 businesses in 52 countries, and at Clifford Chance, where she worked on many commercial, technology and outsourcing matters. 

Wee-Lin is a past parent; her son attended St. Andrew's from Nursery, and has now gone on to the Royal Grammar School in Guildford.  She has two older daughters, one at Guildford High School, and the other at Sir William Perkins' School.  In her spare time, Wee-Lin enjoys playing tennis, baking, reading, and helping to organise pro bono and volunteering activities for the 100+ lawyers in her department.

Mr Bill Deeves

Finance & Property Committee
Lawyer

Appointed September 2020

Bill read English, Law, Engineering and Advanced Management & Leadership at the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, King’s College London and Oxford.

A commercial lawyer for 20 years at international law firms and companies, latterly as Group General Council and Company Secretary.  He’s also a Founding Trustee of the Lucy Heart Foundation, dedicated to capacity-building cardiac surgery in Ethiopia for low income families.    

Bill has been a parent at St. Andrew’s since 2010, with a son now at senior school and daughter in Year 7.  When time allows, he’s a keen musician and enjoys the performing arts

Mr John Kerr

Finance & Property Committee
Land Director

Appointed October 2016 (past parent)

John has over 30 years of experience in planning, land acquisition and development, having qualified as a Town Planner in 1991. For the last 20 years, John has been working for private development companies including the Berkeley Group, Brooksplace, Barratt Homes and PegasusLife.   In these roles, he was responsible for leading land and partner identification, land acquisition including all legal and contractual negotiations, planning including strategy, the appointment of consultant teams and running the planning process, design, and public policy as well as land disposals.  He is currently the Development Director at Castleoak Care Developments where he leads the development team.

In his spare time, John is a qualified FA football coach and enjoys travel, skiing, horse riding and football. He is married with two children.

 

Dr Claire McShane

Education Committee
Headmistress, St Teresa's, Effingham

Appointed September 2017

Claire is Headmistress at St Teresa’s School, Effingham, which she joined in 2013. She is also a teacher of Latin, Ancient Greek and Classical Civilisation, and is the Head of the Classics Department. She is also involved in boarding duties, and lives onsite. Prior to St Teresa’s, Claire was Head of English and teacher of Latin at Kilgraston School, a girls’ boarding school in Perthshire, and started her teaching career in 2006 at Merchiston Castle School, a boys’ boarding school in Edinburgh. 

Claire read Medieval Literature at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, before completing her PhD at Edinburgh University.

In her spare time she enjoys literature, quizzing, opera and the theatre.

Mrs Danielle Morgan

Finance & Property Committee
Head of Marketing & Communications

Appointed March 2022

Danielle has over 20 years’ communications and marketing experience, and is currently the Head of Marketing at GL Assessment – a provider of educational assessments that are widely used in the independent and state sectors. She oversees the company’s communications with schools in the UK and around the world, as well as their school and corporate partnership programme. Danielle’s early career was in public relations, working for brands such as Vodafone and Sony.

Danielle lives in Datchet, near Windsor, with her husband and two teenage children, and has previously been a governor at her children’s primary school. She is a keen runner and fundraiser for the children’s Type 1 diabetes charity, JDRF.  

Mrs Charlotte Phillips

HR Committee
HR Consultant

Appointed September 2019

Charlotte is a self employed HR Consultant, with 25 years' HR experience gained within a range of industries.  She particularly enjoys working with start-ups and small businesses going through periods of growth and transition, and seeing first hand how the right people and decent HR practices contribute to their success.  Charlotte's son and daughter both went to St. Andrew's from nursery upwards, and she consequently has a strong understanding of, and great fondness for, the school.  When she is not juggling clients, pets and teenage children, she volunteers with Woking library, and she is an active member of a London choir.

Mr Lukas Pytel

Education Committee
Assistant Head (Middle School), Reed’s School

Appointed April 2017

Lukas was born in the Czech Republic, and moved to England in 1998 where he completed A Levels, undergraduate studies and gained an MBA at the University of Durham. He has been teaching Economics and Business at Reed’s School since 2006, was a resident boarding tutor and a Housemaster before becoming an Assistant Head with responsibility for the Middle School (Y9-Y11) in September 2016. Lukas is responsible for introducing Mindfulness and the .b Foundations course to Reed’s and continues to be involved in the Combined Cadet Force, Careers and rugby. In his spare time, he is passionate about ice hockey, enjoys tennis and spending time with family. He is married to Emma, a teacher of Classics, and they have two young boys, Jonny and Billy.

Mr John Speed

 

Finance & Property Committee

Appointed September 2017

John qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1992 and worked in the Audit and Corporate Finance departments of Arthur Andersen until July 2000.

At that time John and a colleague started a firm of Chartered Accountants, based in Woking, specialising in the ‘not for profit’ sector in London and the South East, ranging from small local start-up charities to large multi-national campaigning and development organisations. The company has grown to be the largest specialist provider of outsourced accountancy services to the sector. 

Outside of work John is an avid F1 fan, loves cars in general and enjoys travelling. He has two daughters at secondary school, and is never happier than helping manage the scene changes at their annual ice pantomime performances each December.

Mrs Karen Wyborn

Education Committee

Appointed May 2021

Karen is the Headteacher at Bournemouth Collegiate Prep School. She is passionate about seeing pupils flourish and developing a lifelong love of learning in an environment of curiosity, inspiration and wonder. Previously she was Deputy Head Academic at The Hawthorns School, Surrey, overseeing all matters of teaching and learning. With 15 years' experience in the independent sector, she has held a number of different roles, which have given her insight into the many facets of school leadership and have proved invaluable in her current role.

Married to Dave, a Business Analyst, they have two children, Reuben and Alexis. Karen likes to be creative and enjoys cake decorating and crafting in her spare time.