Biographies

Russell Knight – Chair of Governors, School Improvement Committee, Co-opted Governor

Russell works for the Prince’s Trust and works to support disadvantaged young people to turn their lives around and get them on the road to success. He is keen to work with local schools to help young people to get the best start in life.

Anne Hummersone - Chair of Resources Committee 

Anne works for a local manufacturing company in sales & marketing. She has a degree in French & Sociology and is the subject link governor for modern foreign languages and music. 

Sarah Lilly – Clerk to Thorn Grove Governing Body

Sarah Lilly has been Clerk to the Governing Body since July 2016. Sarah is also a governor at another local school.

Claire Colson  – Associated Member

Claire is a parent at the school and a Health & Safety Professional.

Andrew Bennett –  Governor

Andrew is a parent at the school.

Graham Hutchins – Parent Governor

Graham has a son at Thorn Grove has lived in Bishops Stortford for the best part of thirty years. He has spent his career trading Emerging Markets for International Banks in London and Sydney.

Andrew Fowles – Parent Governor

Andrew is a Parent Governor joining the board in 2023.  He works in the insurance industry underwriting natural catastrophes and has three children attending the school.  

Michelle Gardner – Parent Governor

Catherine Fitzpatrick – Co-opted Governor

Catherine is a globally recognised expert in the design and delivery of Physical Education (PE). Catherine has worked with, and supported hundreds of schools and thousands of teachers across the UK and internationally, dedicating her career to ensuring that children, teachers and wider stakeholders can enjoy high quality PE.   As the Director of PE for Complete PE, Catherine has authored a leading Primary PE resource that supports over 1,200 schools across the world.

Peter Luck – Headteacher

Peter is Headteacher at Thorn Grove and joined the school in September 2016. He was previously assistant headteacher at Dewhurst St. Mary Primary School in Cheshunt, a good school with outstanding features.

Jayne Lilley – Deputy Headteacher

Jayne was appointed as Deputy Headteacher in September 2018, joining the school from Burnt Mill Academy Trust, where she was a Lead Practitioner for Creativity and English.  She was based at Little Parndon Primary School, where her support led to the school being placed in the top 20% of schools nationally for student progress.  Jayne believes the curriculum should be taught in an engaging and stimulating way which promotes a love of learning.   

Sue Cooper – Staff Governor

Sue has been a class teacher at Thorn Grove for over 10 years. In a previous life, Sue was an analytical chemist, working at GSK, for 23 years. She has taught year 5 and 6 at Thorn Grove and has been the school’s P.E subject leader and sport coordinator for the past 8 years. The school has attained many awards for P.E whilst under her leadership; the most recent being the Platinum School Games Award and in January 2020 ,a runner up in Hertfordshire’s Primary school of the year for P.E. Sue has recently taken on the additional role of Maths subject leader.