Biographies

Russell Knight – Chair of Governors, Resources 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.

Karen Woolhouse – Chair of School Improvement Committee, Local Authority Governor

Karen is an education specialist and former headteacher and Ofsted inspector. 

Anne Hummersone - Chair of Resources Committee - Parent Governor

Anne is a parent at the school with a child in Year 6. She 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  – Co-opted Governor

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

Andrew Bennett –  Parent Governor

Andrew is a parent at the school.

Sally Murray –  Parent Governor

Sally is a parent at the school.  Sally has two children at Thorn Grove. She currently runs a local award-winning floral design business, but also has a background in communication, marketing and journalism. She has a degree in communication and publishing from the London College of Communication.

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 us 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.

Graham Hutchin – 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.