Trust Members
Ortu Federation Trust Members
| Joanna Seymour – Chair of the Trust Members | |
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| Mrs Seymour is Head Teacher of St Peter and St Paul’s Catholic Primary School in Bromley. This is her second headship. She brings to the board a vast array of knowledge and experience of operational and strategic matters related to Education, particularly of primary school improvement. As Vice Chair of Governors and Parent Governor for 14 years, Mrs Seymour holds the senior leadership team to account on technical educational issues. As a serving Primary Head, she will provide balance within the Multi Academy Trust to ensure a fair distribution of resources, both personnel and financial, and will help support Primary Head Teachers with school improvement. She has headteacher and senior leader selection experience.
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| Mrs Georgina Clark - Member | |
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| Until 2012 Ms Clark was Public Affairs Manager at the Coryton Refinery Thurrock, where she was responsible for internal and external communications and community projects. She led the Refinery's Schools Links programme which enabled her to work with teachers and students in several local schools (Corringham, Hassenbrook and Gable Hall included). This gave her useful insights into how important it is for industry and education to work together to shape the future employability of our young people. Since the refinery closed, she has been a consultant with Witt O'Brien's, a company which trains organisations to have robust systems in place in the event of a major incident at their site. She is a passionate social champion for Stanford and Corringham and leads the organisation of the celebrated Annual Orsett Agricultural Show, which has run in this area since the 19th Century. Her areas of expertise are Public and Community Relations, Risk Management, Events management, and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (Primary School Phase). |
| Jeremy Finnis – Member | |
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| Jeremy went to Gravesend Grammar School in Kent, from which he gained an Open Exhibition in Biochemistry at University College, Oxford, although his final honours degree was in the rather easier discipline of Agricultural Sciences. He then joined the Ministry of Agriculture where he became a County Adviser to the farming industry in Surrey and then Hertfordshire. After a spell as a private consultant advising on 50,000 acres in Essex, he went back into the Civil Service Fast Stream in Whitehall where he worked for various Agriculture Ministers and for the President of the National Farmers Union on secondment. Since 1997 he has been farming in partnership with his wife Diana Cole in south Essex, based around Orsett, Bulphan, West Tilbury and Paglesham. The business includes large-scale arable and vegetable cropping, contract farming, grain haulage, liveries, industrial units, renewables and holiday lets (in Scotland). Jeremy’s voluntary work has included Vice-Chairman of Governors at Writtle University College, Eastern Region Chairman of the NFU Mutual Insurance Company, Trustee of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and its Essex Chairman, Vice-Chairman/2018 President of the Orsett Show, Council Member/Essex Chairman of the Institute of Agricultural Management and Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Farmers and Chairman of its Livery Hall in the Barbican. Jeremy has 3 children and lives at Horndon on the Hill. |
Ortu Federation Trust Directors
| Mr. Peter Hughes – Interim Chief Executive Officer & Accounting Officer | |
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| Peter J. Hughes is an Australian-born educator, author, and entrepreneur, currently serving as the CEO of the Mossbourne Federation, a leading multi-academy trust comprising four schools in Hackney and Interim CEO of Ortu Federation comprising three schools in Thurrock. He is also the founder of ProgressTeaching, an innovative education platform designed to enhance teaching practices and improve student outcomes. Peter began his career as a secondary mathematics teacher in Australia before moving to London, where he taught mathematics in various schools. In 2008, he joined the Mossbourne Federation, where he was mentored by Sir Michael Wilshaw and later succeeded him as Principal of Mossbourne Community Academy. Under Peter’s leadership, the academy achieved outstanding results, consistently ranking among the top 1% of schools year after year. In 2016, Peter became the CEO of the Mossbourne Federation, further solidifying its reputation as one of the top-performing educational institutions in the country. Passionate about innovation and technology in education, Peter developed the ProgressTeaching platform to address the challenges faced by senior leadership teams and teachers. The platform’s success at the Mossbourne Federation has led to its adoption by schools and trusts across the UK. In addition to his roles as CEO and founder, Peter is the author of the book Outstanding School Leadership: How to Take Your School to the Top and Keep It There, published in December 2023. The book details his journey in breaking barriers in education and leading one of the most successful schools in the country. A lifelong learner, Peter holds a Bachelor of Education in Secondary Mathematics from Charles Sturt University’s Mitchell campus in Australia, and an Executive MBA from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. He is also a trustee of the Elephant Group, a headteacher-led charity dedicated to increasing the number of academically gifted non-selective state school students attending the UK’s top universities. Driven by his belief that education is the key to success and happiness, regardless of one’s background, Peter works tirelessly to ensure future generations receive the best educational experiences possible. |
| Joanna Seymour – Chair of the Trust Board | |
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| Mrs Seymour is Head Teacher of St Peter and St Paul’s Catholic Primary School in Bromley. This is her second headship. She brings to the board a vast array of knowledge and experience of operational and strategic matters related to Education, particularly of primary school improvement. As Vice Chair of Governors and Parent Governor for 14 years, Mrs Seymour holds the senior leadership team to account on technical educational issues. As a serving Primary Head, she will provide balance within the Multi Academy Trust to ensure a fair distribution of resources, both personnel and financial, and will help support Primary Head Teachers with school improvement. She has headteacher and senior leader selection experience. |
| Mr Philip Burr – Trust Board Director, Chair of Ortu Hassenbrook Academy | |
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| Mr Burr has spent the last 40 years of his life living in Stanford and Corringham and as a youngster attended Gable Hall School finishing his O Levels in 1981. On leaving school he managed to obtain an apprenticeship with British Telecom which gave him a grounding in a number of areas. During this time he I attended Basildon College and obtained a HNC in Microelectronics. After a few years he had the opportunity to work on large infrastructure projects in the City. Mr Burr was sponsored to complete a 3 year distance learning degree in Cost Management at Nottingham Trent University, which he was lucky to graduate from in 1999 with a 1st Class Honours Degree. During this time he had two of his three children and the third shortly followed. They attended a local primary and junior school where his wife, Heather worked as a LSA and continues to work to this day as a MDA. In 2004 and he became a Governor of Hassenbrook School. The first few years of being a Governor he found quite difficult, being inside an alien environment, with so many new terms, goals and objective to get his head around, especially not coming from an education background. After a couple of years he managed to contribute more particularly in areas of finance, management and HR related matters. Following an Ofsted visit the school was placed in special measures which had a significant impact on the school we realised the best way to try and secure a future for Hassenbrook would be by joining the Stanford and Corringham Schools Trust. We are now 18 months in and although times are still really tough we have a fantastic new HT and continue to work together at local and Trust Board level to address the issues that need to focus on to give our local pupils the education they deserve, which is the absolute best we can deliver. Mr Burr continues to do all he can to support the school and the Trust and hopefully to make a positive impact on some young people’s lives. |
| Dr Alan Kitchen - Trust Board Director | |
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| Alan Kitchen joined the Ortu Board in July 2022, prior to that he had been a Federation Governor at Hassenbrook Academy for one year. Alan was a Consultant Clinical Scientist in the NHS, in which he had worked for 40 years, working for NHS Blood and Transplant. He has a degree in Biochemistry and PhD in Virology from UCL, and specialised in transfusion and transplantation infections. Alan also worked as a Marketing Manager for an international diagnostics company for one year in the mid 1990’s, but rejoined the NHS as he preferred science to marketing. During his working years Alan worked extensively with the Blood Safety Unit of the World Health Organisation, teaching, lecturing and producing global training materials. Since retiring from the NHS this relationship has carried on and he has been undertaking consultancy work and other projects for WHO, as well as consultancy work for some international diagnostic companies. Alan brings to the Board extensive experience working in a highly regulated environment with regular regulatory accreditation audits and inspections. |
| Tobias Campbell-Gray - Trust Board Director | |
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| Samantha Lloyd - Trust Board Director | |
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