Chris is Vice Chair of Governors of Colston's Girls' School. He was born and bred in and around Bristol and was a pupil at Clifton College before going to Cambridge to read English.
After a brief spell as a management trainee with M&S Chris joined his father and uncle in the family business selling hardware, cleaning and catering equipment. The first few years were spent learning the various jobs within each department, covering showroom sales, warehousing, sales office and field sales before running the accounts office.
On his father's retirement in 1991 Chris became managing director of Pattersons and has spent the last 25 years building the business, which now also has branches in Devon and the West Midlands.
Chris is a director and past president of the British Independent Retailers' Association and a Managing Committee member and past Chairman of the International Hardware and Housewares Association.
Outside of work Chris is President of Young Bristol, a city wide charity running youth clubs, activities and creative programs for young people. He is also a past President of the Anchor Society which cares for the elderly in Bristol and is a member of the Society of Merchant Venturers.
Chris's hobbies include walking, tennis and gardening.
Mohammed Saddiq
Vice Chair of Governors
Mohammed is an Associate Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers, Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He has held a number of senior engineering and management positions in the Water and Waste Industry over the past 20 years. He is currently the Managing Director of the waste recycling and renewable energy company Wessex Water Enterprises – GENeco and Managing Director of Swiss Combi Technology (Switzerland). In recognition for his work on sustainability Mohammed was awarded the Institute of Directors South West Director of the Year Award.
He is the Independent Chair of the Bristol Green Capital Partnership CIC. Mohammed is also a Trustee at Penny Brohn Cancer Care and Grantscape which is one of the UK's leading grant-makers and community benefit fund managers. He is a Council member at Bristol University and former Chief Executive of Future Bath Plus.
Jacqueline Cornish
Governor
Dr Jacqueline Cornish was educated predominantly at La Sainte Union Convent, Bath, before going to the University of Bristol Medical School where she qualified as a doctor. She has held a number of appointments largely in Bristol and the South West before specialising in paediatrics and sub-specialising in Childhood Cancer and Leukaemia at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. Jackie was instrumental in the development of what has now become a national and international referral centre for paediatric Bone Marrow Transplant. This unit is now one of the largest within Europe receiving referrals not only from the rest of the UK but overseas as well, particularly in the field of alternative donor bone marrow transplant and whose published results for unrelated donor BMT in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia are unsurpassed.
Jackie then became a Consultant at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children in Paediatric Bone Marrow Transplant. She has an extremely full and busy clinical job, has written many papers on her research interests and has an extensive local, national and international lecture and teaching programme.
Medical Management has formed a crucial part of Jackie's post having progressed from being Director of Paediatric Haematology/Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplant from September 1996 until September 2001 to Assistant Clinical Director for Acute Medical Services at the Children’s Hospital in September 2001. Jackie took up the post of Clinical Director of Bristol Royal Hospital for Children in January 2003 with a budget of over £40M at that time, and more than 100 consultant staff involved in the delivery of care to children. The Children’s Hospital provides secondary services to the local population and tertiary specialist services to the South West Region, supraregionally, nationally and internationally, while being part of the wider United Bristol Healthcare Trust. The team also manage Community Child Health and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services for South Bristol.
In July 2005 Jackie was appointed to the post of Head of Division Women’s and Children’s Services, UBHT, with a total staff within the Division of 2,500, and an annual budget of almost £80M. She is now actively engaged at a local level in the strategy defining the overall health care delivery to Bristol and particularly a project to bring all inpatient children’s services to the Bristol Children’s Hospital site. The first of these moves has been the transfer of Acute General Paediatrics from the North Bristol Trust in April 2007, and the second transfer will be that of the remaining paediatric speciality surgical services to include neurosurgery, burns, plastics and scoliosis surgery which will transfer within a few years. Her team is are also actively engaged in bidding for all of the CAMHS and CCH Services for the Bristol and South Gloucestershire population.
Jackie is actively involved nationally with Department of Health Advisory and Working Groups and was the first Chair and current Board member of the United Kingdom Paediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Group and MRC Childhood All Working Party.
Jackie is active on the Board of the European Bone Marrow Transplant Group Paediatric Diseases Working Party and has written European guidelines for the Accreditation of Standards in Paediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Units for JACIE. This received EU recognition in 2006.
Jackie was awarded an OBE in June 2003 for services to paediatric medicine.
Jackie attempts to achieve a balance between clinical and managerial responsibilities in the modern NHS, and is completely committed to her clinical specialty and the care of children with leukaemia through Stem Cell Transplant throughout the South West and nationally.
Jackie is a member of the Society of Merchant Venturers.
Alan Hayes
Governor
Following employment as a software engineer for GEC-Marconi, Alan joined the lecturing profession in 1992. He undertook a variety of lecturing and managerial positions in Higher Education Institutions across both Wales and England before joining the University of Bath in 2008 as Director of Teaching in the Department of Computer Science.
Alan is a Fellow of both the British Computer Society (BCS) and the Higher Education Academy (HEA). He is a Chartered Information Technology Professional (CITP). In September 2009 he was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship (NTF) from the HEA in recognition of his excellence in Learning and Teaching. He has contributed regularly to the national learning and teaching agenda through, for example, his engagement with the Learning Development Group of the Council for Professors and Heads of Computing (CPHC). He was secretary to the national Committee for the Association of National Teaching Fellows (CANTF, 2010-2014). Alan’s research interests focus upon the use of technology in assessment. He became Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching) for the Faculty of Science in August 2013. In October 2013 he was invited by the Quality Assurance Agency to Co-Chair the National group reviewing the Subject Benchmark statement for Computing. In May 2015, he was awarded the University of Bath’s prize for Leadership in Learning and Teaching and in November 2016 he became an approved assessor for the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF2).
Alan’s contribution to Leadership in Learning and Teaching has been recognised internationally. He was an invited international keynote speaker at the 2nd annual student experience conference, Brisbane, Australia. He has also recently (Feb 2015) been invited by the Australian Government to be an International member of the Australian Office’s Reference Group for a Learning and Teaching Commissioned Project entitled “Engaging postgraduate students and supporting higher education to enhance the 21st century student experience” .
Joseph Gould
Staff Governor
Joe is a Staff Governor of Colston's Girls' School.
Joe read English Literature at the University of Exeter and completed his PGCE at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has worked in state schools in London and Bristol for over ten years and is Head of English at Montpelier High School. Joe is undertaking a part-time MSc in Education at the University of Bristol.
Debbie England
Governor
Debbie is currently Director of HR at the University of the West of England having worked at UWE Bristol since 2009.
Prior to joining UWE Debbie worked in HR and management roles in financial Services, retail and catering .
Debbie studied in Sheffield Hallam University and UWE Bristol and is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Debbie is also a trustee of Music space, St Monica’s Trust and on the Common purpose advisory group. She has also undertaken a number of school governor roles .
Debbie is married with 2 sons
Kathryn Vaughan
Parent Governor
Kathryn is a Mathematics teacher, currently working at Kaplan International College, based at the University of the West of England. After graduating in Mathematics at the University of Exeter, she came to Bristol to work as an Aerodynamics Engineer at Rolls Royce plc, then, five years later, trained to teach secondary Mathematics at the University of Bristol. She has enjoyed many different roles in education, ranging from studying for a Master’s degree, being on the General Council of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics, to leading a Mathematics department in a large secondary school. Kathryn is particularly interested in curriculum and resource design and loves to learn alongside others. Outside of classrooms, a return to tennis this year is also providing a welcome challenge… as well as some excellent entertainment for her husband and daughter!
Shiva Nokhasteh
Governor
Chartered Civil Engineer, BSc, MSc, MSc, MICE
Owner of Geotechnical Support Ltd 1996-2018
Managing Director of Dings Properties Ltd 2018- present
“ I believe it is possible to achieve anything through hardwork and determination”
As a chartered civil engineer I had a 33-year career working for multidisciplinary consultants, ground investigation contractors and main contractors including Arup, Costain, Thyssen, Structural Soils, Halcrow, Hyder and end clients such as Highways England, Network Rail and Welsh Water in the UK. I also previously lectured at the University of Bath, teaching 3rd and 4th year engineering students.
I chose engineering because ever since my childhood I was interested in structures and design. I moved to the UK from Iran in 1975 because I wanted to see other cultures, improve my second language and exercise my independence. I decided to choose a worthwhile subject that I liked irrespective of my gender. During the early years of my career, being a woman was full of challenges, but I always strived to work shoulder to shoulder with my male colleagues. Today, I am pleased to see that there are more female leaders in the industry whose contribution is valued at the highest level.
Having worked full-time following my graduation, I have always valued my family commitments alongside my professional life. I have supported my two sons and their progression through school, to university and ultimately into the working world. Through our life experiences, my husband and I have passed on values to our children, including the freedom and determination to make their own life and career choices.
Since my retirement in 2018, I have worked with charitable organisations including Bristol-based water charity FRANK Water, assisting with research and marketing projects as part of their mission to provide safe water and sanitation in India and Nepal. In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my family and friends and various hobbies including reading, exercise and playing golf. Through my governorship, I am looking forward to sharing my experiences with young people of all ages, in addition to learning from everyone involved with Montpelier High School.
Antonia Lythgoe
Governor
Antonia Lythgoe was bought up in London before coming to Bristol to train to be a secondary school teacher, having completed her Geography degree at the University of Manchester. Following several years in the classroom teaching Geography, she became a curriculum support teacher for the Local Education Authority, supporting the introduction of Citizenship into the National Curriculum. She moved to the University of Bristol to run the Citizenship PGCE programme in 2007 before becoming the Programme Director for the Teach First Programme at the School of Education. Antonia has worked in education for 25 years and has a passion and commitment to addressing educational inequalities and helping to ensure that children are able to reach their full potential, whatever their socio-economic background. She has spent time in many classrooms in the most challenging schools in Bristol and understands some of the obstacles some schools face in terms of helping their pupils reach their full potential. Her current role is as Undergraduate Portfolio Director in the School of Education and Senior Lecturer on the Education Studies programme. Additionally, she has an expertise in student wellbeing and pastoral support as a result of all of her education roles, but most recently as Senior Tutor in the School of Education. Antonia is a mother to two boys and enjoys cooking, a dry white wine and singing with the Bristol choir, the Exultate Singers.
Tony Cox
Parent Governor
Tony is an elected Parent Governor of Colston's Girls' School.
Tony is a Global Communication Business Partner for Imperial Brands PLC, supporting strategic communication activity and change programmes for its commercial functions across the world.
He has worked in corporate communication for over 25 years and has a broad range of experience across marketing, public relations, event management, internal communication and employee engagement activities.
Tony is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and has previously worked for Nationwide Building Society, the Audit Commission and Royal Mail Group PLC.
He lives in Bristol with his wife and daughter - who started at the school in September 2020. In his spare time Tony enjoys travel, live music and is a keen supporter of Bristol Bears rugby club.
Reuben Chatterjee
Governor
Reuben grew up in central Bristol and attended Cotham School. After studying for a degree in Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, Reuben worked for a Member of Parliament in a busy constituency office in North Croydon.
Reuben returned to Bristol after living in London for several years to work with Children in Care at Bristol City Council’s HOPE Virtual School. He was then a Project Worker at Stand Against Racism & Inequality (SARI) based in St Pauls, where he provided support and advocacy for victims of hate crime and discrimination, as well as providing consultancy and training to Avon and Somerset Police, Bristol City Council, and local schools.
Reuben has worked at the University of Bristol since 2019, first in the Widening Participation Team running the Bristol Scholars Outreach programme, and currently in the Student Resolution Service, supporting students who make serious complaints. He is also a co-chair of the University’s Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff network and a regular appearance at staff 5-a-side football matches.