Message from the Chair of Governors

It has been a privilege to Chair the Local Governing Body for Friesland School. I took on the role of Chair just prior to academisation. Despite the difficulties at that time, it has been a pleasure to see how Friesland has advanced since then and also benefitted from this collaborative venture while maintaining its independence of character.

In addition to a diverse Local Governing Body who bring expertise from their various backgrounds in the service of the school, we also have many Governors with children at Friesland, not just the designated Parent Governors. Our Challenge days give the Local Governing Body a good insight into the operation of Friesland on a day-to-day basis. The meetings arranged with staff and with students have been particularly helpful.

I see a key part of the role of Governors is to bring together the interests of the school, its staff, the pupils and their families to help develop and improve the school to the benefit of all its stakeholders. Governors are not involved in the day-to-day running of the school or with managing specific issues.  However, if you would like to inform us of general or strategic issues involving or affecting the school, we would be pleased to hear from you via our Governance Professional Sarah Hand.

Martin Garnett
Chair of the Local Governing Body

Governing Body

The Friesland Governing Body is a group of people committed to Friesland School, its future and holding the Headteacher and Leadership Team of the school to account. We are fortunate to have a very experienced Governing Body that comprises of individuals with different business backgrounds and a variety of skills and attributes. The Local Governing Body holds four meetings and two challenge days each school year.

Martin Garnett - Chair of Governors

I was first elected as a parent Governor in 2002, shortly after my son started at Friesland School, but have continued as a co-opted governor since he left school. I am now retired, but was formerly an Associate Professor in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Nottingham, where I taught and carried out research. My familiarity with data is of great assistance in analysing and understanding the aggregated information which is such a key part of a governor’s role today. I am proud to have seen the continuing development of Friesland school over these years and its activities in the local community.

Kerrie Broderick - Parent Governor

I am Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive of a large Trust of Schools in Derby and Nottingham. Heavily involved with the running of the Trust, I understand how important the Governing Body’s input is to its success. Prior to this I worked in secondary schools as Operations Lead, responsible for running the support side of the school. I also have strong experience in event management, organizing events all over Europe, as well as having worked in business development. I am also a Trustee for a local Preschool.

I am mum to a daughter at Friesland and a son at Firfield Primary.

Ann-Marie Ford - Parent Governor

I have four children – one at university, who attended Friesland for the full seven years; two currently at Friesland and one at Firfield Primary.

I currently work in an education setting, this along with my involvement in the Friesland PTA allows me to contribute to the continuing success of the school, to achieve the very best for our students.

Craig Patterson - Headteacher

I am the headteacher here at Friesland School. I have been at Friesland since 2005, playing an active role with the Governing body since 2008, culminating in my current role as Head.

Jordan Redshaw

I attended Friesland School between 2005-2013 and became chairman of the Sixth Form in my final year. Since then, I have graduated in Transport & Business at Loughborough University, and have gone to work as a product manager for tech start-ups in the travel & super-app sectors.

Tom Harvey

I have been working in an education setting for most of my professional career, more recently within higher education at the University of Derby and my current role as Head of Commercial at the University of Nottingham.

I particularly enjoy driving efficiencies within the professional services that facilitate and enable professional educators to deliver the best possible learning experience to students and I hope I get the opportunity to support Friesland School in the same way.

I live in Breaston and I am a father of two girls, one of which is currently at Friesland with the younger at Firfield Primary.

Andy Halpin

I have been working across the Education Sector for over 15 years across being an IT & Audio Visual Sales Specialist and always have a passion to add value where the best is across Multi Academy Trusts, Further Education and Universities across the UK .

I previously was a Parent Governor & Chair of Governor over 9 years for a Primary Academy in Nottingham so have a great passion on providing extra resource and support from a governance perspective including Safe-guarding , Accessibility etc but supporting the education experience and look forward with contributing to providing Friesland School on achieving the best we can for all students to inspire for the future .

I have lived in Sandiacre over last 7 years and I am father for 3 children where my eldest boy has entered his last GCSE year at Friesland , my daughter has just started her GCSEs where my youngest boy attends Cloudside currently before joining Friesland in a few years time.

Local Governing Body Information 2024-2025

The governors can be contacted via Sarah Hand, Clerk to the Governors – email sarah.hand@ttct.co.uk