I retired from the NHS in 2015 after 42 years, mostly working in the Directorate of Laboratory Medicine, Newcastle Hospitals Trust. For the latter part of my career I had the dual roles of being a scientist, overseeing a section of the laboratory and also being Quality Manager for the department. In my role as Quality Manager, I ensured that the department successfully retained accredited status by meeting the requirements of the ISO15189 Standard. During my career I was a Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, a Chartered Scientist and achieved a research based M. Phil at Newcastle University. I remain an active assessor for the National External Quality Assessment Scheme in Immunocytochemistry and In Situ Hybridisation.

My youngest daughter attended MBMS from 2012 to 2015. In 2015, I was invited to be a member of the governing body and in November, 2016, I was elected Chair of the Governing Body. I have specific responsibility for Physical Education and Science and Technology. I am a member of the Finance, Facilities, Safeguarding and Staffing and Pastoral sub committees as well as chair of the Teaching, Leadership and Achievement committee. I am proud to be involved with the success of MBMS and totally committed to the ethos of the school.

During my time as a member of the governing body, I have completed Governor Induction, attended conferences organised by Schools North East and completed training in Safeguarding, Handling Complaints, Preparation for Ofsted, Safer Recruitment, School Visits and Child Protection.

John Newport is MBMS Headteacher.

I am an ex secondary schoolteacher. I worked in Gateshead for over 30 years and I taught and was head of geography. During my time there I was a teacher governor for 12 years. I retired early from teaching, over 10 years ago. Since my retirement from teaching I continued with union work in the areas of disability and health and safety. I was a national health and safety trainer for my union and sat on the TUC national disability committee. I have also served as a trustee on the board of a charity called Journey, formally Daybreak who look after adults with learning difficulties.

I became a governor at Marden Bridge three years ago. I have been a Rotarian for about 12 years and I had always said I would like to contribute to the community by becoming a school governor. A friend in rotary mentioned Marden Bridge which interested me as I live close by. After a chat I put my name forward.

I am the Chair of the Finance Committee and I am on the pastoral committee. I am lead for health and safety, the safeguarding governor and have responsibility for equality matters. I have attended training courses on finance and school budgets, health and safety and safeguarding.

I have been involved in education for over 40 years holding a variety of posts from Head of Department, Year Tutor, Senior Teacher, Deputy Head and Headteacher for my final 15 years. In 2016 I retired from this post at Valley Gardens Middle School having led it through three Ofsted Inspections that took us on a journey from satisfactory to outstanding in all areas. I studied Geography at Newcastle University and then undertook a Post Graduate Certificate in Geography and Physical Education. This was then followed by further studies in Educational Management and a Masters Degree.

Throughout my career I have always been an enthusiastic and innovative practitioner who worked in a supportive and collaborative way to inspire others. I have always been a passionate teacher and Leader working to provide opportunities for pupils to maximise their potential both in and outside the classroom; taking them on a voyage of discovery and developing them as caring members of our community.

I have been a governor for over 25 years and currently sit on two governing bodies. Having been involved in Middle Schools for over 30 years I feel that I have extensive knowledge and expertise to bring to the role. During my time I have served on many educational bodies both locally, regionally and nationally. I am proud to continue to serve the community of Whitley Bay and in particular Marden Bridge Middle School.

From Northern Ireland originally, I moved to the north east in September 2001 to begin studies in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Newcastle. I then completed my PGCE in Secondary Science (Physics) in 2005, after which I worked for three years as a Science teacher in Darlington, before moving to London to lead a science department in a newly-opened school. However, it is true what they say and people do not leave the north east for long, so after four years I returned to lead a science department here in Newcastle before taking up my current role as School Improvement Adviser for Science in 2016.

I thoroughly enjoy working with young people and am dedicated to ensuring they have the best opportunities throughout their education, allowing them to prepare for an exciting future.

Doug is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport & Physical Activity and an Honorary Fellow of the Institute for Enterprise and Entrepreneurs. With over fourteen years’ experience in the sports industry and eleven years in Higher Education, Doug is currently pursuing new opportunities including the completion of his PhD at Northumbria University, looking at more effective approaches to developing the employability of students.

Doug joined the Higher Education Academy as their Head of Academic Practice in June 2015, taking on the role of Head of Student Success in October 2017. Prior to joining the HEA Doug was Head of Employability and Enterprise at Northumbria University.

In 2012 Doug developed the concept of a national framework for embedding employability to support institutions in developing graduates with the qualities and characteristics that are vital for success, not only in securing employment, but more broadly in life too.

In 2013 Doug co-authored the Higher Education Academy publication Defining & developing your approach to employability: A framework for higher education institutions with Maureen Tibby. With expertise in employability and curriculum design and with a twelve-year-old son, Doug is passionate about education more broadly and saw the opportunity to become a school governor as a great chance to learn more about the earlier stages of the educational journey and offer his insight and expertise gained from a career spanning both sports and education.

I have worked in public sector finance for almost 30 years, having qualified as an accountant in 1999. I have predominantly worked in internal / external audit and risk management roles across local government, health and central government.

I returned to working in the health sector following the birth of my daughter in 2009. Currently I work for an Arms Length Body (ALB) of the Department of Health and Social Care as a Benefits Management Specialist. I support the wider health economy to identify, manage and monitor benefits delivered from efficiency and improvement programmes.

My daughter will hopefully become an MBMS pupil in the near future and having been recently appointed as a Foundation Governor I am looking forward to supporting the school in its future development.

I initially trained as a primary teacher, before re-training as an Educational Psychologist. I have now been an Educational Psychologist for 22 years, supporting schools in North Tyneside and Newcastle in their work with children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). My work means that I have a high level of knowledge of the education system and have a great deal of experience of working with school staff, including ensuring that the views of children and parents / carers are fully included within discussions. My role also means that I have participated in regular training in Child Protection and Safeguarding, data protection and SEND issues.

Prior to becoming a governor at Marden Bridge Middle, I was a parent governor at Rockcliffe First School. I attended a range of governor training courses, held the role of lead governor for Child Protection and Safeguarding and also attended Finance and Staffing sub-committee meetings.

Dr Emma Casey is a university lecturer with over fifteen years’ experience of teaching and learning in higher education. She is a follow of the Higher Education Academy and is committed to providing research-led learning to adults and young people. Emma has been a parent-governor at Marden Bridge since 2017 where she also sits on the finance Committee. She has a particular interest in exploring innovations in supporting pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

After three years of professional dance training, I shifted my focus and became a freelance dance teacher. I currently work in schools all over the North-East and at local dance schools, teaching both curriculum and after school dance and sports, and working with SEND children. I am currently working towards my dance teachers’ qualification as well as preparing to begin my degree in Primary Education.

Working closely with children in and out of a school setting means I have a lot of knowledge of how they feel about school and I feel I can be a voice and pass on their concerns and opinions. Being an ex student of MBMS and having family in the school currently, I like to be involved in the school as much as possible. My role as a dance teacher means I have to be up to date with Child Protection and Safeguarding. Within my role as a governor I am part of the Pastoral Care committee and have governor responsibility for P.E and Sport.

I joined the staff of Marden Bridge 10 years ago, and have just begun my second five year term as a Governor. Originally planning a career in law, a move to Kent inspired me to change direction and I became an editorial publishing assistant, an interesting if challenging and demanding job.

On return to the North East and after having two children, I taught English as a second language before taking up a cover supervisory post in Gosforth. When I moved to Whitley Bay I took the opportunity to join MBMS in a similar role. Teaching lessons in the absence of teaching staff both short and long term across all year groups and subjects, I feel I can bring to the Governing Body a unique overall view of the school.

I love working at Marden Bridge; an environment where pupils are put first, nurtured and cared for under our ethos of believe, achieve and succeed.

I very much enjoy supporting the school in many extra-curricular activities: Costume making for the summer production; PTA events; sporting events; and this year have been part of the ‘Garden Team’ and the exciting adventure of watching the scheme grow from its planning stages to the opening event taking place later in the year. A beekeeper at home, my next plan is to introduce an apiary to the garden site...

I have been teaching at MBMS for 6 years. I am a French native speaker. I moved to the North East of England after graduating from Portsmouth University thanks to the Eurasmus program over 20 years ago. I have been a teacher since, working mainly in middle and secondary schools in the region. After the birth of my daughter, I decided to take a break from mainschool work and I started my own business teaching adults and A level students which I did until I started working at MBMS.

Since at MBMS, I have enjoyed being part of the school and have embraced its ethos - high inspirations, stimulating environment, resilience - In a world in which we are becoming increasingly self-centred, I believe that we, as teachers, have got a vital role to inspire, nurture and enthuse children and, by our actions, help them develop a sense of moral, social and cultural responsibility.

I have welcomed the opportunity to become a school governor as I wanted to get further involved in the school as a whole, to offer a fair and accurate representation of staff opinion on matters of importance (continuing building strong links between the governing body and the staff) as well as to contribute to the decisions that are made by the governing body.

I am looking forward to attend the induction training for governors to add to the many CPD opportunities I have partaken in my role as a class teacher.