Local School Committee

Des is a Chartered Management Accountant of 30 years standing, most recently serving as Finance Director of a local Academy Trust .

Prior to this he was Finance Director of Pitney Bowes Australia & New Zealand and enjoyed living in that region for the duration.

Midway through his career Des established a successful medical recruitment business which he sold after 17 years.

He is committed to road safety and serves as Chair of The Institute of Advanced Motorists (Chelmsford) and is also a qualified National Observer (Mentor) for prospective advanced drivers

Des is married to Theresa and they have two children both currently at St Martin's.

John has more than 25 years’ experience of senior roles working in the broadcast and media sector.  He is currently CEO of RaceTech, a sports production company primarily working in the Horse Racing sector.  Alongside this he is Chair of the Board of Trustees for Emmaus SLC, a charity working in the homeless sector.  He is also a governance committee member for Racing Welfare. 

As well as holding a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA), John is an Engineering graduate from South Bank University.

John is married with two children.  His daughter has just finished her first year at St Andrews University in Scotland and his son is in year 11 at St Martins.

His hobbies include watching West Ham, running to keep fit and the odd game of Golf.  He also runs a local u16 football team.

Cynthia is a midwife with over 14 years' experience. Cynthia's passion for education lead her to pursue a Masters in Practice Education.

Cynthia's educational experience has been mainly pre- and post-registration midwifery and medical education but more recently multi-professional education.

 Currently Cynthia is the Education, Training and Workforce Lead for the North Thames Genomic Medicine Service, leading key educational initiatives to support the embedding of genomics into mainstream healthcare.

Cynthia is committed to improving standards thereby enabling the highest quality of education across all age groups. 

Rahim is an audit partner at KPMG and has more than 16 years of audit experience with banks in London, Singapore, and the US. Rahim's current portfolio includes a large variety of clients in Financial Services. Rahim was seconded to KPMG US in 2015. Based in the Silicon Valley for three years, Rahim has also gained a first-hand experience of auditing challenger institutions and Fintech clients. Rahim was appointed as a Governor on 13 May 2021.

Annabel began her career at St Martin’s in 1996 as an English teacher, and returned to the school in 2023 as Deputy Headteacher. Over the past two decades Annabel has worked in a range of leadership roles across London boroughs, including as Head of English and Assistant Headteacher, gaining extensive experience in curriculum development, teaching and learning, and school improvement.

As a Staff Governor, Annabel brings strategic insight and a strong commitment to supporting the school community, and is passionate about ensuring that every student succeeds and secures the life chances they deserve. Annabel aim's to contribute thoughtfully and collaboratively to the governing body, helping to support the school’s vision and continued development.

Stuart has spent most of his career within the pharmaceutical industry. He graduated after studying Biology (physiology and pharmacology) at university and started his career in pharmaceutical sales. Through his career Stuart has been involved with many different roles including sales, training and management within the industry including global top 10 pharma to start ups.

Today stuart heads up the business development and research team dedicated to harnessing plant-based medicines to help treat a range of unmet medical needs.

Stuart has been a Scout leader for 1st Blackmore for the last 10 years, being involved in all aspects of Scouting, helping Scouts develop life, adventure and personal skills in a safe environment through badge work and hands on activities, encouraging teamwork and interpersonal skills.

Stuart moved to the area with his wife 15 years ago and since then they have had 2 children, one at St Martins and one in primary school. In any spare time Stuart enjoys playing golf and cycling with his children.

Jamie joined the trust in 2000 as a newly qualified teacher. Having taken on different roles at St Martin’s school and leadership secondments across educational sectors, Jamie was ideally placed to support Chase High School that moved into the Trust in 2015. In 2020, Jamie took over as Headteacher and secured the school’s first ‘Good’ Ofsted judgement in its 30 year history. In September 2023, Jamie returned to where it all started for him, back at St Martin’s as Executive Headteacher. Jamie was appointed Deputy CEO in September 2025, alongside his role as Headteacher of St Martin's. 

Steve has over 35 years' experience working in Information Technology within the automotive sector. He is currently employed by an Indian consultancy company providing IT services in the European automotive industry. Prior to this, he worked as an IT manager in a large automotive company.

Steve holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Anglia Ruskin University and a Computer Science degree from Royal Holloway College (University of London).

Steve is married with three daughters, who have all completed their secondary education at St. Martin's. The eldest is just completing a Physics degree at Durham University, the middle is studying Psychology at The University of Surrey and the youngest is just completing her GCSEs.

Steve has worked with St. Martin's Sixth Form for over 20 years, supporting the annual ‘Insight into Management’ event, providing practical based business education to Year 12 students. He is committed to helping students develop technical and business management skills.

Amanda has over 20 years' experience working in central and local government, with senior leadership roles in Essex County Council and in the Department for Work and Pensions.

She is passionate about ensuring that every child feels valued and supported to reach their full potential and, as a parent of a child with Special Educational Needs (SEN), she is committed to ensuring that all children have the best possible education and opportunities.

An advocate for parents’ voices, working closely with other Governors, staff, and the wider community to ensure that the school continues to grow as a place where every child can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.

Amanda loves travelling, gardening and long walks with the family dog.

Stacey is a strategic consultant and senior education leader with over 20 years’ experience across schools, consultancy, and EdTech. She holds a BSc in Mathematics, a PGCE from King’s College London.

Since 2013, Stacey has run her own educational consultancy, delivering leadership development programmes, curriculum design projects, and organisational improvement work across a wide range of schools and education organisations. Alongside this, she currently works as a consultant for Compass Education, supporting schools to implement strategic timetabling systems through their Griddle platform. Prior to this, Stacey held senior leadership roles in schools across London and Essex, where she led teams, managed large funding programmes, and drove measurable improvements in outcomes.

Stacey is also Treasurer of the PTA at Shenfield St Mary’s School and currently has one child in year 8 of St Martin’s.

With her background spanning school leadership, strategic consultancy, and educational technology, Stacey looks forward to bringing fresh insight and a genuine passion for improving outcomes for young people to the governing body at St Martin’s.

Having worked in Paediatric research prior to training as a teacher, Gaynor is now in her 47th year of service at St Martin’s.

Although she has held various roles over the years, her passion lies in Pastoral, helping to develop a number of initiatives shared with many local schools within the Brentwood BAP, which she attends as Vice Chair.

As part of the school’s involvement with the wider community, she represents the Brentwood BAP schools at both the Brentwood Startwell group and Community Safety Partnership; identifying priorities as well as funding recommendations for future schools’ projects.

She has led on Mental health initiatives prior to qualifying as the senior mental Health Lead for St Martin’s alongside her responsibilities as DDSL, (Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead) and has recently qualified as a MHFA England trainer, in order to promote further mental health training, for staff and students across the trust and for local BAP schools.

In her spare time she runs a Youth award winning theatre group, ‘BOSSY’ and enjoys cooking and baking.