The Governing Body

Click here to view the HHA Trust Governance Structure

 

• Tracy Stone
  Chair of Governors and Trust Appointed Governor 02 Nov 2020 - 03 Nov 2024
  Tracy Stone

  Retired Head Teacher; Leadership Consultant; Ofsted Inspector Â

  Over a period of almost 30 years working in Handsworth schools - most notably as the Head Teacher at Rookery School for over 15 years, I developed a reputation as a highly skilled and effective practitioner who enjoys the challenge of school development. As a teacher and a leader I worked with others to create well resourced and imaginative environments that supported communities of learners to achieve their full potential across a wide ranging curriculum. As a resilient, pragmatic, positive leader I've always been passionate about improving the life chances of young people and offering second chances to those in school communities for whom education did not 'hit the spot' the first time round - it's never too late to engage, to learn, to succeed. Â

  Since retirement from headship I have continued to support school leadership teams (including governing bodies), as I had previously done in an advisory role for the local authority. As a schools inspector, I'm considered empathetic, fair but rigorous when holding schools to account. Â

  My over-riding motivation in any role that I undertake is to ensure that young people are getting the best possible deal in order for them to achieve the best possible standards - this will certainly be at the centre of my thinking and decision making in my role at Grestone.

• Marlene Douglas
  Trust Appointed Governor 04 Sep 2019 - 03 Sep 2023
  Marlene Douglas

  I have been a headteacher with over 15 years leadership experience and I am currently serving as Head Teacher of a primary school. I started my career in Birmingham and have worked in a range of primary schools in predominantly socially deprived areas. I have considerable experience of Ofsted and have successfully turned around a school in a category to receive a good rating with outstanding in some areas.

  Developing my career as Deputy Head Teacher and then as head teacher in a large primary school in Birmingham, I have had responsibility for raising assessment and achievement and this has been a continuing thread to my career. I also have expertise in analysing data, curriculum development and safeguarding.

• Kulbinder Pouni
  Trust Appointed Governor 10 Dec 2019 - 09 Dec 2023
  Kulbinder Pouni

  My teaching career spans over 30 years with 20 years in Leadership and Management. The majority of my work has been in inner city Birmingham; I was also the Principal of the first free school in Wolverhampton. My experiences have included working in a range of settings; being the strategic lead for a children's centre, Head of School at an all-through school as well as a Transforming Education Officer as part of Building Schools for the Future (BSF) projects with the Birmingham Local Authority.

  Within my career as a classroom practitioner, I have taught every national curriculum year group and focused strongly on the developing needs of the foundation stage and getting the first stage of learning right. I have supported through team teaching and led and developed staff personally in their career development from NQT to Senior Leadership.

  I have mentored and coached leaders so that they can build strong leadership capacity and disseminate good practice to teams engendering that all staff are leaders of learning. This has been further embedded as my role as an SLE, NAML (Middle Leadership) and NPQSL (Senior Leadership) facilitator.

  My belief is that we never stop learning and my versatility as a practitioner enables me to prepare for the lives that children will live in this ever-changing society.

  I am invested in making a difference for pupils within these schools as I was one of the EAL, free school meal children brought up in one of most deprived areas of Coventry. So, I really understand the aspirations families and children have for themselves, or need to have and what to do to secure them.

  My teachers believed in what we could do, valued the enrichment and diversity and celebrated what we could learn from and could bring to the curriculum and this fostered and cultivated a drive in me that has never left. I strive to instil this in the children I work with and provide a positive role model for them.

  I believe that is so important and that at the centre of a great school there has to be a strategy that includes developing effective systems for leadership and management of the transition for children, supporting the parents, and ensuring that learning is enabled immediately for the children and that parents should access information and support through the school community to enable them to settle quickly. I have focused on finding root causes for those hard-to-reach parents, of our most vulnerable children, who don't engage and then make it priority to address.

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  I have worked in a number of multicultural schools and know and understand the challenges facing the inner-city schools of the West Midlands.

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  Several schools in which I have worked are located in the highest deprivation quartile nationally. There have been many social and emotional factors that have impacted on the lives of the children and, consequently, on their behaviour and learning, As a leader, it is pivotal to make it very clear to staff that we need to set our moral compass and understand the responsibility we have in opening doors of opportunity for all children regardless of the communities they are born into.

• Ajay Sehijpal
  Parent Governor 18 May 2021 - 17 May 2025
  Ajay Sehijpal

  I work in the higher education sector working in the field of finance and I have two children at Grestone Academy. I'm looking forward to contributing to help drive Grestone Academy to continually strive to improve standards.

  I'm a firm believer in ensuring all young children have the access to high quality education and believe such an education can open the minds of young children, help embed the culture of continuous learning for the rest of their lives and provide the basis for them to achieve as much as is possible.

  I believe the process of continual learning and improvement applies to all staff as well as pupils and I'm committed to supporting the school leadership, holding the leadership to account and adding value wherever I can.

• Mr Rajwinder Singh
  Parent Governor 01 Jan 2018 - 31 Oct 2025
  Mr Rajwinder Singh

  • I believe that all children deserve to have the best possible start in life and great schooling is at the heart of this.
  • I will challenge the school when needed and make sure that parents concerns are heard
  • As a parent myself I want my local school to be an Ofsted rated outstanding school and I would work with Grestone to achieve this
  • I am a parent and five of my children all attend Grestone and so I know how important it is to work with the school
  • I have 15 years experience of working in the childcare field, giving advice and support to families, schools and partners like Ofsted
  • I would help to make the school a safer place by looking at the parking problems, smoking at the gates etc.

  I have an open door policy and feel that only by working together can we can build a school great enough for our children, that means every parent and every child working to together with the staff at Grestone Academy.

• James Bird
  Head of School
  James Bird

  ,

• Mrs Rachel Alexander
  Staff Governor 27/02/2023 - 26/02/2027
  Mrs Rachel Alexander

• Mr Mudassar Farooq
  Staff Governor 27/02/2023 - 26/02/2027
  Mr Mudassar Farooq

Governors who have left the board in the academic year 2021-2022

Samantha Bailey

Staff Governor

Appointed by foundation/Trust.

08 Nov 2017 - 21 July 2022

 

Kelly Bagnall

Local governor

Appointed by foundation/Trust.

18 March 2021 31 August 2021

 

Amar Jawaid  

Parent Governor         

Elected by parents     

1 March 2019  12 December 2021

 If you would like to contact our Chair of Governors, you may do so either by:

Email

FAO Tracy Stone at tstone@grestoneacademy.com

Post

FAO Tracy Stone,

Grestone Academy,

Grestone Avenue,

Handsworth Wood,

Birmingham,

B20 1ND