The Circle Trust will always hold governance in the highest esteem. As a Trust, we will always act in the best interests of our children and young people.
Our Trust Board
Trustees are responsible for the strategic leadership of The Circle Trust. The role comes with specific legal responsibilities, which include:
- Ensuring the organisation remains solvent and spends money in accordance with its charitable objectives
- Ensuring the schools in the Trust provide a good standard of education
Trustees are especially aware of their responsibility to act equally on behalf of all schools. To aid this, each Trustee is linked to a school in the Trust and will take a special interest in their link school such as attending Full Advisory Board meetings or other special school events.
Trustees are responsible for adhering to the Funding Agreement the Trust has with the Department for Education. All Members and Trustees are appointed by the use of a governance skills matrix. This means that both governance groups have the right level of expertise in areas of Finance, Business, Legal, HR and Education.
Click to view: Trustees Code of Conduct l Role of a Trustee l Circle Trust’s Skills Questionnaire
Andrew Beckett (Chair Of Trustees)
Andrew’s journey in school governance started in 2009 when his elder son was 10 and he wanted to give something back to the school which had served him so well. Andrew served as a governor at his sons’ school, Nine Mile Ride Primary School, from October 2009 becoming the Chair of Governors from July 2011 until the inception of the Trust in 2018. During this time, he also advised the boards of other schools in the Wokingham area.
Andrew is an electronic engineer who started his career designing analog silicon chips before moving to working in electronic design automation (EDA). He works with engineers across the world to help them address their technical challenges with the design of integrated circuits using EDA software. Andrew is a group director leading a team of engineers across Europe; a key part of that role is ensuring that knowledge and skills are shared, developed, and improved.
Translating professional expertise from a different field in business is a vital part of what we all bring to governance. It allows me to use my life experiences to help set the strategic direction of The Circle Trust, and it’s exciting to shape the improvement of education for not only the schools within the Trust but also for the communities around us.
Arnab Mukherjee
Arnab has a background in the construction industry with over 20 years of experience in project management, leading professional teams in both the private and public sectors. Having previously worked for the local Council he is very familiar with the regional educational asset management environment and he brings a broad range of skills and expertise, as a fresh perspective, to the Board.
Arnab’s experience and skillset include managing risks, complex stakeholder matters, corporate governance, budget management as well as procurement and contract management.
Arnab enjoys developing positive collaborative partnerships, Fellow of several professional organisations, he is an active member of the local community in Wokingham, Bracknell, and Reading.
Anne Haycocks (SEND link Trustee)
Anne is an educationalist who held a variety of teaching posts in primary schools in Kingston upon Thames, Ascot and Wokingham for over four decades before her retirement. Her teaching experience encompassed all age groups at the primary phase from Foundation to Year 6.
Anne has over thirty years of experience in governance, including serving as Chair of Governors at Keep Hatch Primary School, Wokingham and as governor and Chair of the Parents and Pupils, Curriculum and Human Resources Committees at St Crispin’s School. In addition, Anne has regularly contributed to panels considering appeals and exclusions.
As a Trustee, Anne provides a wealth of specialist knowledge of primary education, with particular interest and expertise in the area of special educational needs.
Barbara Wojna
Barbara has enjoyed a very varied career, starting off in administration in various industries, including retail; the NHS; and accountancy.
After teaching at a local primary school, she moved on to work for a second stint in the NHS, followed by various management positions, including an Education Business Partnership, and Keyworker Accommodation before retiring in 2017. It was then that Barbara joined the Governing Body of Nine Mile Ride Primary School, eventually taking the role of Chair before becoming a Trustee.
In addition to knowledge of education, her broad range of skills include Risk Management, Complaint management, Procurement, Health and Safety and problem solving.
David Day
David is a retired BP executive with worldwide experience working at director level and currently serves as a trustee of two local charities.
David has served as a Trustee since the inception of the Trust is 2018 and brings considerable expertise on HR matters with a specialty in organizational, discipline and capability management.
David Walker (Safeguarding link Trustee)
David has held several teaching and leadership positions which have included serving as Head of School at an independent school in Cambridge and most recently as Deputy Head (Pastoral and Wellbeing) at Wellington College, Crowthorne. Currently, David is Director of the Boarding Schools’ Association – a membership organization for 678 schools across the world.
Katherine Baker
Katherine spent 15 years as a finance lawyer in the City before taking an in-house role as Legal and Compliance Director at Wellington College in 2016. Katherine advised on a range of issues relating to the charity, its schools, Wellington College and Eagle House School, and its commercial operations. She was a parent governor for three years of the primary school her two children attended.
Kevin Addington
Kevin trained as teacher, and became a technical trainer, before becoming an IT director. He is currently a Senior IT Director for Skillsoft, a technical training company.
Kevin started as a parent governor for St Crispin’s School in 2010, serving as chair on a number of committees of the Governing Body, assisting the school in appointments to the senior leadership team, and participating on panels. Following the formation of The Circle Trust, Kevin became a trustee and is the chair of the Core offer and Growth Committee, looking to support new schools through the process to join the Trust.
Kevin McGee
Kevin has many years’ experience of school governance having, until taking up his role as a Trustee with the Circle Trust, been a governor and local advisor at Westende Junior School. Prior to being a governor at Westende he was a governor at a school in Wimbledon. Being a governor at Westende for more than 10 years starting when his children attended the school, Kevin chaired the Finance and Resources committees. He was part of the team that took Westende into the Circle Trust having assessed a range of other options. The governors and leadership team decided that the Circle Trust offered Westende the best option for the future.
Kevin is a manager in a local IT company and has worked in management and sales in IT since leaving university. He is a keen cyclist and gardener and is a member of Wokingham Cycle Club and Wokingham Horticultural Society.
Rebecca Clarke (Company Secretary and Governance Professional to Trust Board)
Rebecca is a modern languages graduate of The University of Manchester and a UK qualified solicitor with more than 10 years’ experience in private practice specialising in corporate law and transactions. Rebecca first became involved in school governance at Wescott Infant School where she was appointed a parent and subsequently a co-opted governor. From October 2016, Rebecca served as clerk to governors at The Emmbrook. Having completed the Chartered Company Secretaries Qualifying Scheme in 2019 and graduated from ICSA: The Governance Institute, Rebecca is well versed in governance and company secretarial best practice.
Stuart Riley
Stuart grew up in Wokingham and attended each of Wescott Infant, Westende Junior and St Crispin’s Schools as a pupil himself. Stuart worked in an investment bank from 1999 to 2015 as an interest rate derivatives trader, becoming a partner in 2010 and then running Asia Trading based out of Hong Kong from 2012 to 2015. From 2015 until 2022, Stuart worked at a Macro Fund in London as Deputy CIO and Portfolio Manager. Stuart was previously on the advisory board for the education charity Room to Read and currently sits on the advisory board of the Imperial College Business School. He is an avid sportsman and involved in various charitable initiatives across education, science and other sectors.
Tariro Madzingira
Raised in Wokingham, Tariro received her formative education at Westende Junior school and St Crispin’s, where she was exposed to invaluable leadership opportunities that laid the foundation for her subsequent accomplishments. She attributes a significant portion of her success to the early leadership experiences fostered during her educational journey.
Tariro holds an Accounting and Business degree from The University of Nottingham and worked within the creative industry before repositioning into her current role in investment banking. Tariro’s professional pursuits align seamlessly with her interests in entrepreneurship, education, empowerment, and cultural equity. Her dedication to these pillars reflects a deep commitment to fostering positive change and progress within these realms. Tariro’s multifaceted experiences and passions uniquely position her to the role of trustee, bringing knowledge and a seasoned perspective to the table.