Governors

The construction of our Governing Body

Visit the Prospere Learning Trust website for more information on the Governing Body

Our Governor meeting attendance records are available in the Policies and Key Information section.

Click here to view our Governor meeting attendance records

Khalada Abdullah – Community Governor

Khalada works as a Senior Commissioning Manager for Manchester Health Care Commissioning. The aim of the organisation is to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Manchester. This role requires Khalada engage with a range of stakeholders to design and develop services that meet the needs of residents in Manchester. Khalada hopes that her knowledge, experience and understanding of local needs are skills that she can bring to the role as Governor at CHS South. 

Like all parents at CHS South, Khalada wants her children to receive a first class education, alongside the right opportunities to excel and be happy at school.  As CHS South is a new school, Khalada sees the current role of Governor as an exciting opportunity to help shape the future of the school and ensure all students there achieve the best outcome possible. She is delighted to have been given opportunity to work with the school to shape its role in delivering a high quality service to all students and developing its place in the local community. 

Khalada is looking forward to working with the school leadership team to ensure the school flourishes and goes onto receive its first rating from Ofsted. She also is keen to ensure that standards remain high as the school transitions from the temporary accommodation in to their new facility. 

Damian Burton - Chair of Local Governing Body

Damian has been Managing Director for 10 years at a Manchester-based carbon and energy management consultancy helping businesses and public sector organisations to better manage their climate impacts and energy costs. Previously, he worked as geologist in the mining and civil engineering sectors in the UK and Australia, before moving into government and then to United Utilities.  

He was previously a school governor for four years at Manley Park Primary School in Whalley Range, with responsibility as the Finance and Resources Lead. He has experience of managing and setting school budgets, and of successfully bidding for external funding streams to provide extra resources for schools. 

Damian is also a grassroots football coach with his U15s Girls' team at local club, FC Bluestar, playing in the South Manchester Girls League. 

Justin Davies - Parent Governor

Justin is a parent of two daughters, one of whom attends CHS South. Having recently returned to Manchester with his family after several years living in the United States, he was keen to become more involved in the local community and contribute to the school his daughter is part of.

As a parent governor, Justin is passionate about ensuring that every child feels welcome, valued and supported throughout their time at school. He has a particular interest in inclusion and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), believing that every child deserves the opportunity to fulfil their potential, whatever their background, abilities or individual needs.

Justin believes that strong relationships between parents, staff and the wider school community are an important part of creating a positive environment in which children can thrive. He hopes to bring a parent's perspective to the governing board, listen to the experiences of families and help support the school's continued development.

Professionally, Justin has spent much of his career working in technology, including leadership roles in cloud computing and artificial intelligence. He is particularly interested in how technology is shaping the world young people will grow up in, and the opportunities and challenges this creates for education.

Above all, Justin is proud to be part of the CHS South community and looks forward to playing a role in helping the school remain an ambitious, inclusive and supportive place for every pupil.

Jane Goodfellow - Community Governor

Jane works as the SEND lead for Prospere Trust and is a Deputy Head at Grange School, a school for autistic students. She has worked in Education for over 20 years, much of this time has been working with students with SEND and their families. Jane has the National SENDCo Qualification and is looking forward to being able to use her experience to support the staff, students and families of CHS South.

Simon Jones - Community Governor

Simon works as a School Sport & Competition Manager for the majority of Primary, Secondary & Inclusion schools in Manchester. His role entails programming events for schools to take part in, creating leadership roles for pupils and managing staff to target areas within Manchester schools to give an opportunity to all children to take part in healthy, active lifestyles. Previous to this Simon has worked as a Teaching Assistant and SEND support staff for a 10-year period with a local primary school which saw him create many relationships and the youth and parents within the community. As a parent to a former and current pupil at CHS South he has seen the growth and development of the school from the year of opening its doors to present and believes he can help support with decisions to further help the school cement its place in the community. Outside of work Simon is a Team Manchester to local basketball club Manchester Magic & Mystics aswell as being a DJ and enjoying keeping fit in his spare time.

Gemma McCorkell - Co-Opted Governor

As a Governor, Gemma feels she can bring a multifaced perspective to the table. With a professional role within the data and exam team in school, she possesses a keen understanding of educational systems and student performance metrics. Outside of work, Gemma is heavily involved in sports, serving as a coach for two local football teams and holding the position of vice-chair at the local Junior Rugby Club. This involvement not only highlights Gemma’s commitment to physical activity and teamwork but also showcases leadership qualities essential for effective governance.

In addition to this, Gemma has a personal connection to the school with her child being enrolled, this fuels an added dedication to ensuring the school’s success and student well-being. With a mixture of professional expertise, community engagement and personal investment, Gemma feels she can contribute significantly to the governance of the school.

Walid Omara - Parent Governor

Walid is a father of 4 children in different education levels and with different needs: having a professional career with more than 30 years of experience in education, industry, academia and research. His vision is to support as well as challenge decision makers and leadership teams to play their full part serving community, young people and children. Our children and young people deserve a high quality safe engaging environment, to achieve their full potential; develop their talents and live happy and successful lives. These goals will be achieved through not only holding those who are responsible to account for their performance but also ensuring that money is well spent. As a parent, Walid will be happy to look at issues such as education, social care, disability and special educational needs. Those issues significantly affect many and their children by the impact of the decisions, policies and services of key agencies. 

Walid has been a governor for more than 15 years volunteering in different schools including primary, secondary, and special needs as well. He has been engaged and chaired several committees including Personal, Leadership, Management, Pupil, Curriculum and Finance. He has been appointed to be a safeguarding, SEN, Science-linked, data analysis governor as well as also being engaged in several panels including disciplinary, exclusion and head teacher/teacher/principal selection. Walid has supported schools during Ofsted inspection and during hard unprecedented Covid-19 circumstance. Additionally, has been elected as a chair of Manchester Governor Association which is supporting governors around Manchester by running several training workshops and organising governor’s conference and forums. 

To support his role as a governor, he has finished Governance Leadership Programme in addition to Governance Leader Development Programme and attended several courses and training workshops such as safer recruitment, Safeguarding, Child protection, Data analysis, Risk Management, Assessment and Evaluation, Extremism and Prevent, Pupil Premium, eSafety and Equality and inclusion. 

Abigail Reid – Community Governor

Abigail is a journalist and teacher. She has several years’ experience in the field of journalism and communications.  Her writing career includes roles as a Business Writer, Travel Writer, Marketing Manager and PR Coordinator for a Women’s Action Forum based in inner city Manchester. After leaving her post at the Forum, she served on the Board for two years. Most recently, she was a lecturer of journalism at a college of further education. 

As a Teach First (TF)Ambassador, Abigail aligns herself with TF values, which include making the education system work for every child regardless of their background. She is also passionate about teaching literacy and in 2021, with assistance from Arts Council England, launched ‘Rock Paper Write’ – facilitating creative writing workshops for children. 

Abigail is married with two children, one of whom attends CHS South. The family have been foster carers since 2019 and this has enabled them to understand the feelings of children who have experienced crisis and trauma in their lives. She is keen to explore how forest school learning can impact upon both learning and emotional development and is currently training to become a forest school leader. 

Abigail’s daughter has thrived at CHS South, and she is enthused about being a part of the CHS South family and helping to ensure that every child’s educational journey is fulfilling and that they reach their full potential. 

Elliott Tollast – Staff Governor

Elliott is currently a Teacher of Maths, with a teaching and learning responsibility at CHS South and has worked at the school since 2019. Alongside this role, Elliott is also one of the NEU union representatives and has previously worked in IT and Tech, as well as completing a master’s degree in Maths from the university of Manchester, giving him a variety of skills and experiences suitable for the role. 

Elliott firmly believes in the values of the school and trust and is very invested in the success of the school. As a governor, he aims to help give back to the school and see it grow in a positive way. Through his time as a teacher and rep, Elliott has worked successfully with a variety of stakeholders, and is able to negotiate, communicate and quality assure on various topics and problems. But a core tenet of his beliefs, is that the staff and students are the cornerstone of any school, and that as governor, Elliott will be a champion for all staff and students as the school looks forward to the future. 

Joshua Williams - Staff Governor

Josh is the Curriculum Leader for English at CHS South and has been part of the school community since 2019. Having joined the school in its early years, he has seen first-hand the significant growth and development of the school and has played an active role in supporting its journey and success. 

Josh is passionate about ensuring that all students receive an excellent education and have access to opportunities that enable them to thrive, both academically and personally. He is deeply committed to serving the local community and believes that schools play a vital role in shaping positive futures for young people.

As a Staff Governor, Josh is keen to use his experience and understanding of the school to support and challenge leaders as CHS South continues to develop. He is enthusiastic about helping to shape the future direction of the school, ensuring that decisions remain focused on securing the best possible outcomes for students. 

Prior to working in education, Josh worked in the hospitality industry, where he held leadership responsibilities within a hotel setting. Managing and developing teams in a fast-paced environment enabled him to develop strong communication, organisational and leadership skills, which continue to support his work in education and governance today.

To contact the CHS South Governing body, please email CHS South and mark it ‘FAO Chair of Governors’.

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