Steve Preece - Chair of Governors

Having retired from a career in international Human Resources, Steve was keen to contribute some of his experience to support the school by being part of the Governing Body.    Steve is very active in a number of other voluntary roles including as an Enterprise Advisor with The Careers and Enterprise Company and as a management consultant. He is also a Governor at a large special educational school. After serving for over three years as Chair of Governors, Steve will be stepping down from the Governing Body at the end of the summer term. 

Steve lives in Wonston with his wife Claire and their three sons, all of whom attended South Wonston Primary. In addition, Steve has two married daughters and two grandchildren. 

Gary Westbrook – Vice Chair of Governors

Gary has been a co-opted Governor since 2018.  He is an experienced Chartered Accountant, and has worked in a range of advisory finance roles in both the public and private sector, as well as senior leadership roles in Local Government. He is passionate about building on the strong foundations and potential of our wonderful school making it a safe, happy and inclusive community that nurtures every child's potential. 

Gary lives in Sutton Scotney with his young family, aging spaniel and four chickens.  He currently has two children at the school. 

Jessica Lott – Headteacher

As Headteacher, Jessica has an overarching responsibility to lead, develop and support the strategic direction, vision, values and priorities of South Wonston Primary School.  She works with the Governors to help facilitate effective, long-term school improvement - with children at the heart of everything. She is passionate about each child being given the best quality education on offer to help them with their future happiness, career ambitions and to become confident learners for life.

Jessica has two children – one in her 20's and the other at nursery. When not working, she enjoys family holidays from caravanning in Wales to adventure holidays in America. To relax, she enjoys long walks, dancing and reading.

James Kosy – Chair of Resources Committee

James has sat on the Governing Body as a Parent Governor since April 2020 and brings his knowledge and experience of leading large teams and managing commercial budgets to the board.  This has led to James being the Chair of the Resources Committee.  He has worked in the hospitality industry for 22 years and enjoys an active lifestyle, often out walking with the dogs or playing a round of golf.

James has two children that attend the school and has lived in South Wonston since 2015.

Sarah Mack – Chair of Curriculum and Standards Committee

Sarah is the Deputy Headteacher for Education at a large primary school in Southampton. In this role, she is responsible for the design and progress of the curriculum and supports the staff in becoming the best practitioners they can be through coaching and development. She has been a Governor for seven years and joined the body in order to make a lasting difference to the children in South Wonston.

Sarah lives in the village with her husband and two young children, appreciating the time they spend together as a family.

Fiona Barrow – Vice Chair of Curriculum and Standards Committee
Fiona has been a Governor at South Wonston for the past four years. She is an Assistant Headteacher of a large primary school in Basingstoke and is a passionate leader of education. She believes every child deserves the best opportunities through a progressive and creative curriculum. Fiona became a Governor as she feels that a school should be at the heart of a community and should be supported by everyone in it.

Fiona is also part of the PTA and enjoys helping at events. She has two children at the school and lives in the village.

Bernie Labuschagne – Vice Chair of Resources Committee

Bernie Labuschagne is a British Army Officer working within the local Army Training Establishment at Worthy Down. A strategic leader with experience in change management, finance and HR, Bernie was welcomed as a Governor in April 2022.

With two children attending South Wonston School, Bernie wanted to share her expertise whilst also helping to build the relationship between the local and the military community.

Julie Amies – Local Authority Governor

Julie has a firm belief that a child’s physical and mental wellbeing forms the building blocks for them to thrive in their education. This extends into her professional life as a Chief Executive of a Charity, Energise Me, which works across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to tackle the things that prevent active lifestyles.

When her eldest daughter started school at South Wonston Primary, she wanted to support her education by volunteering. She started on the PTA and was then first elected as a Parent Governor in 2000.  She has served on every committee and chaired both the Curriculum and Standards Committee as well as the Full Governing Body over her time.

Nikki Linton – Co-Opted Governor

Throughout her career in Sports Development for Leisure Management Companies, Nikki has been involved in financial and risk management, facility building/development, public relations, marketing, safeguarding and sourcing grants. In addition to working closely with National Governing Bodies for sport Nikki also works with a range of disability groups to ensure access to facilities and activities are inclusive.

In deciding to become a school Governor Nikki wanted to give back to the local community utilising her professional skills and experience. She lives in South Wonston and has one child at the school.

Karin Ling - Parent Governor

Karin is a freelance writer with a background in the media.  As a Governor she works on communications and assists with grant applications. 

Her four children have all attended the school with the youngest still there and the eldest about to graduate university.  This gives her a broad knowledge and experience to inform her contributions to strategic planning.  She has a special interest in fostered/adopted, SEN, and military children being supported to achieve full potential.  She has lived in South Wonston for 22 years.

Ben Baxter - Co-Opted Governor

Ben is a social worker and was part of local authority safeguarding teams before starting his current role as Head of Safeguarding at Treloar's School & College for students with physical disabilities in Alton.  He also sits as a board member on the Hampshire Safeguarding Children Partnership, representing independent education settings.

Ben wanted to become a Governor both to help pass on his knowledge and experience and also to learn more from the community who run, support and learn at South Wonston Primary. He lives in the village and has one child at the school.

Lt Col Fraser Dowling - Associate Governor

Lt Col Fraser Dowling has spent two decades in the British Army with the majority of this time spent as a learning and training specialist having completed a PGCE (adult education), PG Dip and MSc in Educational Practice and Innovation. Fraser is the Commanding Officer of Worthy Down Support Unit which looks after the whole Worthy Down site in terms of security, infrastructure, equipment, discipline, welfare and safeguarding.

Fraser has previous experience of being a Governor and so understands the importance of the role and is happy to be supporting South Wonston Primary where his youngest of three boys attends.

Perri-Jane Whalley - Associate Governor

Perri-Jane is a learning support assistant who specialises in speech and language. She has been an active member of the South Wonston Governing Body for almost 15 years. 

Within that time, she has worked within the roles of SEN Governor, Staff Governor and currently Designate Training Governor.

Simon Baker – Co-Opted Governor

Simon works for IBM, a large global IT company focussed on Hybrid Cloud and AI technology and consulting. He works with IBM’s business partners who provide value add services and support to a wide and varied set of customers. Along with his long-time experience in the IT industry and a Diploma in Strategic market management Simon helps address business challenges by using enterprise design thinking methods to apply the value of technology.

He sails competitively on a racing yacht, mountain bikes, wild camps, likes cooking and gardening. Simon lives in Winchester and has four children, three of whom attended South Wonston Primary School.