Members

Hoe Valley School is a Single Academy Trust registered at Egley Road, Woking  GU22 0NH.

The role of the Members is different to that of the Governors and they play a limited but crucial role in safeguarding academy trust governance. Members hold the governing board to account for the effective governance of the trust. but have a minimal role in the actual running of the trust. As the guardians of the school’s governance, members sit at the top of the trust’s governance structure.

 

The Members

 


Claerwyn Hamilton-Wilkes

Date of Appointment: 6th January 2014

Claerwyn Hamilton-Wilkes is a senior policy advisor in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities working on electoral legislation. She is one of the founding governors of the school and has over 10 years of school governance experience in primary and secondary schools.

 


Ken Henderson

Date of Appointment: 6th January 2014

Ken has been a management consultant for over 20 years and is currently a Director at AlixPartners, a global turnaround and restructuring advisory firm. The expertise he brings to the school includes strategy, financial management and HR. He is one of the founding governors of Hoe Valley School, having helped to establish the school in 2015. Prior to being a governor, he supported local schools with business education programmes and was Chairman of Surrey Young Enterprise until 2013. Ken is married with two children and lives in Woking.


Alex Holmes

Date of Appointment: 6th January 2014

Alex has worked in the creation of technology products for 20 years across analytics, media and data services businesses. He currently leads the product management of business planning applications for a global media agency, dentsu. Prior to this, he has held a variety of product and technology roles with organisations including the BBC, dunnhumby, Argus Media and Reed Business. Alex is one of the group of the school’s founding parents. From being closely involved through the government’s Free School application process, Alex served as a governor for a number of years and now as a member of the trust. Alex is married and has been lucky enough to have two daughters attend Hoe Valley.

Claire McDonnellClaire McDonnell

Date of Appointment: 6th January 2014

Claire, a mother of 3, is one of the original founders of Hoe Valley School and has served as Chair of the Education Committee and Safeguarding Governor. She currently works as link governor to PE and has a particular interest in how the school partners with the local community.

Claire has a finance background, and has worked as a Paraplanner in the City, specialising in pensions, protection and investments.  She currently works as Home School Link Worker at Kings College in Guildford, supporting children and their families with mental health and wellbeing, attendance issues and financial / social issues.  Previously, Claire worked in an alternative provision secondary school specialising in Social, Emotional and Mental Health.


Lynne O’Reilly

Date of Appointment: 19th January 2015

Lynne has spent her career in the IT industry, first in technical roles and then moving into business development and corporate governance. She has over 14 years of school governance experience across primary and secondary phases and is currently the chair of trustees of a large Multi Academy Trust. Lynne is one of the founding governors of the school and was its first chair of governors through pre-opening and for the first four years of operation. She left the board of governors in September 2021 and remains a member of the Trust.