Jo Bowen-Jones (SEND Director)

I am a busy Mum of two children who are growing up very fast. Both children attended St James & Ebrington Primary School before moving on and are now progressing through secondary school. 

My husband is an arable farmer so home life is hectic at times! I have worked in a variety of roles in the past, gaining experience in people management, budgeting, financial planning, print procurement in the digital and litho sectors, project management for a multi national company and most recently a career change into the Early Years sector where I worked at a local playgroup for a number of years. Now I am the Nursery Manager for Little Pickles, based at the Ebrington site and very much involved in Nursery and school life.

I feel very strongly about safeguarding for all children and staff, and for every child to have equal and fair opportunities to enable them to develop and progress to the best of their abilities, with all of the support that they need to achieve this.

The opportunity that we have to work with all of the schools within NCSF MAT to develop and grow all children to their full potential is fantastic and I am committed to working with everyone involved to achieve great things for our schools.

Mark John (Vice Chair and Chair of Finance Committee).

 I have two children Amelia and Dan who are both former pupils at Swell Primary School.

I am passionate about ensuring we give our children the very best opportunities both in School through academic achievement and outside of school through trips, residential camps, outside learning and sport. 

I am excited to be working with an Academy Trust and all of the opportunities that will bring to us all.

Clare Saunders.(Chair of the Education Committee and Pupil Premium Director)

I have lived in Cold Aston for 35 years and my four children were all fortunate in starting their education at Cold Aston Primary School. I am a former secondary school English teacher and now work for an education trust. I chair the Education Committee for NCSF and am passionate about equipping all pupils with the strong reading and writing skills they need to access the broad and rich curriculum we offer. I've recently taken on the role of designated director for Wellbeing and am looking forward to learning more about the many ways in which our Trust seeks to support its pupils, staff and families.

Jackie Buckland (CEO and Accounting Officer)

I am absolutely delighted to be CEO for the NCSF MAT. I have a wide range of leadership experience including Headship and working as School Improvement Lead for a large Multi-Academy Trust. I have a proven track record of improving the quality of teaching and learning, both in my own and others' schools.

I have a passion for wellbeing, both for pupils and staff - I worked for the Healthy School Team in Gloucestershire, have led on Wellbeing for another Trust and have always made it a key priority in any of my roles. I firmly believe that to truly put children at the heart of all we do, we also need to put all our staff at the heart of everything we do as leaders.

I am very much a "can do" person, with an enthusiastic, energetic, hands-on approach; I really enjoy supporting leaders to ensure that the culture of their schools through relationships, high expectation and quality provision result in measurable positive outcomes for all pupils. I also support early career leadership through being a facilitator and coach for ECTs and NPQLT.

On a personal note, I enjoy spending time with my family and travelling - especially to my parents' home in France.

Melanie Huttunen (Chair)

I grew up in Norfolk where I attended a village primary school of around 60 pupils - our schools bring back strong memories of that!

I studied French at Manchester University and then started my career as a teacher of English as a foreign language in Finland. Our customers were business people so I had a wide experience of different areas of commerce and production.

After moving back to the UK I began work for De La Rue and stayed there for nearly 30 years in a variety of roles. These were all linked to sales, but I also had responsibility for training. I very much enjoyed my many trips to Asia and love Sri Lanka. I spent many years in school governance at both primary and secondary level when my boys were growing up. I am relatively new to the Cotswolds, having moved here in 2020. I am now starting my retirement.