My name is Louise Levy and I have been Chair of Fellside Governing Body since October 2015.  I first joined the Governing Body in June 2009 as a parent Governor, as I live in the local Whickham community and have had 2 children attend this school.  

For almost 20 years I worked as a Senior Manager at Newcastle Building Society, and for the last 9 years have been a Senior Leader at Cardinal Hume Catholic Secondary School in Gateshead.   I am also a Board Member of Whickham School and work in partnership with many schools across the North East.

I bring an extensive knowledge and understanding of the Educational sector and have the drive and vision to ensure our Governing Body, Headteacher and staff team provides outstanding education for all children in the Fellside family.

My name is Louise Levy and I have been Chair of Fellside Governing Body since October 2015.  I first joined the Governing Body in June 2009 as a parent Governor, as I live in the local Whickham community and have had 2 children attend this school.  

For almost 20 years I worked as a Senior Manager at Newcastle Building Society, and for the last 9 years have been a Senior Leader at Cardinal Hume Catholic Secondary School in Gateshead.   I am also a Board Member of Whickham School and work in partnership with many schools across the North East.

I bring an extensive knowledge and understanding of the Educational sector and have the drive and vision to ensure our Governing Body, Headteacher and staff team provides outstanding education for all children in the Fellside family.

I became a parent governor in 2016 when my son was in reception class. I wanted to become a governor because what has always struck me about Fellside is that it is really is at the heart of the community and I wanted to be a part of that and to help and support the school. I work for Gateshead Council where I have a declared interest (I manage the School Catering Service and Building Maintenance) but hopefully from where I can contribute skills and experience in areas such as HR and Finance. Becoming a governor has been a steep learning curve and it makes you appreciate even more the very high standards that we enjoy at Fellside and the commitment and dedication of the staff who work there.

I’ve been a Governor at Fellside Community Primary School since 2012.  When I joined the Governing body I was convinced Fellside was the best school in the area and having spent a number of years helping and supporting the school I remain resolute in its position as an outstanding school for all our children.  I feel very privileged to serve the school in my capacity as a parent governor and more recently co-opted governor.  

 Education is one of the most important gifts we can give to our children and as parents of Fellside children I’m sure like myself you will have witnessed their tremendous progress.  In many ways the school is a family and I certainly feel my two boys have benefitted from the schools ethos to inspire, care and support their maximum potential.   ALL Fellside children are amazing!!

 For the last two decades my working life has been centred in Information Technology.  I’ve held a number of positions which has given me the broad experience to support a number of key activities on the Governing Body.  I obviously have a particular interest in technology, but also the schools internal policies and procedures, as well as showing a keen interest with the challenging finances.

 It’s as important to support as it is to challenge and as a Governing Body we take the role of “critical friend” very seriously to ensure Fellside Community Primary School continues to deliver the best education possible to our wonderful children.  We always welcome contributions of others and I would be very keen to hear and work with other parents.

I’m a new governor at Fellside, as my two children have recently started the school.  I became a school governor to help the school improve it’s already excellent standards and be supported as it tries to do more with fewer resources.  My day job is in Research & Enterprise Services at Newcastle University where I coordinate projects with companies in the medical sciences.

My name is Leonie Ducker. My association with Fellside began in May 1971 when I joined the teaching staff. Upon my retirement in 2008 I was asked to join the governors as a community Governor. I offer the Governing Body a wide experience of educational skills and knowledge and offer musical help whenever required. Fellside is a wonderful school and I am proud to be still involved in it.

Hi, my name is Ruth Thornber and I am the Staff Governor for Fellside Community Primary School. I joined the school in 2015, having taught in County Durham for most of my teaching career. I am currently working as the Year Two teacher in Key Stage One where I am Key Phase leader. I am passionate about Literacy and currently enjoy my role as Literacy Subject Leader where I lead and monitor teaching and learning of this subject throughout the school. I thoroughly enjoy working with the children, staff and parents within the Fellside community and look forward to being a proactive member of the Governing Body

My name is Fern Lawton, and I am a Parent Governor at Fellside. I have been a primary school teacher for over 15 years and currently lead English, PE and Science in the school I work in. Teaching phonics and early reading is a passion of mine and I love to see children making progress with their reading and become lifelong readers. I aim to bring both the perspective of a teacher and parent to the role to help support the pupils, staff and wider community of Fellside, so that our children receive the best educational experiences.

I am ‘National System Leader’ at Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), the largest Trust of schools in England and in my role I am responsible for the quality of careers provision for 35,000 young people and over 100 apprentices across 21 secondary schools, 5 special needs schools and 33 primary schools. Before joining AET, I led the national pilot of the Gatsby Foundation ‘Good Career Guidance’ benchmarks. In this role, I influenced the development of the DfE’s national careers strategy (Dec 2017) and its subsequent roll out to every school and college in England.  Having been Assistant Headteacher in a secondary school in the North East,  I have a solid understanding of education. Having worked at the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, where I led the North East Ambition Programme, I have extensive business contacts in the region and bring many of these partnerships and links to my governor role at Fellside. In 2017 I was recognised as ‘UK Career Educator of the Year’ by the Career Development Institute and I continue to serve as a National Careers Week Ambassador, an Associate at the University of Derby’s International Centre for Guidance Studies and as member of the National Quality in Careers Standard Consortium Board. I am incredibly proud to be a Governor at Fellside and have a daughter in Year 5 at the school too.