Governance and Leadership of Prior Park Schools

The Paragon is part of the Prior Park Schools Group, which is presided over by an active Governing Body, chaired by Mr Michael King. Details about the members of this body, their background and experience can be found below. This body provides governance and support for the Head Teachers and their schools via a number of Advisory Committees which include Local Governance Committees (LGC) for each of the schools, an Education Committee and a Finance, Audit & Risk Committee (FAR).

Heads of Prior Park Schools and the Director of Operations & Finance meet formally each half term. There is regular communication between the Heads and their management teams. Each of the three PPS Heads and the Director of Operations & Finance is accountable directly to the Governing Board.

The Chair of the Local Governance Committee (LGC) for The Paragon is Mrs Jane Singleton. The Paragon LGC meets once every term and includes two other representatives of the main Governing Body and the Head of the school alongside members of the Senior Leadership Team.

President

Sister J Livesey CJ, MA (Cantab)

Patrons

Miss J Bisgood, CBE
Mr C J B Davy, CB
Mr D R Hayes
The Rt Rev D R Lang BA, Bishop of Clifton
Mr F J F Lyons KSG
Sir Cameron Mackintosh
The Rt Hon the Lord Patten of Barnes CH, PC
The Rev Monsignor Canon R J Twomey VF
Commodore C B York, FCMI, Royal Navy

Governing Body

Mr Michael King, Chair of Governors

A Governor since 2008, Michael was educated at The Paragon School before moving onto Stonyhurst College. After a brief spell in teaching, Michael moved into a career in law. He worked for the Bath-based charity and education lawyers Stone King LLP for 43 years. He took the firm to London in 1990 and was the firm’s Chair from 1997 to 2014. He was Chairman of the Charity Law Association, Chairman of the Catholic Charity Conference and was the first solicitor to be appointed Interim Manager by the Charity Commission of charities under inquiry. Michael is a Trustee of several charities, including The Holburne Museum in Bath. Now retired, Michael is an accredited Mediator. Much of Michael’s spare time is spent with his wife, Frances-Anne and their three children and four grandchildren, as well as playing tennis and golf, sailing, and watching Bath RFC. A Catholic, Michael is a parishioner at St Mary’s Church on Julian Road in Bath.

Michael’s children were educated at, amongst other schools, The Paragon School and Prior Park College.

Anne Shepherd, Vice Chair of Governors

A Governor since 2013, Anne studied Chinese & Linguistics at Leeds University before joining HM’s Overseas Civil Service. Anne served as Administrative Officer in Hong Kong between 1981 and 1997 where she developed policies on, amongst other areas, Education, the Environment and Disability Discrimination. Anne lives in Bath and is currently the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Museum of East Asian Art in Bath.

Anne’s two children were educated at The Paragon School, with one going onto Prior Park College. Anne was Chair of the Prior Park College Parents’ Association for six years. In her spare time Anne enjoys walking, swimming, reading and cooking.

Tony Alves

A Governor since 2019, Tony was educated at Prior Park College (1972-1977) before moving onto study mathematics at Queens’ College, Cambridge. After over 25 years’ experience in investment banking in the City, he spent eight years as Finance Director in the oil sector. He is now Director and owner of a financial and investor relations consultancy, Caros Consulting Limited. Tony is also Senior Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of JKX Oil & Gas plc.

A Hong Konger of Portuguese heritage, Tony grew up in both Hong Kong and Lisbon but now divides his time between Bath and Twickenham.

Tony Bury

Tony joined the Governing Body in 2010. Educated at Prior Park Prep School in Cricklade and then at the College he went on to UMIST and Manchester Business School. He is a serial entrepreneur, primarily in the oil and gas service sector within the Middle East. Latterly he founded Mowgli Mentoring to provide mentoring for entrepreneurs and leaders in the Middle East and Africa. His philanthropy focuses upon enterprise and entrepreneurship in education. He is a former President of the Prior Park Alumni and remains on the committee. Tony lives in Bath with his wife Anne – he is a passionate Bath rugby supporter, loves golf, travels extensively and enjoys walking his dogs in the countryside. Tony worships at St Mary’s Church on Julian Road in Bath.

Simon Head

Simon is currently Headmaster of Chafyn Grove, an independent, coeducational boarding, prep school in Salisbury. He was educated at Stonyhurst and Cambridge. After a gap year as a Platoon Commander in the Royal Green Jackets, he taught at Dulwich College Preparatory School. He then spent a year in up-country Kenya at Pembroke House before moving to St. John’s Beaumont Prep School in Windsor as Housemaster, then Deputy Head. In 2010 he took over the Headship of Moreton Hall in Suffolk, before moving to Chafyn Grove in September 2016. Simon is the Governor with responsibility for safeguarding.

Bill Hutchinson

A governor since 2020, Bill has lived in Bath since 1996 and has educated his four children at Prior Park. Bill was brought up a Catholic, and was educated at Ampleforth before reading English at University College London. His career began in consumer goods advertising, but for the last 25 years he has worked in digital media and information technology. In this field, his experience has been wide ranging, from founding venture capital-backed start-ups to designing IT systems for large corporations. He devotes his spare time to making music, studying art history, cooking and playing tennis.

Julian Jarvis

Julian was educated in England starting at Dulwich College Preparatory School then Richmond College, before going to Sussex University and the Inns of Court School of Law. Julian moved to Gibraltar in 2004. He is a lawyer and businessman in the internet and online gaming sector having worked for private and publicly listed companies and his own start-ups. He has been instrumental in the establishment of Prior Park School Gibraltar and he and his wife have five children, two of whom are currently at PPSG.

Margaret Moore

Margaret joined the governing body in September 2020. Born, and brought up a Catholic, in Manchester, she was educated at Loreto Convent in Moss Side. She read law at Durham University and following qualification as a solicitor, spent 22 years as a competition and commercial partner, and head of department, at City law firm, Travers Smith LLP. Since stepping down as a partner at the end of 2012, she has been volunteering in the charitable sector. She is currently a trustee and Vice Chair of Sue Ryder, and a trustee of Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby and of the Royal Voluntary Service.

Margaret is also Vice Chair of the Fundraising Regulator, the regulator of charitable fundraising in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Peter O'Donoghue

For seven years, Prior Park was Peter’s home, first as a boarder at the Preparatory School in 1979, culminating in a year as Head Boy at the College, leaving in 1986 to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oriel College, Oxford. His was the last generation of pupils to know Prior as a Christian Brothers school, a tumultuous time in the school’s history. Qualified for “anything at all and nothing in particular” he chose to pursue a career as a chartered accountant over joining Shell in 1990. Joining what is now Deloitte LLP, he qualified there and became a Partner in their Telecoms, Technology and Media audit group in London, working on company reporting and transactions around the globe. After 22 years there he joined Huawei at their Financial Risk Control Centre in London. Peter is a former Treasurer of the Prior Park Association and fulfilled a personal goal by joining the Board of Governors in 2008. He lives in London with his wife, Katerina, and their two children who attend independent schools in central London.

Nicky Pearson

Nicky Pearson’s connections with Prior Park go back as far as 1878 when her great grandfather was a pupil at the College.

Educated at St Helen’s Northwood, Nicky left to take up a one-year teaching contract in Papua New Guinea. On her return she completed an Anthropology degree at Durham, followed by a PGCE at Reading. Passionate about education, Nicky set up a multi-national nursery school in Kuwait when her husband was posted there. On their return to the Bath area they set up a Landscape and Environmental Practice. Nicky went on to gain a Certificate in Special Needs Education and taught in Bath. She became Chair of Bath Opportunity Preschool for 10 years, successfully challenging Bath City Council to provide much needed premises for babies and children of 0-5 with special needs and a haven for their parents. Nicky and Nicholas are Catholic and have five children, and two of their sons were educated at Prior Park College.

Nigel Rawlinson

Rev Rawlinson is the University Chaplain, University of Bath. He qualified in Medicine from Cambridge (Emmanuel College and Addenbrooke’s Hospital) in 1980. After surgical training, and whilst working in A&E at the BRI, he trained in WEMTC, Bristol, to be ordained into self-supporting ministry in 1999. He continued working as priest and “ordained doctor” as an A&E consultant, and then at Dorothy House Hospice as a specialist doctor. From 2011-2016 he was Director of Student Affairs at the Medical School in Bristol and in September 2016 he became a stipendiary ministry, working in the same location – outside church. He began as chaplain and team leader in the University of Bath. After over 30 years at All Saints Church, Weston, he and his wife Pat moved to worship at Bath Abbey in 2019. He and Pat have two daughters, Claire and Anna-Fleur, one son-in-law and two grandchildren. Anna-Fleur joined Prior Park College in the 6th form - an experience that was to be a life foundation for her.

John Shinkwin

A Governor since 2011, John studied Physics at University College, Oxford, before a career in teaching in both the maintained and independent sectors. John was Deputy Head of Prior Park College (1993-98), where, in addition to his responsibility for the academic side of the school and his teaching, he coached hockey and tennis teams as well as supporting his wife Maggie who was Housemistress of St Mary’s. He went on to become Headmaster of Princethorpe College (1998-2009) after which he became General Secretary of the Catholic Independent Schools’ Conference, CISC (2009-2016). He continues to support Catholic Heads in working for EducareM of which he is a Trustee. John is a keen golfer and enjoys playing tennis with Maggie. They have three children, the youngest of which went to The Paragon and Prior Park College, and two grandchildren.

Jane Singleton

Jane joined the Governing Board in 2016 following a 30-year career as teacher and teacher trainer in the field of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, both overseas (Greece, Egypt and France) and in the UK. Latterly, she was a lecturer at the University of Bath, specialising in English for Academic Purposes and Employability Skills. Currently, she teaches on communication skills courses for Chinese interpreters and translators. Her three children attended Prior Park College. Jane lives in a village near Keynsham and in her spare time, she is a Church Warden, loves playing tennis, gardening and walking with her husband and dog in the local countryside.

John Webster

John has been a Governor since 2010. He was educated at St Mary’s Catholic Grammar in Sidcup and went on to study Architecture and then Town Planning at The University of Liverpool. In 1982 he co-formed the new partnership of Atkins Walters Webster (AWW) which has offices in Bristol, London and Plymouth where he was the Chair of the Board for 5 years. During his career he provided design and management services to the Catholic Diocese of Clifton, Birmingham and Portsmouth on six new churches and extensions to numerous schools and Colleges both here and in Guernsey.

He and his wife, Jennifer, have lived in Bath since 1987 and have been involved as parishioners at various times at St John’s, St Mary’s and St Peter and Paul. Jennifer spent many happy years as a part time SEN teacher at Prior Park. They have three children and three grandchildren. In his spare time, John loves skiing, sailing, hill walking, veggie growing and supporting Bath RFC.

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