Governors

Hester has been a parent governor at Comper since September 2020, and sits on the Teaching and Learning Committee. Her youngest is at Comper and her eldest at SSMJ. Hester trained as a piano accompanist at the Royal Academy of Music and now teaches piano, singing, and early years music through the Kodály Method.

Suzy has been a parent governor at Comper since September 2022. Her eldest child is currently at Comper and she also lives close by. Suzy works in National Health Service management at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Haris has been a parent governor since September 2022. He has one child in reception and another in a nearby nursery, and volunteers on environmental sustainable issues locally. An economist by background, Haris worked on higher educational policy for several years and currently works in financial services regulation.

Kathy Sylva is Professor of Educational Psychology and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of
Oxford. She has led research on education in the Early Years, with particular focus on the effects of
early education on children's development, including the role of pedagogical quality. She carries
out trials of interventions in the UK and low-income countries. Kathy was Principal Investigator on
the Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education study, a longitudinal study of 3000
children from 3-18 years. She co-directed the National Evaluation of Children’s Centres in England, a
largescale study of the effects of family services on 2,500 families/children. She has been Specialist
Adviser to Parliamentary Select Committees and currently serves on Ofsted’s Pedagogical Forum.
She received an OBE and is Fellow of British Academy, Academy of Social Science, and British
Psychological Society. She has honorary doctorates from the Open University, Oxford Brookes, the
University of Gothenburg and the University of Jyvaskyla.

I am a retired pharmacist after 50 years of service, 25 years of which was in hospital pharmacy and 25 years in community pharmacy at the Woodstock Road Chemist.
I live locally and have been involved in various community activities and I have been promoting education in the community all my life.

Alison is a an experienced Early Years teacher and leader who has also worked with Oxfordshire County Council's Early Years Team as a Lead Advisor to support Early Years Practitioners across Oxfordshire. She has three grown up children.

I have been a Nursery Nurse and then a Teacher in Oxfordshire for the last 30 years, I am currently the Headteacher of Slade Nursery School. I am particularly passionate about early language and communication, literacy and outdoor learning.