Lowther Endowed School
& Little VIPs Day Care
Achieving, Caring, Enjoying
Meet the Governors
Welcome to our Governance page
We are proud to be an Endowed School within the Lowther Estate. The governance of our school is under the Lowther School and Exhibition Endowment (the Endowment) which is a charity (No: 526917) set up to support the school in its maintenance and upkeep as well as providing grants and financial support. The Endowment appoints the majority of the governors at our school.
The Governing Body is also the Responsible Body for Little VIPs Daycare. Please visit our Nursery pages to find out more about Little VIPs.
Our Governing Body is made up of:
- 2 Parent Governors (elected by parents/carers of pupils registered at the school at time of appointment)
- 1 LA Governor (appointed by the Local Authority)
- 2 Staff Governors (1 will always be the headteacher who holds an ex officio role and 1 will be elected by the staff of the school)
- 8 Foundation Governors (appointed by Lowther School and Exhibition Endowment)
- 1 co-opted Governor (to be a member of staff of the nursery)
Our Governing Body is chaired by Cecilia Emery and the Vice Chair is Alice Vince.
We have two sub-committees:
- Finance, Health & Safety and Premises sub-committee – Chaired by Cecilia Emery, John Banks, Kieran Barr, Simon Cooper, Cecilia Emery, Chris Staniowski, Stephen Tudway, Carla Weild - Headteacher, Michelle Clark - Executive Headteacher
- Curriculum and Staffing sub-committee – Chaired by Alice Vince, Emma Capstick, Cecilia Emery, Hayley Fassam, Christine Strong, Alice Vince, Gabriella Watkins, Carla Weild - Headteacher, Michelle Clark - Executive Headteacher. We invite staff members to attend meetings to tell us about their subject areas.
The Governing Body acts in the best interests of children to:
- Set the ethos of the school and provide strategic direction
- Support and hold to account the leaders of the school for the performance of the school and for the well-being of staff and pupils
- Ensure its money and resources are allocated appropriately
- Ensure that the voices of stakeholders, particularly pupils, parents and staff are heard.
Further detail about the work of the Full Governing Body and the sub-committees are set out in the documents below.
Our Clerk to the Governors role is currently vacant. Any enquires in the first instance should be emailed to: clerk@lowther.cumbria.sch.uk
Our Governors
Governor name | Appointed by | Link responsibility | Term of Office | Term of Office start date | Business, pecuniary & related third party interests | Attendance 2023/24 | Attendance 2024/2025 | |
John Banks | Foundation | Finance | 4 years | 3 April 2021 | None | 5/5 | ||
Kieran Barr | Foundation | Communications | 4 years | 15 March 2021 | Employed at Westmorland & Furness Council | 5/5 | ||
Emma Capstick | Local Authority |
| 4 years | 17 October 2024 | Teacher Temple Sowerby Temp Lead Teacher Lowther Endowed from January 2025 | 5/5 | ||
Michelle Clark (Executive Headteacher) | Ex-Officio |
| Ex-Officio | 13 January 2025 | Headteacher at Asby School | n/a | ||
Simon Cooper | Foundation | Pupil Premium, Secondary Transition | 4 years | 3 April 2021 | Teacher at Ullswater Community College | 5/5 | ||
Cecilia Emery (Chair) | Foundation | Finance | 4 years | 20 September 2022 | Self Employed Education Consultant | 7/7 | ||
Hayley Fassam | Co-opted by the Governing Body | Little VIPs | 4 years | 27 February 2025 | None | n/a | ||
Chris Staniowski | Foundation | Health & Safety | 4 years | 17 October 2024 | None | n/a | ||
Christine Strong | Foundation | Online Safety | 4 years | 9 April 2022 | None | 4/5 | ||
Stephen Tudway | Foundation | Website, Well-being | 4 years | 2 February 2023 | Priest in Charge North Westmorland Churches Governor at Bolton School, Crosby Ravensworth School, Morland School and Ullswater Community College. | 5/5 | ||
Alice Vince (Vice Chair) | Foundation | SEND, Looked After | 4 years | 1 October 2024 | None | 5/5 | ||
Gabriella Watkins | Parent | Safeguarding, Well-being | 4 years | 1 October 2024 | None | n/a | ||
Carla Weild (Headteacher) | Ex-Officio (Staff) |
| Ex-Officio | Ex-Officio | None | 7/7 | ||
Vacancies | 1 x Parent 1 x Staff |
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Resignations and end of office |
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Ruth Tupling | Foundation |
| 4 years | 30 June 2024 | Secretary, Great Strickland Parish Council | |||
Christine Byrne | Co-opted |
| 4 years | 30 September 2024 |
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Nicky Edwards (Consultant Headteacher) | Ex-Officio |
| Ex-officio | 9 October 2024 |
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Hayley Greenhow | Co-opted by the Governing Body | Little VIPs | 4 years | 1 October 2024 | None | |||
| Laura Thwaites | Staff | 4 years | 24 April 2024 | None |
Governance Documents
Governing Body Meetings 2024-2025
Autumn Term
Full Governing Body 17th September 2024
Finance, H&S, Premises 15th October 2024
Teacher Pay Committee 22nd October 2024
Curriculum, Pupils, Staff 5th November 2024
Headteacher Performance Mgt 9th December 2024
Spring Term
Full Governing Body 14th January 2025
Finance, H&S, Premises 11th March 2025
Curriculum, Pupils, Staff 1st April 2025
Summer Term
Finance, H&S, Premises 13th May 2025
Full Governing Body 20th May 2025
Curriculum, Pupils, Staff 10th June 2025
We may also schedule additional meetings if we need to.
Copies of agendas, signed minutes and non-confidential papers considered at our meetings are available by contacting the Clerk to Governors by email: