GovernANCE INFORMATION
EAST Local Governing Bodies
Each school within the EAST Trust has a Local Governing Body. The Trust Board has established five key roles for Governing Bodies:- To advise/act as a critical friend to the school leader;
- To advise the Trust Board about local issues they need to consider that affect the school;
- Represent the interest of the school community in the running of the school;
- Represent the school in it's community;
- Provide support to the school leader in undertaking appropriate day to day procedures that are essential in the life of the school.
The five roles translate specifically into the following tasks that the governing body undertakes:
- It acts as a key link between the school, parents and local community;
- It supports the work of the school in the community;
- It supports the school leadership team in the development and implementation of the school development plan and other relevant plans, ensuring that the Trust ethos remains at the heart of the school community;
- It helps on the ground with the implementation of certain whole Trust and school policies;
it offers challenging by positive and proactive support to the school leader; - It regularly reviews the schools performance in relation to the Key Performance Indicators.
For further information relating to the governance structure at the Trust then please follow this link for further information.
Statutory and Governance Documents
Details of EAST governance, including structure and the Trust statutory documents can be found here.
Each school within EAST has their own equality objectives, dependent on their current demographic and annual reviews but the equality objectives for the whole Trust can be found here.Members of our Local Governing Body
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Mrs Maria Bloom
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Maria has always worked in the voluntary sector, mainly for organisations providing legally based advice and information about special educational needs. Since 2006 she has worked for IPSEA (the Independent Provider of Special Education Advice) where she helps to train volunteers that deliver helpline advice to parents and carers as well as delivering IPSEA's programme of external training to parents, SEN experts, schools and local authorities and creating legally based written resources. Maria has been on the governing board of a local authority maintained Primary school in Essex since 2008 where, not surprisingly, she took the lead on SEN issues. Maria moved from Essex to Woodbridge with her husband in March 2025 and she is keen to develop local links and use her knowledge and experience to support a local school.
Maria loves country walks and birdwatching and can often be found walking the footpaths of Woodbridge, especially by the river, with her dog Molly and her trusty binoculars.
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Mr Joe Cannon
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Joe is originally from North Norfolk, and is the father of two children at Kyson. He is a barrister practising in public law, based in London. He moved to Woodbridge in the summer of 2023 with his family, liberated by the post-pandemic shift to more remote working.
Alongside his career at the bar, Joe was a food entrepreneur - starting and running a British charcuterie business, opening a restaurant in Brixton, London, and running three critically acclaimed cafes in London - but he left all that behind when he moved to Suffolk, leaving space (in theory) to be a governor!
He is a season ticket holder at Norwich City FC and long-suffering fan, and a very keen cricketer. |
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Dr Simon Carter |
Simon worked for many years in technology fields such as Electronics and Telecommunications. Since retiring, he has also worked as a personal tutor at a local Secondary school and given 1:1 private tuition in Maths and Science. He has lived in Woodbridge for over 30 years with his wife, Beverley. Simon has very fond memories of Kyson since both his children attended, though they are now grown up, and have children of their own. He therefore sees it as a great privilege to become involved again with this happy & vibrant school and is particularly keen to help support the teaching of Maths and Science.
Simon spends much time on Grand-parenting duties but can often be found playing tennis at Woodbridge Tennis Club, where he is a committee member. His other main passion is for classical music. |
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Mrs Laura Dolan
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Laura is married to Peter and they have three children. The boys are all now at Farlingaye, but all of them attended Kyson from an early age.
Laura has worked in the school office as the school adminstrator and more recently the business manager for 16 years. Laura was also the Governor clerk up until recently when she joined the Governing body as an Associate member. In her free time, Laura enjoys walking, reading and spending time with family and friends. |
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Mrs Fiona Fossett
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Fiona is a committed member of the teaching team at Kyson, working at the school since September 2007.
In her free time, Fiona enjoys spending time with her husband and two teenage children. |
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Mrs Frances Gilman
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Frances was originally elected as Parent Governor in November 2021 and then as a Co-Opted in November 2025.
She is married to Ben and they have two children, one of whom is at Kyson and the other at Farlingaye. |
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Mr Tom Gunson
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Tom became Headteacher at Kyson in September 2019. Previously Tom had been the Deputy Headteacher at Kyson from February 2014.
As a teacher, Tom is passionate about building fluency in children’s mathematics, using books and film to inspire writing and enjoys nothing more than sharing a great story with the children.
Outside of school, Tom is married with two young daughters, enjoys a variety of sports and the opportunity to learn something new. |
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Mrs Ruth Leach
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I was co-opted onto the Board of Governors in March, 2024 as a result of my role as the Suffolk County Councillor for Woodbridge.
In my earlier career I trained and qualified as a General Nurse, I then trained and practiced as a Midwife and went on to specialise in Trauma and Emergency Nursing Care, finally achieving a degree in Intensive Care Nursing. After many exciting years in the profession, I changed path and pursued my love of visual media and became a professional photographer.
I have run a successful photography business for 20 years and now share this experience as a teacher at GCSE level at a local high school.
I have a huge love of nature and the outdoors; I particularly enjoy our beautiful countryside and everything that the river Deben has to offer in terms of recreational activity. To support this environment, I co-founded the ‘Save the Deben’ campaign group in 2022 to campaign for an improvement in local water quality and since 2023 I am a member of the Woodbridge Town Council.
I have 3 children, the youngest of which is heading off to University in September, and two grandchildren. I have been a parent of the child with an unseen disability and have experienced both the joy and challenge that neurodiversity can bring to the student and their family.
If I could achieve one thing as a governor it would be to make going to school such a happy experience, in a system that caters well for individual needs, that school avoidance becomes a thing of the past and children can achieve their true, individual level of attainment. I believe Kyson Primary is the school that will get that right. |
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Mrs Kara Robinson
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Kara has three children all of which have attended Kyson for their education having been doing the Kyson school run for the past eleven years.
Kara lives with her partner Stacey, the children and a growing family of pets which currently is a dog and two cats “but there is always room for more”.
Being a mental health first aider wellbeing is important therefore Kara spends her spare time whilst not working full time as a civil servant enjoying playing rugby for the local women’s team along with family adventures. |
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Mr John Southgate |
John has held various finance/banking positions within the City for over 22 years. The pandemic-induced shift to more flexible working has enabled him and his family to make the dream move to Woodbridge, and they have never looked back!
His current work sees him heading an outsourcing business within a large US bank, overseeing areas such as product strategy, capital planning and regulatory compliance. His motivation for becoming a governor was to help keep Kyson special and support the teachers and governing body. He is relishing the opportunity to apply some of his commercial knowledge for the benefit of the school.
John and his wife, Emma, have two young boys. The eldest started Kyson in 2021 and the other will be joining in 2023. John has many interests, which he sometimes manages to participate in, including fishing, sailing, cooking and playing the drums. He is also a passionate football and cricket fan, despite being an awful player of both. |
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Mr Mark Vince
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Mark grew up in Woodbridge spent some time working and travelling overseas before returning.
He has a young son who attends Kyson. Mark believes school is about preparing children for the realities and challenges they will face during their lifetime. He believes that in tandem with striving for academic excellence the education system must deliver key life skills such as communication, innovation, improvisation, creativity, resilience and self-discipline through a varied curriculum of academic challenges and cultural activities.
Mark’s passion is sport. As a child you name it, he played it. More recently he has completed thirteen international marathons and has come out of retirement to play for Woodbridge Cricket Club. Mark is delighted to take on the responsibility of PE monitoring Governor at Kyson as promoting and encouraging physical and mental wellbeing from an early age is fundamental to tackling life challenges. |
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Mr Ben Ward
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Ben became Deputy Head Teacher at Kyson in September 2019. Previously, Ben has worked in a variety of schools, including an inner city London school and a British International school in Panama.
Ben is passionate about giving opportunities to children in taking ownership of their learning; equipping them with the tools to support them both now and in the future,
Outside of school, Ben is married and has two young children; he enjoys spending time being active and outside with his family. He also enjoys watching and participating in wide variety of sports. |
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To view the Kyson Local Governing Board constitution and statutory information, such as Governor Attendance Records, Business Interests and Conflicts of Interests, please refer to the Governance area of the Trust website here.
All agendas and minutes are available upon request (excepting confidential documents). Please contact mail@eastmat.org stating the documents you are requesting.
