Governors' Information
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Rodney J Fox MA CMath FIMA (Chairman) Rodney Fox was appointed to the Board in November 1999 and was elected its Chairman in June 2006.
He was educated at Brighton College and the universities of Edinburgh, where he read mathematics, and Oxford, where he studied education.
He later taught mathematics at Epsom and Brighton College before going on to become Headmaster of King Edward's School, Witley, Surrey, from which he retired in 2000. He is a former chairman of the Eastern Division of HMC and is still a member of the HMC working group to promote links with Central and Eastern Europe. He now works part-time as a reporting inspector for the Independent Schools Inspectorate.
Rodney is an Anglican Licensed Reader responsible for overseeing the training of Readers on the Isle of Wight, and has interests in sailing, travel, reading and his grandchildren. He is a Governor of four schools.
He lives on the Isle of Wight and is married to Susan; they have two married children and four grandchildren.
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Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Guy Acland Bt LVO DL
Sir Guy Acland was appointed to the Board in June 2001.
He has had a distinguished career in the army with the Royal Artillery retiring in 1994 as a Lieutenant-Colonel. He then became Deputy Master of the Royal Household responsible for domestic arrangements in the Royal Palaces.
Sir Guy is married to Chrissie and they live on the Island: they have two grown up sons. Now fully retired, he is Vice Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight and President of the Isle of Wight scouts. He has interests in sailing, gardening, country pursuits and music.
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Mrs N Beckett
Nishais a recent, and enthusiastic Island resident, having moved to Seaview at the end of 2008. Her children have happily settled in Ryde School.
She is a journalist, with over two decades experience at the BBC. Following the family’s move to the Isle of Wight, Nisha continues to work as a news presenter with BBC World News - now in a freelance capacity. Outside the TV studio, she hosts conferences, makes speeches and coaches executives and individuals in public speaking. Recently, Nisha started a blog - www.nishapillai.com/blog - ranging from journalism to speeches and Island Life.
Unlike her children, Nisha neither sails nor rides but is a keen walker and can be seen most afternoons striding along Priory Bay.
She grew up in Mumbai and visits India regularly to see friends and family.
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Ray Bradbury MA
Ray Bradbury was appointed to the Board in June 2005; he is Chairman of the Education Committee.
Ray was born in 1945 and studied at Manchester University and the University of London. He qualified as a teacher in 1967 and spent the next 38 years teaching in a total of six schools in the maintained sector. In 1984 he was appointed as Headmaster of King’s School, Winchester, a comprehensive school with over 1800 pupils. He was Headmaster for 21 years retiring in 2005.
He has recently been re-engaged by Hampshire County Council working at a school in Andover.
His wife Averil is a Classics teacher. Ray has four children, two of whom attended Ryde School.
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Ms Cassandra (Rose) Clarke MA
Cassandra Clarke was elected to the Board of Governors in October 2007.
She originally comes from the Lake District and moved to the Isle of Wight on taking up an appointment in the School of Languages and Linguists, at the University of Portsmouth in 2002.
She studied Politics and Sociology at the University of York and then read Linguistics for a Masters at Lancaster University. She speaks fluent French, having bought and renovated a small cottage in France over thirty years ago, and has a basic ability in Arabic. Cassandra has worked in the field of education for over thirty years, starting her career in rural Norfolk.
She taught and lived in Paris, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, before returning to Britain to teach at Thames Valley University in London in 1993. The nature of her work has involved her in a number of consultancies for government bodies such as the former OECD and ODA, in countries ranging from Yemen to Belarus and Mexico.
Her professional interests are related to technology, language and globalisation, and is a regular presenter of papers at international conferences. Her interests include gardening, walking, cycling and local history.
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Dr M Legg BSc, MBBS
Michele Legg was appointed to the Board in June 2010.
She moved to the Island aged 10, attended the Convent, Ryde School being boys only; her brother Patrick attended Ryde. She studied medicine at UCH and Middlesex Medical School, qualifying in 1994, where she also obtained a degree in Neuroscience. She has worked on the Island as a GP since 2004.
Michele and her partner Andreas, also an Island GP, have two sons who attend Ryde School.
Michele’s interests include travel and long distance running.
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Chris Martin DPhil
Chris Martin attended Ryde School from 1972 to 1976.
He has a career in the finance and management of technology based
businesses and is currently Chief Executive of Spirogen Ltd, a University of London spin-off anti-cancer drug development company. He is also Chairman of Sciona Inc and a non-executive Director of a number of fund management and technology companies. He has worked for periods in the USA, Africa, the Far East and Russia. He has a first degree in Chemical Engineering, a DPhil in Engineering Science and an MBA. As a Sainsbury Management Fellow he has been involved in a number of initiatives to advance the quality of management training and experience provided to top engineering students and graduates in the UK.
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Anthony McIsaac MA DPhil
Anthony McIsaac is the grandson of the School's founder and as such is the hereditary Governor.
He read Mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge followed by a doctorate in philosophy at Oxford. He has researched mathematics at Cambridge and computer science at Edinburgh and Oldenburg in Germany. He taught mathematics at Dulwich College and at Richmond-upon-Thames Tertiary College between 1980 and 1991.
Since 1994 he has been a consultant engineer in microelectronics based in Bristol. He has responsibility for external R&D partnerships and has led a team based in Bristol, Grenoble and Tunis responsible for verifying the correctness of designs of chips for the consumer electronics market.
Anthony lives in Stratford upon Avon with his wife Sheena and they have two sons.
He enjoys choral singing and playing the viola. His wife Sheena is a senior lecturer in applied linguistics at Warwick University.
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Mrs E Millett BA
Emma attended Upper Chine School from 1969 until 1976, when she went on to join the Sixth Form at Ryde School. Since obtaining a degree in History of Art and English at Oxford Brookes University, she has followed a career in the Fine Arts, working for Christie’s Auctioneers, the Bridgeman Art Library, Rafael Valls Ltd (old master paintings) and more recently for her husband’s independent antiques business.
Her father was Headmaster of Ryde School from 1966 to 1984, when she and her sister enjoyed many benefits of growing up within the general life of the school, and they have many memories of their time on the Island.
Emma, her husband, Tim, and their two boys live in London and have a house in Ireland which they try to visit as often as possible. Her interests include theatre, exhibitions, reading and travel.
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Joanna Minchin
Joanna Minchin attended Upper Chine from 1980—1987 and is the nominee for the Upper Chine Old Girls’ Association. Her husband was at Ryde School from 1970-1977. After gaining a diploma at St Aldates Secretarial College, Oxford, Joanna went to work in New York City. She worked on sailing boats for several years, initially with the Ocean Youth Club in UK waters, then crewing in South America, Antarctica and the Mediterranean, before living in Zanzibar for two years.
In 2000, she started her own corporate events business, Wight Ventures, which she sold in 2005. She now organizes one annual event, The Wight Challenge, a sponsored cycling/running/canoeing charity event.
Joanna’s interests are sailing (she is a dinghy instructor and holds a yacht master ticket), skiing, tennis, cycling, playing the piano and reading. She and Robin have two children and live in Wellow in West Wight.
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Miss Caroline Pepys SRN RSCN SCM
Caroline Pepys joined the Board as an Upper Chine nominee in July 2003.
Caroline was educated at Upper Chine between 1955 and 1965 and remains a member of the Upper Chine Old Girls’ Association.
Having trained in London at Great Ormond Street and The London Hospital, Caroline became a State Registered Nurse in 1970 specialising in maternity work. She became a State Certified Midwife in March 1972.
Caroline has worked in South Africa and on return to the UK worked at the neo-natal unit at John Radcliffe Hospital Oxford until retirement. She served on a number of committees, including the Oxford Health Region Neo-Natal Intensive Care Advisory Group, the National and local Neo-Natal Nurses Association Executive and on the Area Child Protection Committee. She was also a member of the Nursing and Midwifery Policy Board in Oxford.
Caroline’s interests include furniture restoration, sewing, and is a churchwarden of St Peter’s Church, Wolvercote in Oxford.
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Ernest Poku BEng MBA
Ernest Poku joined the Board in June 2009.
Ernest was born in London and studied for his first degree in Mechanical Engineering at Bristol University. He is a Chartered Engineer and worked for a number of years in international oil exploration. During this time, he lived and worked in Vietnam and Bulgaria.
He graduated with an MBA in 2001 from the Rotterdam School of Management, where he was a Sainsbury Management Fellow. During his MBA he lived and worked on the Isle of Wight for a period as an intern for a technology company. He has subsequently been a founder and director of a number of medical device companies. He is currently CEO of Crescent Diagnostics.
Ernest and his wife Susan live in central London, where she works as an Occupation Therapist. Their interests include languages, travel and Tango dancing.
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