Education for the non-education governor

Alex Mitchell

Head of AGBIS International and Consultancy

Alex Mitchell's career spans 38 years in the maintained and, predominantly, independent sectors including day, boarding, single sex, co-ed, tied and standalone schools. After many years as a Director of Music in several schools, including Haberdashers' Girls' School in Elstree and the Loughborough Foundation Schools in the East Midlands, he became Headmaster of Holmwood House School in Colchester, Essex in 2009 for 12 years. During that time, Alex was Chairman of the IAPS East Anglia district. Since 2002, Alex built up 24 years' experience as an ISI inspector and, since 2019, has been a Reporting Inspector for UK and international inspections. Until recently, Alex was a governor of an independent school in Hertfordshire and is currently a governor of a British international boarding school in Africa. Having undertaken reviews of governance, he now leads the AGBIS International programme as well as coordinating consultancy services for both UK and international member schools.

 

Virginia Parkes

Deputy CEO and Director of Professional Development, AGBIS

Virginia (Ginny) Parkes commenced her career in education 20 years ago, when she initially taught ICT and business studies up to, and including, A Level.  After several years in teaching, Ginny moved into a consultancy based role before joining the Department for Education, initially as Head of Digital Engagement for the Training and Development Agency (TDA) before moving on as a Senior Communications Advisor for the DfE.  Following the birth of her two daughters, Ginny took up the role of Education Strategy Director for an educational trust in Greater Manchester, before eventually taking up her previous role as Director of Finance & Operations (Bursar) at Beech Hall School in Cheshire.  Ginny is an experienced governance professional, having sat as a governor for several schools throughout her career, as well as holding the position of Director of Governance for a large complex FE college group in South Yorkshire.  Ginny is now a Trustee of the Sir John Brunner Foundation in Cheshire.  In addition to being a qualified teacher, Ginny also holds a first degree in Business Management and a MSc. in Technology Enhanced Learning, Innovation & Change. Ginny’s role within AGBIS draws on her experience as a teacher, governance professional and independent school bursar enabling her to support member schools’ governing bodies.