Meet The Steering Group

Chair - Sarah Wynde

Sarah was a parent governor at Guildford County School from 2013 to 2022, and its Chair of Governors for three years. Sarah grew up in Guildford, lives locally with her husband and three children, who are current/past students at Guildford County. She has a passion for helping young people and educators to raise their aspirations and achieve more than they thought possible.  She is excited about partnering with the Trust and Surrey University to open the new Surrey Maths School.

Sarah began her career as a health psychologist, then held global HR leadership roles at Mars and Vodafone. She set up her own talent consultancy in 2012, and delivers leadership and team development, executive coaching, facilitates teams working on complex business challenges and consults on talent strategy. Clients include adidas, Bacardi, Pandora, Centrica and Atkins. She is also a pro-bono consultant with Impetus PEF who partner with charities to upscale their provision of services supporting disadvantaged children and young people from cradle to career, to help unlock their full potential. She is fascinated by applied neuroscience, has recently learnt how to upholster chairs and loves walking her dog in the Surrey Hills.

Clerk - Gina Barlow

Gina is the Clerk to the Board of Governors.

She lives near Guildford with her husband and three children. Before taking a career break to look after her young family, Gina was a senior employment lawyer at City law firm CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP, having trained and worked at the firm for over 13 years.

Gina is the Clerk to the Governing Board of another school within Learning Partners Trust and also volunteers as a family support visitor with the charity Home-Start UK, supporting two local families.

Ian Roulstone - Partnership Governor

Ian is Head of Department of Mathematics at the University of Surrey, where he has held a teaching and research position since 2004.  Prior to this Ian gained 15 year of research and leadership experience in the scientific civil service.  He has been the co-theme leader in the National Centre for Earth Observation since 2008.

Andrew Roach

Andrew is the Director of Education for Learning Partners Academy Trust. Andrew has significant experience of secondary school leadership including a number of years as a Senior Deputy Headteacher in a large north London comprehensive.  In addition, he has been a facilitator for the National College of School Leadership delivering LfTM, Leadership Pathways through the Institute of Education and most recently as Lead Facilitator for STSN’s NPQSL programme. He is also an on-line facilitator supporting the NPQ suite of courses.  Andrew is currently delivering the ECF in George Abbot School’s role as a Regional Delivery Partner on behalf of South Farnham Teaching School hub and acting as the Appropriate Body for all secondary ECTs.

He has been a Leadership Development Advisor of the Fast Track and the Accelerate to Headship programmes.  Between 2016-21, he was employed as the Director of the Teaching School alongside his role as Director of Education.

Areas of expertise: Provision and delivery of school-based and external training. bespoke workshops and training programmes.  Coaching support, career consultations and interview support for Deputy Headteachers and Headteachers.

Gwen Feng

Gwen's educational journey began at King's Maths School, where she was a member of the very first class. 

After completing her Master's in Civil and Architectural Engineering, Gwen ventured into bridge design with Mott MacDonald, contributing to significant construction projects. Her career later transitioned into the tech sector, still serving the construction industry and mesmerised by the complexity of delivering megaprojects on time. During her university years, she led the Inclusivity Office for the student union, delivered an engineering program to pupils aged 16-18 for three years, and spearheaded partnerships that helped young entrepreneurs secure their initial funding and opportunities.

Being an alumna of King's Maths School uniquely positions Gwen to understand SuMS's mission and the critical role mathematics could play for students. Gwen's perspective as both a beneficiary and an exemplar of the school's values equips her with the insight and empathy needed to guide the school's future directions effectively. Her diverse experiences, from leading inclusivity initiatives to fostering young talent in engineering and entrepreneurship, further enrich her ability to contribute meaningful insights and leadership to the educational community.

James Boyce

James is a pilot for British Airways, and, in addition to a first-class BA (Hons) in Air Transport Management, he was awarded he was awarded a distinction in his Master of Business Administration (MBA). 

James has extensive entrepreneurial experience covering property management and online retail. Most recently, he founded Access-air-bility, an organisation whose mission is to make air travel more accessible for passengers with disabilities, aligned with his passion for disability inclusion. He also has a range of professional memberships. In addition to being a member of Mensa, he is a Fellow of the Society of Crematorium Organists and, in 2022, became the youngest Fellow of the National Federation of Church Musicians. He is also a Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society, bringing with him many industry contacts that could support the professional development of Surrey Maths School students.

Marina Kovaleva - Associate Governor

Marina has undertaken a BEng and PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Cardiff University, with her research focusing on ammonia and hydrogen as renewable fuels. During her PhD, she co-designed and assembled test rigs to collect emissions data for new and alternative fuels. Before her PhD, she worked in a variety of unconventional STEM jobs ranging from programming AI-based simulation software, to quality and environmental engineering in the nickel superalloy manufacturing industry.

Marina’s interest in education began when started to develop new ways for young people to learn practical STEM skills. She formed her start-up company, Tinkerstruct, to work in collaboration with teachers and industry professionals to understand their problems, run workshops and develop products to solve their education challenges. She hopes to bring a fresh perspective on innovation at SuMS and to help young people to succeed in the workforce of the future.

Elvera Lo

Elvera is a seasoned management consultant at PricewaterhouseCooper in the UK. She helps financial services clients from startups to incumbents to develop corporate strategy and sustainable operating models in midst of the changing technology and risk landscape. Her international career started from corporate roles in Hong Kong to multiple project roles in the Middle East and Africa. 

She was born and raised in Hong Kong where she received her Bachelor of Science. She also obtained a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD in France. She is keen to bring her perspectives as an immigrant and a member of a mixed-culture household after living in the country for 7 years and proudly calling it home. 

She is passionate about promoting equity and justice for under-represented groups, and she believes that STEM is one of the key areas to promote social mobility. She is also an amateur double bassist, cross-country cyclist and ultimate frisbee player that never finds enough time for her hobbies. Most of her free time nowadays is spent with her toddler son. 

Pat Warner - Partnership Governor

Pat Warner began her career teaching Mathematics in secondary schools and pursued her Open University Degree whilst bringing up her three daughters. Her passion for Mathematics combined with the psychology of students from a variety of disciplines has given her a unique style of teaching which is reflected in grade improvement both in secondary education and one to one tuition with family and friends.

She currently lectures in Mathematics at the University of Surrey in the Engineering Faculty and more recently, in the Computing faculty. 

Outside of work Patricia is studying for her master's in mathematics with the Open University . She enjoys gardening, theatre, live music, needlework, cooking and travelling - especially to her native roots of Italy.

Neil Kirby - Staff Governor

Neil Kirby was born in London, spending his formative years in Surrey and the home counties, with a couple of years in Australia - where he learnt to swim, play cricket and make a real BBQ.

He was inspired to study chemistry by his high school chemistry teacher and hopes to pass on this enthusiasm for the subject to his own students, especially in the practical activities where the chemistry comes alive.

On completion of his doctorate in Chemistry, at the University of Sussex, Dr Kirby worked for Unilever as a Research Chemist, before moving to and IBM as a Materials Specialist. After several years in the electronics industry, working in China, USA and Europe, he retrained as a chemistry teacher and taught in schools in the UK and China, with senior roles as Head of Department and High School Principal.

He is very excited to be part of a new school, as it is an opportunity for the students and teachers to develop the school’s character and personality, as it becomes a place of excellence for STEM education in the post-16 sector.

In his spare time, he enjoys cycling, swimming, running, reading, visiting family and friends.