Meet the Governors

Dr John Couperthwaite

Chair of Governors

  • Member Appointed
  • Trustee
  • Expiry date 22.09.2026

Committees and special responsibilities:

  • Standards & Curriculum Committee
  • Pay and Admissions Committee
  • Link Governor for Maths Faculty, Educational Trips & Visits

I am an educational consultant specialising in e-learning.  My role is to help teachers understand the educational potential of digital technologies, in schools, colleges and universities. Previously, I worked as an Educational Technology Manager for the College of Medical and Dental Sciences at the University of Birmingham, providing a leadership role in technology enhanced learning. I am passionate about harnessing the power of digital technologies to improve student learning and development.

I became a governor because education has been at the heart of my working life for the past 20 years. I have previously been a governor in another West Midlands secondary school and enjoyed contributing to the development of the school. I have a daughter who is thoroughly enjoying her studies at KNGS and have been hugely impressed with the school since she started. It is therefore a real privilege to have the opportunity to contribute to the work of the school in my capacity as a governor.

Alongside my professional and governor roles, I have helped initiate and co-lead a West Midlands regional group focusing on digital technologies and sharing emerging practice between educational professionals. I also sail and coach juniors at a local sailing club, and I enjoy being a part of the local CBSO community choir, SO Vocal.

Ms Ally Sophia

Vice Chair of Governors & Chair of Standards & Curriculum Committee

  • Parent Elected
  • Trustee
  • Expiry date 15.11.2026

COMMITTEES AND SPECIAL RESBONSIBILITES

  • Standards and Curriculum Committee
  • Pay and Admissions Committee
  • Link Governor for Safeguarding & Pastoral Faculty (including anti-bullying)

I am a qualified secondary school teacher and have worked as part of the Safeguarding team. I am able to use my passion for academia by staying up to date with Safeguarding Updates and educational research. I believe this knowledge will be useful on the Governing body as I will be able to ask probing questions. Being a parent-elected Governor is a great way for me to use my skills to aid the local community.

Mrs Karen Reynolds

Chair of Resources Committee

      • Member Appointed
      • Trustee
      • Expiry date: 22.09.2026

Committees and special responsibilities:

      • Resources Committee
      • Pay & Admissions Committee
      • Link Governor for Arts Faculty & SEND

I am originally from Yorkshire and have lived locally in Birmingham for the past 20 years. I work as a Risk Analyst in the Financial Services sector. I have 3 children aged 18, 16 and 12. My youngest daughter has just started Year 8 at KNGS; my role as a Governor will give me the opportunity to play an active role in school life; shaping the future and helping to ensure that KNGS achieves its strategic objectives and short and long term plans.

My professional status as a Chartered Internal Auditor with 25 years + experience in the area of Risk Management and Internal Audit require me to be independent and objective and these attributes are key to the Governor role in relation to challenging and supporting the SLT at KNGS.

I’m new to the Education sector, although I have been an External Examiner at Birmingham City University, for the MSc Internal Audit Management and Consultancy programme for the past 4 and a half years. However a fresh pair of eyes is always beneficial and supports good governance.

In my spare time I enjoy attending music concerts and festivals, visiting the theatre and socialising with family and friends.

Professor Deborah Longworth

Vice Chair of Standards & Curriculum Committee

      • Member Appointed
      • Trustee
      • Expiry date: 16.12.2025

Committees and special responsibilities:

      • Standards & Curriculum Committee
      • Link Governor for English Faculty and Equality & Diversity

  • I am Professor of English Literature and Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at the University of Birmingham, a role I took up in January 2021. My specific remit focuses on all aspects of student academic experience and the student education journey, from transition to graduation, with attention to their teaching and learning, wellbeing, and personal development and employability. I also lead the University’s Fair Access and Participation Committee, and the Strategy Group for Aim Higher West Midlands, a partnership of local universities working to support learners who face a number of challenges to broaden their horizons and make informed decisions about their future educational and career choices. Prior to this I was Head of the Department of English Literature from 2017, and I still enjoy teaching regularly in the areas of nineteenth and early twentieth literature, women’s writing, and popular genre fiction.

    I was lucky to have incredibly inspiring teachers throughout my own school years, who nurtured a passion for literature and a strong belief in the value of the humanities. In my university career I am privileged to work every day with colleagues who are committed to providing an inclusive and transformative education, and students from a diverse range of backgrounds who are emerging from the pandemic with an excitement about the collaborative learning and educational opportunities opening up to them again after two years of severe disruption.

    I hope that as a governor I can bring my disciplinary skills and my education leadership experience to the support of KNGS, and to work with the wider team to help the school achieve its ambitions, providing every pupil with a supportive and caring learning environment in which they can flourish both intellectually and personally.

  • Mr Scott Bennett

    Vice Chair of Resources Committee

  • Member appointed
  • Trustee
  • Expiry date 05.12.2026

COMMITTEES AND SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Resources Committee
  • Link Governor for PE Faculty, GDPR and Health & Safety

  • I am a parent of a student at the school with her sibling to follow along in due course. Having enjoyed my experience as a parent governor in a primary school I was looking to step up and engage further with the educational system and support the leadership team at our daughters chosen secondary school. I am pleased to have this opportunity to bring my resources/facilities management and board level management experience to the governing board and hope to be able to contribute to the continued development of this already excellent school. My career in procurement and supply chain management has given me wide exposure to financial analysis, complex regulatory and governance environments such as defence and services provision to primary ministries such as Home Office and Education both in the UK and abroad and I am looking forward to upskilling on specific knowledge in the schools environment to better carry out the role of Trustee.

    Outside of work I coach both boys (under 10) and girls (under 12) rugby, support my son in his club rugby and my daughter in her developing netball activities. I am a keen advocate of team sports and the development of important life skills that derive from playing them such as resilience and self-confidence.

    Mrs Nicola Raggett

    Headteacher

  • Trustee

Committees & Special responsibilities:

  • Attends all committees plus Pay and Admissions
  • CEO & Accounting Officer

Mr John Abbott

  • Member Appointed
  • Member & Trustee
  • Expiry date 10.12.2023

Committees and special responsibilities:

  • Resources Committee
  • Link Governor for Sixth Form, CEIAG & Pupil Premium

As a life long resident of Birmingham and an Architect, I have always enjoyed contributing to local community life in a variety of ways.

I joined the Birmingham office of a local firm of Architects in 1989 after graduating from Cardiff UWIST and I am now a Director of the practice. Our work covers many sectors but particularly services relating to new build and refurbishment projects for both Primary and Secondary Schools nationally.

I first became a governor at St Mary’s C of E school while my two daughters were pupils there twelve years ago. When my youngest daughter left St Mary’s I became a sponsor Governor and have been Chair of Governors for the last five years. In this time I have contributed to changes which include the introduction of a completely new Senior Leadership Team and a 1FE building expansion.

KNGS has enabled my eldest daughter to maximise her potential and she left the school last year in 2015 to study Chemistry at Manchester University.  My youngest daughter has just finished her GCSE’s and progressed into the sixth form.

I welcome the opportunity now, as a Parent Governor of KNGS, to contribute to the strategic direction of the school while my youngest is still a pupil here. I relish the challenge that assisting in maintaining and improving standards in a secondary school environment will bring and hope to contribute, if only in a small way, to ensuring that all of the students develop and flourish in a safe, caring and educationally rich environment.

Ms Nahieda Bi

      • Staff Governor
      • Trustee
      • Expiry date: 15.07.2025

Committees and special responsibilities:

  • Standards & Curriculum Committee

I am Head of Keller House and a staff governor. I am immensely proud of being part of KNGS and supporting the school to deliver an exceptional service to our students.  It is a privilege to be part of the decision making process from which students can be aspired and receive the highest level of education.

I have three children of my own; two who have finished their education who now work in two very different fields and a new baby who has such an interesting, adventurous and exciting life ahead of him. They are confident individuals and it is the amazing contributions from professionals at school that have led to this and will also be impacting the key milestones baby Rumi will experience. Therefore, I am a strong believer of ‘getting it right’ for our students as the impact of this is seen through the rest of these young people’s lives as well as ‘getting it right’ for a new technology based generation.

Before joining KNGS, I have been privileged to have worked in varied settings; primary and secondary schools as well as the wider community through outreach work, community development projects and supporting families who have been affected with mental health.

In addition to this, I have worked closely with the police services to deliver the ‘Safe Haven’ programme to young people who are at risk of gang affiliation.

In my spare time, I am an avid student and am currently completing my Masters in Learning and Teaching. I must also share that I am an amateur gardener and hope to learn to ‘grow’ in all my roles.

I am very excited and looking forward to our future here at KNGS and hope to support in every way.

Ms Artemis Stamboulis

  • Member Appointed
  • Trustee
  • Expiry date 05.12.2026

COMMITTEES AND SPECIAL RESBONSIBILITES

  • Standards and Curriculum Committee
  • Link Governor for MFL Faculty

I am Professor of Biomaterials at the University of Birmingham. I am passionate about my research. I am developing antimicrobial materials and I care that my research has an impact on our society and helps to improve and transform people’s lives. I moved to the UK 25 years ago from Greece and I have been living in Birmingham since 2005. I am a mother of two young children who still go to primary school. Their education is important to me and having been educated abroad myself, I have a great interest in influencing the British education system by bringing a different point of view. I am very proud and honoured to be one of the governors of this school and what I hope is that I will be able to contribute to the continuous improvement of the education provided. I am very much interested in supporting the scientific community of the school. I always believed that high quality education is for all.

Mr Ilkem Yildiz

  • Member Appointed
  • Trustee
  • Expiry date 05.12.2026

COMMITTEES AND SPECIAL RESBONSIBILITES

  • Resources Committee
  • Link Governor for Science Faculty

I am a father of twin girls, one proud to be a student of KNGS. Professionally, I look after energy procurement at Cadbury as it’s known in the UK, Mondelez International. My role’s responsibility is finding business partners, holding large sourcing events and negotiating contracts in over 21 countries in Europe where Mondelez has a chocolate, biscuits, gum or candy manufacturing plant. My career started back in Turkey where I acquired a Masters degree in automative/industrial engineering. I have 18 years of corporate supply chain experience, worked in planning, manufacturing, project management and procurement. I am very passionate about supporting children who aspire to a similar corporate career.

Professor Philip Young

  • Parent elected
  • Trustee
  • Expiry date 15.11.2026

COMMITTEES AND SPECIAL RESBONSIBILITES

  • Standards and Curriculum Committee
  • Link Governor for Humanities Faculty

I am a Professorial Teaching Fellow in the School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick. I am the Director of Educational Analytics, with an educational focus on curriculum design, constructive alignment and award gap analysis. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB) and am one of only 12 UK-based RSB Fellows who sit on the RSBs National Education and Science Policy Committee (ESP). One of the main roles of the ESP is to provide RSB-responses to bioscience-related Government white papers.

I have a direct and active interest in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. I sit on both the SLS and Warwick Athena Swan committee and I am a national RSB D&I Ambassador. My research is currently focused on attainment gaps introduced during lockdown in neurodiverse students.

Mr Douglas Sembuuze

  • Member appointed
  • Trustee
  • Expiry date 27/02/2028

COMMITTEES AND SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Standards and Curriculum Committee
  • Link governor role to be confirmed

(Profile & Photo to follow)

Mrs Karen Ward

  • Member Appointed
  • Member

My daughter attended KNGS and continued into the sixth form.

For the past nine years I have worked full-time as Practice Accountant for a firm of architects in the jewellery quarter in Birmingham. We have seven practices in the UK and one in India. I have responsibility for all of the finances and HR. I particularly enjoy the job-costing side of my role and  often explain financial implications to non-financial staff.

I became a governor in 2014 as I have been impressed with the school since my daughter joined in Year 7.   I am passionate about education, wishing to see that every child reaches their maximum potential, developing into a  well-rounded, confident adult who will make their way in the world. I believe that my financial and HR experience allows me to add a commercial bias to my role as a Governor

Mr Paul Fellows

  • Member Appointed
  • Member

I work for Lloyds Banking Group, I first joined in 2010 as a Temporary member of staff following graduation from Birmingham City University studying Criminal Justice and Psychology. I currently work as an Audit & Regulatory Compliance Manager and have vast experiences in Standards, Policies, Risk & Control.

I have always been a resident in Birmingham and try to support local communities and charities as much as possible.  I was initially given exposure to KNGS through the fantastic partnership and mentoring programme that Lloyds Banking Group started with the school as part of Business in the Community.  The Mentoring Programme is designed to stretch and challenge the pupils to be proactive in their own development.  The aim is to get them to think of their future; the exciting opportunities ahead of them and how they can achieve them.

The enthusiasm shown by the pupils during these sessions drove me to want to support the school in other ways and that is when the position for governor came about.   I’m excited in being able to bring to the school and governing body my experiences from such a large organisation. Hopefully these insights will enable the school to further develop their already high standards.

  • Mrs Ursula Doerry

      • Member Appointed
      • Member
  • My youngest daughter joined KNGS in 2019 and my other daughter has left Kings Norton Sixth Form after her A Levels.  Over the years I have been impressed by the responsiveness and support by the teachers and other staff at the school.

Professionally I am a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist (i.e. I have medical responsibility for young people with significant mental health problems) and have been working in the NHS in Worcestershire for the last 17 years. I am frequently working with schools and I am very aware through my job but also through the literature that schools have an important role in helping young people to lead fulfilled and successful lives. As a doctor I am aware of the importance of academic achievement, but research tells us that our happiness as adults is not dependent so much on qualifications and income, but more on quality of relationships and the kind of community we live in. Which secondary school we go to is an important predictor of emotional wellbeing in adulthood.

I am excited to be part of a governing team that has a positive vision for the future of our children.  In my job I am a senior member of a multi-disciplinary team and I also have managerial experience, having served as clinical director. I am used to asking pertinent questions and keeping my patient’s or the children’s well-being at the centre of any decisions taken.

Mrs Penny Webb

(Profile to follow)

  • Member