Our Governance

Our School » Our Governance

Effective governance is crucial to the success of schools and academy trusts. The Governance Guide sets out the key elements of effective governance as:

  • Strategic leadership that sets and champions vision, ethos and strategy;
  • Accountability that drives up educational standards and financial performance, and effectively manages risk;
  • People with the right skills, experience, qualities and capacity;
  • Structures which reinforce clearly defined roles and responsibilities;
  • Compliance with statutory and contractual requirements; and
  • Evaluation to monitor and improve the quality and impact of governance.

Our LGB includes parents (elected by the school's parent body), members of staff (elected by the school staff) and co-opted local governors (appointed by the local governing body and/or the Trustees, because they have the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school).
 

What the LGB does
The school is overseen by the Board of Trustees for the Quality First Education Trust. The board delegates some governance functions to the LGB, as outlined in our scheme of delegation, which can be found on the Q1E Trust website. Our LGB works as a team of local governors to challenge, monitor and support the school, to make sure it provides a good quality education for its pupils. 

In addition to attending meetings, local governors may take on a link or lead role for an aspect of the school. As part of this link role, they will undertake pre-arranged visits and/or work with members of staff to monitor particular aspects of provision, and report back to the LGB. 

Contacting the LGB
If you wish to contact the local governing body you can write to us, care of the school office. Bring or send your letter to the school, marked for the attention of the Chair of the Local Governing Body, or email us at info@newkings.q1e.org.uk marked F.A.O. Local Governing Body. However, please be aware that concerns should be managed in accordance with the school concerns and complaints policy, which means that local governors will not act unilaterally and may refer issues back to the school.

Declaration of interests

It is important that all those involved in governance act impartially. All those involved in school governance have a responsibility to avoid any conflict between their business and personal interests and affairs, and those of the school and the Trust. We keep a register of business interests for the LGB and maintain signed individual statements. In addition, individuals have a duty to declare any interest that could lead to questions of bias, when considering any item of business at a meeting and to withdraw, if necessary, whilst the matter is considered.

The register of interests for our Members and Trustees can be found on the Q1E Trust website. 

Meet the Local Governing Body

Sam Merullo - (Chair)

Sam works in Venture Capital having founded, run and exited successful businesses in the UK and USA. Amongst a number of roles, he is currently a Mentor at the Founder Institute and a Venture Scout at Backed VC. He started his career as a lawyer for the magic circle law firm, Allen & Overy LLP, having been educated at Durham University, BPP Law School and the College of Law. Sam joined as a Governor in 2012 and is now a local governor of New King's Road School.

 

Dr Charlotte Vidal-Hall - (Vice Chair)

Charlotte joined the Local Governing Body in May 2023. She was a governor at a primary school in Hammersmith and Fulham for 15 years and was chair of governors for 5 years. Charlotte has lived in Hammersmith and Fulham since 1979 and has 4 grown up children who attended primary school in the borough. She was an early years and primary school teacher in nursery and primary schools in Hammersmith for 15 years before becoming an educational researcher.

 

Alka Bali

Alka was born in Mumbai and grew up in India. She moved to London with her husband and worked in Investment Banking in London for over 30 years. In 2014, she became Governor of a secondary school in Ealing which grew into a multi-academy trust of which she was also a trustee until 2023. In 2017, Alka decided to leave Investment Banking, to train as a maths teacher and completed her Post Graduate Certificate in Education. She is currently a volunteer maths tutor and works with students who need help with their GCSE exams. She is also a director of their family-owned hotel management business. She has two grown-up sons and has lived in Fulham for more than 25 years.

 

Karen Carpenter

Karen Carpenter is an Elected Staff Local Governor.

 

Cem Dedeaga

Cem Dedeaga is a Partner at Oliver Wyman, a leading global management consulting firm. Born in Cyprus and educated in the United States, Cem has built his career in the United Kingdom, starting at Goldman Sachs before joining Oliver Wyman. With a deep commitment to education as a catalyst for social mobility, Cem is passionate about creating equal opportunities for all students. Outside of his professional endeavours, Cem is the proud father of two daughters and resides in the vibrant neighbourhood of South Kensington. Cem's personal experiences and values shape his unwavering dedication to fostering an inclusive and enriching educational environment for all students. As a newly elected governor in 2023, Cem brings his extensive expertise in finance and his passion for education to the school community.

 

Aliya Hershi

Aliya Hershi is an Elected Parent Local Governor.

 

Jennifer Yang-Meslet

Jenny is an Elected Parent Local Governor. Jenny has a BSc Biological Sciences from Imperial College London as well as an MSc Public Health Administration from University of Montreal. She has worked in public health for over 20 years, both within the NHS and its compliance and regulation, and in management consulting at Deloitte, where she led national digital transformation programmes. She now manages her own consultancy business that focuses on clinical safety and digital technology assessments for the wider healthcare ecosystem. Jenny is passionate about ensuring that the school provides an inclusive, supportive, and high-quality learning environment for children; and her family has been a part of the school community for over 6 years. Her main areas of focus are sustainability as a Climate Ambassador and safeguarding. 


All company documents for the Quality First Education Trust can be found here.
 

Governor Register of Business and Pecuniary Interests

Governor Meeting Attendance Records