Russet House School

Headteacher

Caroline Davies

Caroline has been an Enfield Governor for 5 years at a mainstream primary school and was Chair of Governors for 4 years. She is a Magistrate sitting on the North London Bench, and is also a Trustee of Attigo Academy in Enfield.  She worked for over 30 years as a corporate lawyer in global companies.  Caroline enjoys studying and reading history, gardening and Pilates.

Ann has been a Community Governor since 2003 and is the Vice-Chair, Chair of the Standards, Targets and Assessment Committee (STAC)  and is also on the Pay Committee. She is a Speech and Language Therapist in Haringey and has a particular interest in autism and working in schools with children who have communication needs.

Lorraine White has been a Teaching Assistant in the school since 2009 and a Staff Governor since 2014. Lorraine is on the STAC Committee and is very involved in the school community.  She has a particular interest in creating imaginative displays of the children's work around school. She also enjoys developing active games to play with the pupils in break times.

Graham Kilwin has been a class teacher at Russet House School since June 2014. Prior to this he worked as a class teacher in Mainstream Primary, teaching in both, Key Stage 1 and 2. Having a First Degree and Masters in Fine Art, he is acutely aware of the importance of the creative possibilities for learning and the development of Life skills and how this can be combined to provide the broadest possible experiences for our children at Russet House to develop and thrive. Currently, through his Phase Leader role, he says he has the opportunity to see such creative practice from all staff on a daily basis, which he finds truly inspiring.

Karen Bence has three high functioning autistic sons and has lived in Enfield all her life. She volunteers much of her time to Enfield special schools; she has 12 years’ experience of being a school governor in different Enfield schools and is also the Chair of Friends of Russet House School and the Chair of a Parent and Teacher Association at another Enfield Special School. Karen is passionate about special educational needs, and a great believer in developing the children’s independence in order to help them reach their full potential. Karen describes how she joined Russet House school as a Governor in autumn 2018 and loved the ethos of the school; being part of the Governing Body enables her to help build our children’s future.

Tee Richards is a mum to two children who attend Russet House School. She runs the Abundant Living with Autism (ALWA) play-scheme from Russet House for children with autism and SEND during the school holidays and is also on the Committee of the Friends of Russet House School. Tee states that she believes parents views should be heard, understood and reflected in the governance of Russet. She decided to become a governor as she wanted to be able to make a positive contribution to the school and to play an active role in continuing to support the schools vision and ethos.

Ros Allison

Ros arrived at the School in June 2018, initially to help out after our School Business Manager left. She has a wide knowledge of the education system and has worked within the education sector – primary, secondary, further and adult – for over 40 years. She was co-opted onto the Governing Body in May 2019 as the Finance Governor. Ros has a high functioning autistic grandson and is very interested in youngsters developing their potential, despite the many hurdles they may face.

Liz Thomas

Liz is a mum to twin boys who attend Russet House School and joined the Governing Body in 2022. Liz works for the NHS as a psychologist and loves reading, gardening and taking long walks. She is very pleased to have been chosen for the Governor role as it allows her to represent parents' insights and concerns to decision makers. Liz looks forward to speaking with parents regularly and contributing to the well-being and education of our children.