Governors
The Chair of Governors can be contacted via the School Office, 94, Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross, SL9 8JQ.
Our Chairman of the Board of Governors is Derek Wilson.
Derek has been Chairman of the Board of Governors of St Mary’s since 2007. He first became a Governor in 1995 whilst his daughter was at the School. He trained as a Chartered Accountant with Deloittes in London and Geneva and held various financial appointments in several industries including senior positions in Wilkinson Match and Cadbury Schweppes.
He became Finance Director of Slough Estates in 1986 and its Chief Executive in 1995, retiring from business in 2002. He was a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of The National Society for Epilepsy from 2003 until 2014.
The Governing Body is made up of:
Christine Bayliss – Retired Headmistress and education advisor
Christine trained and taught as a Primary School teacher in the UK before moving to Germany with her husband and two small daughters. She worked for the Frankfurt International School there for 25 years, initially teaching Year 4 but then as Head of a new satellite campus in Wiesbaden, overseeing its growth to an enrolment of 300 students. As a member of the Senior Management Team, Christine’s responsibilities included strategic planning, curriculum development and assessment, appointment and appraisal of faculty as well as community and public relations and management of buildings and grounds.
She has carried out many evaluations of other schools across the world for the Council of International Schools (CIS). On her return to the UK, whilst no longer working full time, Christine is still involved in school evaluation for CIS and works as an independent educational consultant in the UK and overseas.
Dr Devinder Bansi – Consultant Gastroenterologist and Senior Interventional Endoscopist
Dr Bansi joined St Mary’s School Governors in March 2022, his daughter was a student at the school.
Dr Devinder Bansi is a consultant gastroenterologist and senior interventional endoscopist at Imperial College London. He is also an honorary senior lecturer and a senior member of the consultant staff there as well as a former lead for interventional endoscopy at the Trust. He has extensive experience in gastroenterology as well as diagnostic and advanced therapeutic endoscopy including ERCP and bariatric/metabolic endoscopy which also forms a major part of his research interest. He is one of the leading experts in bariatric endoscopy in London and in the UK, with particular expertise in the management of complications after bariatric surgery as well as the use of endoscopy methods to achieve weight loss. He has extensive experience using the Apollo Overstitch device and is a proctor for the company, regularly teaching and training other doctors both in the UK and abroad in using the technique.
He was formerly a member of the Hammersmith Hospital’s Research Committee and is an educational supervisor for training of junior doctors, as well as undergraduate medical students. He is a trained consultant mentor for junior consultant colleagues, an examiner for the undergraduate Imperial Medical School and representative for the Royal College of physicians in consultant appointment committees.
David Campkin – Chartered Accountant and Head of Tax for DAZN
David is a Chartered Accountant, recently retired. He spent most of his career looking after the tax affairs of the BBC, responsible for its global tax footprint and transactions. More recently, David helped launch DAZN, a global live sports streaming service. Originally from Birmingham, David studied mathematics at Exeter University.
He has worked in professional practice for both KPMG and PwC, and was a regular speaker at specialist tax seminars in the UK and overseas. He has also sat on the A&R Committee at the Royal Agricultural University. David lives locally, is married to Laraine, a former Gerrards Cross Councillor, and has two children. Danielle studied at St Mary’s and Ryan now works in the City.
David enjoys golf and travel, and is Finance Lead for the Governing body.
Stephanie Clifford – Former Deputy Headteacher
Stephanie trained as a teacher at The Institute of Education, London University in 1999. She has taught across a diverse mix of primary and secondary schools, in both the state and maintained sectors. She has been Head of Geography in more than one school and a primary school Deputy Head. For several years she represented Independent Schools on the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children Board; she takes a keen interest in safeguarding and the mental health of young people. She balances school life with enthusiasm for the natural world, hiking and sustainable travel.
In July 2017 Stephanie travelled to southern India to explore the culture, history and landscape, and to volunteer with Acts of Hope School (a charitable free school for 440 urban poor children), teaching KS2 and KS3, and sharing her teaching and management expertise with the staff. She is a Scout Leader for the youngest section and has recently worked with scouts age 16-18. Stephanie has three daughters who have all attended St Mary’s.
Anne Freeman – Lawyer
Anne started her communications and public relations consulting career in Canada having received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1985. She was part of a team that developed strategies for a wide array of clients including a province-wide outreach programme dealing with parental involvement in state education, the restructuring of a national broadcaster and the restructuring of state funded health care within a Canadian province. At the start of a second career, Anne returned to England in 1995, completed a law degree at the University of Buckingham and trained in London with international firm LLGM (becoming Dewey LeBoeuf) qualifying into its bank and finance team in 2001 before joining Norton Rose in 2002.
Following several years with Norton Rose in both London and Paris, she relocated to Bermuda to take up a position with international offshore firm Conyers Dill & Pearman where she took the lead in secured lending transactional work including multi-jurisdictional restructurings and reorganisations. Having returned to England in 2015, Anne now practices law via contract consultancy primarily for financial institutions and lives in Gerrards Cross.
Marina Hall – Founder of a Public Relations Agency – the PHA Group
Marina graduated from Cambridge University, where she studied Natural Sciences. She obtained a post graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and European Competition Law from Queen Mary University and qualified as a Chartered and European Patent Attorney, becoming a Partner in Elkington and Fife in 1995. Among her clients were Dow Corning. After her son William was born Marina joined the Intellectual Property department at Reckitt Benckiser until 2005 when she set up PR Agency, The PHA Group, with her husband Phil. The agency has won awards for its innovative work on staff development, training and wellbeing and Marina has implemented a number of initiatives including partnerships with charities.
Marina has three children. Her daughter Alice spent nine very happy years at St Mary’s moving on to university in 2017; her daughter Poppy is currently in Year Ten and her son William was at Thorpe House School followed by Wellington College. She became a governor of St Mary’s in 2016 and lives in Gerrards Cross. Marina was sworn in as a Magistrate in 2017 and now sits in the adult courts mainly in High Wycombe. Marina is currently studying for a Masters degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Birkbeck College, University of London.
Nick Hallchurch – Commercial Litigation Lawyer
Nick is an experienced commercial litigation lawyer at DC Kaye & Co in Amersham, having worked for BP Collins in Gerrards Cross for 31 years. Nick acts for established businesses in the South East. Nick has a reputation for winning claims in the High Court and County Court for contract, professional negligence, residential and commercial property, construction, fraud, and defamation disputes. Leading legal directory Chambers UK has named him as a ‘Leading Individual’ consistently since 2005 and recently described him as a “highly intellectual and accomplished” lawyer who, according to clients, “always understands commercial realities and practicalities”.
Nick is an CEDR accredited and experienced mediator, having conducted over 50 mediations, with a very high degree of success. Nick is married to Carol and lives in Coleshill, and their 2 children were educated locally. Nick is a sports enthusiast, and enjoys mountain treks having completed the 3 Peaks Challenge 4 times for charity, and golf and spinning. Nick is also a member of a leading local Rotary Club.
Nicholas Moss – Local Business Owner
Nicholas has lived and worked in and around Gerrards Cross for most of his life and has been involved with St Mary’s School as a Governor since 2005. He has two daughters who attended the school from Nursery through to Sixth Form and he is the lead governor for health and safety policies.
Nicholas runs his own business locally and was previously a Parish Councillor. He is also involved with various other local organisations.
Rory Fisher – Retired – now Chairman of a local charity, School Governor and Non-Exec Advisor
Rory retired from QinetiQ PLC in September 2022 after a 35 year senior executive career mostly in the defence, security and aerospace sectors.
He is now focused on volunteering in the charity sector and helping small local companies to grow. Rory became a Trustee and Career Coach for Careers Springboard in October 2022. In July 2023 he was elected as the chairperson for the charity. In addition in 2024 Rory became a School Governor for St Mary’s where his daughter, Sophie, went to school. The school really supported her to become the mature, independent, strong, successful young woman she has become and he is privileged to give a little back in his Governor role.
During his leadership journey, Rory has always been passionate about driving performance and growing businesses by building high performance teams. He is now using his experience in leadership, consulting and executive coaching, where he is currently working with a local charity and a number of small companies helping them grow and deliver on their missions. The Governor role adds to his growing portfolio.
Dr Sian Salek – General Practitioner
Sian grew up in Cardiff and studied Radiography in London, working within Cancer Care as part of a multidisciplinary team until 2003. After her time in Radiology, Sian studied medicine and after a period of specialist training in paediatrics went on to train as a qualified GP in 2015.
Sian lives in Gerrards Cross with her husband and two daughters, aged 6 and 11. When not in clinic, Sian enjoys Gluten Free Baking, travelling, and time in the gym.