Meet Our Governors

Governing Body 2021/22

Chair of Governors                             Sandra Donnelly

Vice Chair of Governors                     Andrea Thomason

Gill Marsland

I have had the pleasure of being the Head Teacher at Oughtrington since 2007.  We have such a wonderful school with a knowledgeable and dedicated staff and governor team, along with superb children and extremely supportive parents.  It really is a great community to work in.  We all work tirelessly to ensure that we retain and further strengthen our consistently outstanding provision for the children in our care.  As Head Teacher I am on all the governor committees.  Since 2015 I have been recognised as a LLE (Local Leader of Education) which had led to me supporting many schools within Warrington and to me being a primary consultant with Cheshire East.

Yvonne Poskitt

I have been connected to Oughtrington Community Primary School for over 30 years as this is where my three grown up children attended during their primary years.  As I work in the secondary education sector, and have worked with young people with additional needs and their families for over 25 years, I feel that my skills and knowledge serve me well as a governor at OCPS.  I am Chair of the Safeguarding Committee and the SEND Governor, as well as a member of the Staff Dismissal, Pupil Discipline, Pay and Performance Management Committees.  I am also a Governor at Lymm High School.

I am passionate about making sure every child has an equal opportunity to access school life regardless of any additional needs they may have and feel that my experience in SEND and inclusion enables me to make a valuable contribution to the Governing Body at Oughtrington.

Karen Rurlander

I have been priviledged to have been on our governing body for over 15 years, originally elected as a parent governor when my own daughters were at Oughtrington Primary.  Since then I have been reappointed as a community governor and am now a co-opted governor for our school.  I enjoyed a career with British Airways for over 23 years and was also part of their promotional and recruitment team.  After base closure I retrained and have been very fortunate to enjoy a second career as a member of the teaching assistant team at Oughtrington.  I have a strong pastoral focus and have seen the school grow and rightly promote itself as one of the strongest primary schools in the area.  I am a member of the Resources committee and am also the training link Governor.  I enjoy building good relationships, networking and promoting our school.  I love supporting our wonderful children.

I feel very proud of what we've achieved, how we've grown and moved forward as a school and governing body.  I am very excited about our next steps within The Beam Trust.

Sandra Donnelly

For my day job I am lead for Business Ethics and Sustainability at the University of Salford Business School.  I have an MEd in Senior Education Leadership and am a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.  I have been an educator for almost 20 years, teaching Economics, Business Studies and IT across a range of contexts from Y7 through to Y13 and have lead both teacher training and quality assurance.  I am a strong advocate of evidence-led approaches to education that build inclusivity.

Alongside my role here at Oughtrington, I am also Governor of a secondary school.  I was previously a Non-Executive Director of Chester Zoo and remain an advisor to the board, serving on the Ethical Review Committee, and work with the boards of several small conservation and education charities.

Andrea Thomason

I was given the opportunity to join the Oughtrington governing body as a Parent Governor.  My role is to represent the parental viewpoint here at Oughtrington and I have two young children currently at the school, both amid their primary school experience and thoroughly enjoying it!

My passion is strong for the education sector and the wellbeing of our young people.  I wanted to be part of the governing body to help drive how education prepares children and young people to succeed in the world.  I have a wide skill set and professional experience across multiple industries and with the rapid change across the world I wanted to support the education sector in meeting these new demands. 

I am a company Director of our family business.  I work alongside my husband delivering large scale construction programmes across the UK.  In my downtime I spend lots of time with my family, I love to read and get lost in the peace and tranquillity of training my horses. 

I am very excited to be part of the Oughtrington team and look forward to the months ahead supporting the school, children, and parents in our Oughtrington journey. 

Sara Frith

I am a parent governor with one child remaining at the school.  I have lived in Lymm for 14 years, during this time I have undertaken the role of secretary at the village pre-school and events co-ordinator for the Lymm Festival.  My professional background is education having worked in the sector for 20 years - my current role being a department leader at Stockport Secondary School.  I am very interested in the quality of education with particular focus on curriculum, teaching and learning.  In my spare time I enjoy reading and theatre.  I very much look forward to working with the dedicated team at Oughtrington in their quest to provide the very best that education can offer.

Wesley Tinsel

I am a parent governor with 2 children at the school.  For my day job I am the senior GP Partner in an NHS GP surgery as well at the Co-founder of a Private GP service for employees.  I am safeguarding lead in these medical roles.  I enjoy sports such as football and have been the team doctor for Rochdale AFC for well over a decade.

I am passionate about the wellbeing of our staff and school children, and feel the knowledge and experience I have gained from years working in the health sector will be of benefit to the school.

I look forward to working with the rest of the governing body and will do my best to support the children and all those involved with this wonderful school.