Governing Body
Our Governing Body consists of seven foundation Governors who are nominated by our parish priest, Monsignor Andrew Summersgill and appointed to act by the Diocese. We have two elected parent governors who are voted for by our parents, one elected teacher governor voted for by school staff and one representative from the local political parties. The Term of Office for all Governors is 4 years. Our Governors support our school and bring their own expertise and experience to help inform the school.
All correspondence to the Governing Body should be addressed to:-
Clerk to the Governors, St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Barleyfields Road, Wetherby, LS22 6PR
Meet the Governors
Louise Milivojevic – Headteacher
I am delighted to be Head Teacher at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School and we are blessed with enthusiastic and well behaved children and an extremely committed and hardworking team of staff and governors who support our children. I am dedicated to ensuring we continue to provide the very best opportunities and education for our children and am very proud of our strong Catholic ethos.
I have been at St Joseph’s for 13 years and have been a member of the governing body for 9 years. During my time at our school, I have taught in upper key stage 2 and led assessment, standards, behaviour and RE before taking over as Head Teacher in September 2016.
My specialist areas have included monitoring progress and attainment, managing interventions and personalised learning, inclusion, performance management, strategic planning, safeguarding, health and safety and whole school development.
In my capacity as Head Teacher I am a member of the Resources, Pupil Support, Teaching and Learning and Catholic Life Committees.
Tim Hodgson – Foundation Governor
Chair of Governors
As a Foundation Governor I have so far really enjoyed my post and hope to be able to continue to contribute towards helping this great school. My day job is running a commercial and residential property company based in Leeds. We are currently on site in Leeds centre bringing a new office block onto market that we have redeveloped. Outside of work I spend a lot of time in the gym and play football once a week. Health and fitness seems to be a big part of my time . I am also a season ticket holder at LUFC and have been for over 10 years… which I guess is dedication? I try and play golf regularly but finding the time is very difficult, especially with a young family. As chair of the Governing body, I sit on all of the committees and have responsibility for the PE premium grant.
Mandie Jackson – Foundation Governor
Vice Chair of Governors
Chair of the Resources Committee
I very much enjoy contributing to the school in my role as foundation Governor, I support the Resources and Teaching & Learning committees. My family has been part of St Joseph’s parish for over 60 years and I attended St Joseph’s school (which feels like a lifetime ago)! Both my children have enjoyed their time at St Joseph’s, and both my son and daughter now attend St John Fisher secondary school. I have 26 years experience in all aspects of accountancy and 11 years experience of people management and HR. I set up my own successful accountancy practice in 2015 and work from home which has been ideal with having children. I enjoy using my skills to support the governing body and the school. In my spare time, I am my children’s taxi ferrying them to football training, matches, Acro and Dance. When we’re not in the car, we enjoy long family walks in the countryside and we are huge Leeds United fans!
Kathleen Alderson – Foundation Governor
Chair of Teaching & Learning Committee
As a member of the Governing body, I really enjoy supporting the great work that the school does. I am a mother of two children, who both attend St Joseph’s. I have a background in primary education and have classroom experience as well as knowledge of recruitment, safeguarding, teaching and learning, assessment and Ofsted expectations. I am a practising Catholic and have studied the CCRS to explore how faith can enhance the school curriculum. As a parent, I hope that I can work effectively between the school staff and the parents. As a governor, I am responsible for safeguarding, standards and progress, EYFS and am chair of the Teaching and Learning Committee.
Eleanor Foster – Associate Governor
Chair of Pupil Support Committee
Joanne Dent – Foundation Governor
My name is Jo Dent and I have 11 years experience as a Governor. I am a mum of twin boys who used to attend St Joseph’s school and I work as a Business Consultant in the transport industry sector and with local SMEs. I have an MSc in Human Resource management and have spent the last 33 years working with and managing people in both transport operations and in major scheme project management for the Department for Transport, the Virgin Group and local SME’s. My company is an independent organisation which delivers a range of services across the private and public sector. My portfolio of projects are divided through 75% of time worked on transport projects, 15% on local private SME business growth, performance improvement and commercial advice and 10% in the voluntary sector (non-fee-paying work). My Role in the Governing Body Team, involves being a member of the Resources Committee which is responsible for all aspects of the operational running of the school Including Health & Safety, finance, buildings and maintenance and all our staff. My subject area is English and in the past I have had responsibility for Special Educational Needs.
Monsignor Andrew Summersgill – Foundation Governor
I became the Parish Priest of St Joseph’s and a Foundation Governor of St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in September 2022. I was in Catholic education from the age of 4 to 27. I attended three Catholic schools in Bradford until I was 18 and then went to Rome to train to be a priest. I was at the English College and studied for degrees in Philosophy, Theology and Canon Law (Church law) at the Gregorian University, one of the international Catholic universities in Rome and run by the Jesuit Order. As a priest I have worked in Parishes in East Leeds, Skipton and now here. I was Bishop David Konstant’s secretary for ten years and I worked with the Bishops’ Conference in London for 11 years. I think during my time with Bishop David I will have visited every school in the Diocese and when I lived in London I was on the Management Committee for the Catholic Education Service. I have been a Foundation Governor in three high schools and now three primary schools. I am also a Foundation Director of an Academy Trust and am a Trustee of St John’s School in Boston Spa. I very much believe in the importance of Primary Schools for parish Communities and hope that I can bring some of my experience to support everyone at St Joseph’s, and especially to encourage the children and families to play their part in the life of our whole Parish.
Conall Kelly – Foundation Governor
Jayne Ward – Teacher Governor
I am the Deputy Head Teacher and Year 6 teacher here at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School. I love teaching Year 6 as it’s the children’s last year at primary school, so I work hard to ensure that it’s their best year! I am also the Teacher Governor and bring skills to the Governing Body as a current classroom practitioner and as a senior leader with a wide range of responsibilities including Co-SENDCo, Teaching and Learning & Curriculum Team, Safeguarding, NQT mentoring, and performance management of teachers.
I also thoroughly enjoy working as a Specialist Leader of Education in Leadership and Management for St Anthony’s Teaching School Alliance. I have supported Year 6 teachers and senior leaders as part of school to school support in the areas of assessment, teaching and learning, writing including for greater depth, guided reading and maths. More recently this has also involved leading excellence in delivering humanities. I love making a difference to teaching and learning for all the children in my class, throughout school and across schools through school to school support. I feel enormous pride when I connect with a child to motivate them to achieve their very best. I feel the same pride when I can offer support by sharing good practice with other professionals who may need help too.
Sarah Welborn – Parent Governor
As parent governor to the Governing body, I really enjoy engaging with the whole school community. As a teacher myself, and with my experiences as a senior leader in a secondary school, I am very aware of the constraints and issues of working within the education sector. As a parent with children at both primary and secondary schools, I also understand the impact this has on them. I am hoping with these experiences I can bring greater insight into the issues raised and help the school and our community to continue to thrive. As a governor, I am a member of the Pupil Support and Teaching and Learning Committees and have responsibilities for Special Educational Needs and Equalities.
James Costa – Foundation Governor
As a parent to two children who currently attend St Joseph’s and one former pupil who has since moved on to secondary school, I have a number of connections to St. Joseph’s. I have been part of the St Joseph’s family for most of my life; I was raised in Wetherby and attended St Joseph’s myself in the 1980s. I am an independent IT consultant specialising in advising primary schools in their hardware purchasing, computing curriculum and online safeguarding. In addition, as a qualified primary school teacher with a number of years of teaching in a Catholic school in the region, I hope to be able to use my experience to provide support to our school in a range of related areas and to help further enhance the learning of the children through my role as Foundation Governor, driven by a focus on and understanding of their needs. I am responsible for the Catholic Life of the school and GDPR.
Hannah Donaghy – Parent Governor
I am delighted to serve as a parent governor on the Pupil Support and Catholic Life committees at St Joseph’s. Drawing from my career and personal experience as a former Catholic school student, I aim to assist the governing body in achieving positive outcomes for the school. In my current role as a senior leader at an Independent Specialist School in Harrogate, I assist young people who encounter difficulties accessing mainstream education. I oversee safeguarding and pupil wellbeing and participate in multi-agency boards to ensure that Education, Police, Health, and Social Care are collaborating to address issues faced by young people. I plan to utilize my expertise to support St Joseph’s in ensuring that every student succeeds. I am eager to collaborate with my fellow Governors to ensure that St Joseph’s and the wider community continue to flourish.
There has been one conflict of interest declared in our Governing Body for the academic year 2022-23.
Fr Andrew Summersgill:
Director of the Diocese of Leeds Trustee (owner of the school site)
and the St John’s School for the Deaf Trust (Boston Spa)
Director of the Bishop Wheeler Catholic Multi-Academy Trust
(Trust for the Diocesan family of schools to which St Joseph’s belongs)
Annual Governance Statements
Annual Governance Statement Part 1 2022-2023
Annual Governance Statement 2022-2023 Part 2
Annual Governance Statement 2021-2022 Impact
Annual Governance Statement 2020-2021 Impact
Historic Governor Annual Statements are held securely in school and in line with GDPR regulations.
Record of Governors Meetings and Attendance:
Governors Attendance Record 2021-2022
Governor Attendance Record 2020-2021
Governor Attendance Record 2019 2020
Historic Governor Attendance is held securely in school and in line with GDPR regulations.
Click here to view information about St Joseph’s Governing Body members.