Goffs-Churchgate Local Academy Board

The Goffs-Churchgate Local Academy Board (LAB), plays a key part of providing a link between the school and the Board of Trustees.  The Board meets at least every half term with one of the main goals, in support of the Academy’s Leadership Team, being to offer independent insights across a range of areas affecting the day to day operation and future of the Academy. The committee focus on Pastoral matters, as well as having an oversight of the tracking data of the school.  The LAB also maintain links with Heads of Department, to quality assure the quality of their work.

Should you wish to get in contact with the LAB please contact Bernard.White@generationsmat.com

The agenda and minutes for each Local Academy Board will be available to the public, on request, once approved by the Chair.  Until formal approval (with appropriate amendments, if any) at the next meeting, any minutes provided must be understood as being subject to amendment.  Copy minutes made available to a member of the public will usually have redacted any information relating to individual employees (including teachers), prospective employees, students and prospective students.  This will include any information from which the Trust believes that the individual could be identified.  All other confidential information will also be redacted.  What might amount to confidential information will be dependent upon the state of affairs at the time of the request and consideration of issues relating to confidentiality can be time consuming.  Therefore, if a member of the public wishes to see only those parts of the minutes which relate to a particular topic, it would be helpful for this to be stated in the request.

Members: The LAB membership comprises the following Trustees and volunteers:

Bernard White: Bernard is  Chair of the Goffs-Churchgate Local Academy Body. Bernard is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and is passionate about colleagues development and welfare.   He now works with Sainsburys within their Data and Analytics team. He wants to do as much as possible to ensure that students receive the best possible education they are able and therefore start their careers as well equipped as possible.  He loves travel and competes in in Half Marathons.

Janet O'Brien: Vice-Chair of the Goffs LAB. She is an Ofsted registered professional Childcare practitioner with over 11 years of experience in and around the Cheshunt community. Caring for children from age 1 to around 12 years old at various stages of their development.  In additional to having a managerial background and over 34 years of experience raising my own children I have been able to set up and run a successful childcare business in which we implement enrichment programmes for children from the local community throughout the summer working in partnership with local sponsors and volunteers.  She is passionate about children reaching their full potential and having respect for themselves and their community which is the reason why she has embraced the role on the Local Academy Board. 

Dino Direnzo:  is a father of four children, with two sons currently at Goffs-Churchgate Academy, and two sons planning to join after primary school. Dino is an Area Manager operating in the Hertfordshire & Essex area for an Energy & Home Services provider. He is responsible for everything from operational efficiency to customer satisfaction, so understands the importance of delivering great results without compromising the quality of service. Dino specialises in root cause analysis and uses his skills in critical thinking and incident management to aid the school on its journey of continuous improvement. 

Guido Vaciago: is a parent governor who was born in Italy before completing his high school and university education in the UK. His career within the financial sector has included various roles, in Human Resources, Client Support, Sales and for the last few years Product management. Guido is very community spirited and is always looking for an opportunity to give back and support causes close to his heart. In the last few years, he has competed in multiple rowing challenges and completed marathon walking trials, raising thousands of pounds for charities involved in child welfare. He also volunteers as one of the head coaches at Cheshunt Rugby Club. Guido’s core belief that “every child counts” motivated him to join the LAB in late 2022.

Watch out for more information on the work of the Goffs-Churchgate Local Academy Body or to get involved with the LAB please contact Tom Sparks, Principal in the first instance.

Hayley Stanton:  Hayley is an experienced Facilities Management professional.  A FM career between operational and strategic with extensive success in delivery with both, covering Retail, Logistics, Banks and office environments.  An inspirational leader while putting inclusion and wellbeing at the heart of what we do.  Hayley has recently had her first baby and hopes to drive and support the best education possible for our babies now and of the future.  Hayley has joined us as a Trustee for the Generations Academy Trust supporting all schools.