Governor Profiles

Jo Pires

My name is Jo Pires and I am a Parent Governor and Chair of Governors here at Heygarth Primary School.  I have three children - Carys in Year 10 at Wirral Grammar, Megan in Year 9 at Wirral Grammar, and Cameron in Year 8 at Wirral Grammar.

My current roles on the Governing Body are:

- Chair of Governors

- Member of the Finance Committee

- Chair of Leadership and Management Committee

- Chair of the Pay Committee

- Chair of the Headteacher Performance Management Committee

I thoroughly enjoy being a Governor at Heygarth and am very passionate about the role which includes working with the Headteacher, Senior Leadership Team and staff members to help shape the strategic vision of the school. 

My employment background is in management.  Prior to leaving work to care for my young family and settling on the Wirral, I held the role of Regional Retail Manager for a well known cinema chain.  I was responsible for the retail performance, financial performance and training and development of staff in 40 cinemas across London and the South West of England.

Sue Jacobs

I have been a Governor at Heygarth for over 15 years. I am currently Vice Chair of Governors, a position I have held for 8 years, and a Co-opted Governor.

I undertake various roles within the Governing Body, including Mathematics Governor, Chair of Finance Committee, a member of the Pay Committee and Headteacher Performance Management.

I am passionate about all elements of governance, from safeguarding to mental health and wellbeing as well as the ‘day to day’ subjects. I enjoy coming into school and seeing the children in the classroom setting and listening to them talk proudly of their learning. 

Councillor Dave Mitchell

I am retired from work and being a local Cllr for some years, I worked in engineering as a fabricator welder. At the moment I have one Granddaughter at the school. My hobbies are fishing and woodcarving. I also like to watch rugby and football. I am the representative of the LA as a governor.

Holly Cottrell
As an experienced leader in education, with a SEND and safeguarding specialism, I am delighted to be a co-opted governor at Heygarth Primary School.

I am the SEND and Safeguarding governor responsible for specific oversight of the school’s arrangements and provision for meeting special educational needs and safeguarding. Promoting and implementing SEND and safeguarding systems and processes is part of my every day job as I lead an alternative education provision aimed at supporting students with SEND or behavioural difficulties with the main aim of re-engaging and re-integrating them back into education. 

In my spare time, I enjoy going to the gym and attending live music events.

Rhiannon Lucas

I am a parent governor at Heygarth. My son Arlo is in Y4. Before moving to Eastham, l worked for a crime prevention charity, running sport and health development projects in inner city areas. I wrote development plans and set targets that used sport to reduce anti social behaviour and remove barriers to participation. I worked in partnership with communities and schools, following local authority policy and procedures and I obtained funding that allowed me to increase participation, provide links to community provision and develop young people through training. For the last 6 years I've been employed as an officer in the National Crime Agency. I enjoy watching rugby and football, having played sport at University, I love music, reading and family trips to the beach.

Pete Shone

I am parent governor here at Heygarth Primary School.

I have two daughters, one in Year 4, and one who has just completed her journey at Heygarth and has now moved on to high school.

I am currently work as a LIAISE Officer for England Illegal Money Lending Team (Stop Loan Sharks) and cover the North West Region.

Prior to becoming a LIAISE Officer I worked for Merseyside Police delivering numerous different prevention projects across Merseyside working with young people to prevent them from getting involved in crime.

Luckily through these projects I have had the pleasure of working in Heygarth Primary School several times prior to becoming a parent governor seeing first had the hard work, dedication and passion all the teachers and staff show on a daily basis.

I am an advocate for giving young people a voice and I am passionate about helping young people achieve their goals life.

Hazel Beamish (Headteacher)

As the Headteacher of Heygarth Primary School, I am also a Governor. I am now entering my tenth year as Headteacher of the school and prior to that I had been the Deputy Headteacher here since January 2009.

Outside of school, I enjoy walking, the theatre and dancing. Having been involved in several amateur dramatics groups and many performances in the past, and I now very much enjoy visiting the theatre.

I have two children, who are now 17 and 11, who both previously attended Heygarth.

Gareth Lewis (Deputy Headteacher)

I am the Staff Governor here at Heygarth Primary School. I have been Deputy Headteacher of the school since September 2015 and prior to that was a Local Authority Advisory Teacher for Mathematics. I am currently a Year 6 teacher.

I enjoy playing football and spending time with my 3 young sons, who are 7, 5 and 3 years old.