Meet The Governors
Governors play an important role in the strategic direction of the school guiding and supporting the school’s work and encouraging further improvement. They are often referred to as ‘critical friends’, monitoring and evaluating performance, supporting and questioning the senior management team and ensuring that the annual School Improvement Plan meets the needs of pupils, and is delivered comprehensively. As critical friends of the schools, governors should be able to recognise and celebrate success as well as ask questions.
Governors have three core functions:
- Ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
- Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the performance management of staff
- Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.
The Governing Board also has a responsibility to account to everyone who has an interest in the performance and standards achieved by the school: pupils, parents, the Local Authority and HM Inspectors.
The Governing Body is comprised of:
Chair: Bob Bullivant – Co-opted Governor
Bob is married with two daughters and four grandchildren, one of whom is at Haylands. Bob has taken an interest in their education which sparked an interest in becoming more involved resulting in him becoming a governor. Bob lives locally and retired from a career in pensions, including running the awarding body of the professional Chartered body and he has extensive board experience in both the private and charity sectors. He became Chair of Governors in June 2024.
Vice-chair: Natasha Taplin - Co-opted Governor
Natasha joined as a co-opted governor in 2024 and is keen to
support Haylands to raise standards of attainment and aspiration for local pupils through delivering the best quality education. Natasha moved to the Island in September 2021 with her family and has two daughters in education - one in primary on Island, one in secondary on the mainland.
Natasha has worked for the NHS for 20 years in senior roles with significant experience of managing financial performance, operational delivery, successfully implementing improvement plans and supporting team development.
Vanessa Churchman – Local Authority Governor
As the County Councillor for Haylands and Swanmore Vanessa is very proud to be a Governor at our local primary school. It is just one part of Vanessa’s work in representing the local community. Vanessa has been a Governor since 2012 and was involved in the building of the current school.
Jo Clarke – Staff Governor 
Jo is currently the Assistant Headteacher and staff governor at Haylands Primary School and has the responsibility for leading the quality of teaching and learning in addition to being the Designated Safeguarding Lead and Designated Teacher for Looked After Children. Jo has worked at Haylands since 2010 but first started teaching in 1991 – a very long time ago! The role on the Governing body allows Jo to have a thorough overview of all areas of our school and the strategic decisions that are needed to ensure that we provide our children with the very best learning opportunities and experiences.
Katrina Shaer – Headteacher 
I am the Headteacher at Haylands and took up this position in January 2023. I am so pleased to be able to continue to support the young people in Ryde, prior to this I was the Deputy Head & Inclusion Lead at Dover Park Primary School for 10 years. I am very excited to be working at Haylands alongside the staff team to provide the best possible school experience for our pupils. Outside of school life, I am the mother of two teenage sons who both attend Ryde Academy and we are all very proud to be part of the Ryde schools community.
Alison Starnes is the Clerk to Governors and can be contacted for all Governor business on clerk@haylands.iow.sch.uk
Governors meet as a full governing body approximately monthly throughout the academic year.
Individual governors are responsible for areas and subjects across the school and undertake regular monitoring activities which are reported back to the full governing body; this negates the need for committees.
In the documents below you will find