Members and Trustees
MEMBERS
Right Reverend Dr Steven Croft
The Rt. Revd. Dr. Steven Croft became Bishop of Oxford in 2016. He was previously the Bishop of Sheffield, team leader of Fresh Expressions, Warden of Cranmer Hall and Vicar of Ovenden in Halifax. He is a co-author of the Emmaus and Pilgrim Resources. His latest book is The Gift of Leadership (Canterbury Press, 2016).
Oxford Diocesan Board of Education
Oxford Diocesan Board of Education acting corporately (current named officer: Gordon Joyner)
The Oxford Diocesan Board of Education is a member acting corporately by hand of one of its directors
Peter Norman
Peter was head of The Warriner School, Oxfordshire (2001 - 2007) and Waddesdon Church of England School, Buckinghamshire (2007 - 2017).
He has served as an ex-officio governor at both The Warriner and Waddesdon Cof E School and as a parent governor and chair of governors at Waddesdon Village Primary School, Buckinghamshire. Peter is a member of the Diocese of Oxford Board of Education and currently chairs the School Effectiveness Committee and serves on the Executive Committee.
Malcolm Peckham
Malcolm has taught in secondary modern, technical, comprehensive, grammar schools and an FE college before entering education administration. He held senior posts in Buckinghamshire and Croydon before being invited to establish a new LEA as the Director of Education in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. Malcolm chaired the Wycombe and Marlow Teaching Schools Alliance, is a past director and trustee of the Wycombe High School MAT and a past treasurer and tutor at the London School of Theology where he remains as a member. He retired as a Magistrate after twenty-two years service. He is a life member of the Magistrates’ Association and a Fellow of the Howard League for Penal Reform. He is a member of Keele University’s College of Fellows and received an Honorary Doctorate in 2015.
Malcolm was a Trustee of the Oxford Diocesan Bucks Schools Trust from 1st October 2018, and was then elected as Chair the following year and remained in this position until he stood down from the Board of Trustees in July 2022.
TRUSTEES
Our Trustees relentlessly focus on improvement. Trustees are tasked to embody these values in their contacts with our schools; to celebrate success and agree to build partnerships to develop the schools we serve.
Rt Revd Dr Alan Wilson
The Bishop of Buckingham (Rt Revd Dr Alan Wilson) has served in the Diocese of Oxford since 1979, at Balliol College 1979-81 and NSM at Eynsham, then Curate of Caversham & Mapledurham (1982-89), and first incumbent of St John the Baptist Caversham from 1989-92. Moving to Sandhurst as Rector in 1992, he contributed to continuing ministerial education by developing residential training workshops in supervision skills for training incumbents, and as a Diocesan Work Consultant.
He led the planning group for the Diocesan Convention at High Wycombe in 2002. He was Area Dean of Sonning from 1998-2003, and honorary Canon of Christ Church, Oxford 2002-3. In October 2003 he became Area Bishop of Buckingham.
Tony Wilson
Currently the Director of Education for the Diocese of Oxford, Tony possesses extensive headship experience including providing intervention for schools in challenging circumstances as well as leading a school designated as outstanding. Tony has led two different schools towards good and in another was able to raise the school’s Progress 8 performance from being well below average to above the national average at the same time as eradicating a budget deficit of -£2 million. He oversees all aspects of the Oxford Diocesan Board of Education’s work across 283 schools, 19 MATs and 9 local authorities.
In addition, Tony has international school improvement and system leadership experience gained from his role as Principal Education Consultant in The Kingdom of Bahrain and is the director of an educational consultancy.
Sulina Piesse
Sulina is the CEO of ODBST. She was previously an Executive Headteacher. She has held several senior leadership roles in London Schools, including another Headship. She is a former Ofsted Inspector. As a passionate French and Spanish teacher, she has had the opportunity to work in various settings, both in the UK and abroad.
Rosie Harper
Rosie runs a three church Parish with a large turnover. Rosie is a member of the Archdeaconry senior staff with oversight of 270 churches, a member of Bishop’s Council: the Governing body of the Diocese of Oxford, and a trustee of the Oxford Diocesan Board of Finance. She is an elected member of The General Synod of the Church of England.
She is the chair of the Oxford Nandyal Education Foundation -an education charity in India. All these roles give her experience of Trusteeship, strategic planning, financial planning and compliance, change management, values based judgement, safeguarding matters and relationship and team building.
Michael Phipps
Michael is a retired Department for Education senior civil servant. He was responsible in Whitehall for policy advice to Government Ministers on aspects of the school sector, led a group devising the original National Curriculum, delivered various school standards and support programmes, managed the passage of education legislation and directed major public expenditure programmes for schools amounting to several hundred million pounds.
He is an experienced governor of various schools. He was Chair of Governors of Seer Green CE Primary School from 2013-2023, steering its academy conversion in 2013 and successful SIAMS and Ofsted inspections in 2017 and 2023. He initiated its development of a new vision, values and strategic 5-year plan; introduced new self-evaluation programmes; led two successful Headteacher recruitments in 2016 and 2022; and chaired admissions and performance management committees.
Michael has also been a Trustee of several charities, large and small. He chaired two Quaker church boards of Trustees: one locally in Buckinghamshire and the other nationally for the whole UK. He worships at Jordans Quaker Meeting House.
Andrew Jeffrey
Andrew is currently a Manager in the ‘Not for Profit’ team at Cooper Parry which has a significant Not for Profit and Academy presence in the Midlands. Andrew joined Cooper Parry in August 2019 when the Education team at Whitley Stimpson Limited transferred their Academy and Not for profit portfolio to facilitate the team’s growth and knowledge base. He has over 12 years’ experience with audit and accounting. In 2014 he joined the Whitley Stimpson newly created Education team, having previously completed his training as a Chartered Accountant there.
Andrew specialises in the education and charity sector and has worked with, and advised, a diverse range of educational organisations, including Academies, Free Schools, Independent Schools, Further Education colleges, Catholic Education offices and systemic schools as well as a wide range of local, regional and national charities. Andrew’s role in particular within the education team has been to work closely with Academy Trusts, not only through the audit and production of year end accounts, but also providing financial advice and support to schools and assisting them in undertaking and completing the relevant reporting requirements of the ESFA.
He has also been a church warden within his local community since 2012.
Denise Shepherd
A highly successful senior educational leader with over 30 years of experience. A Headteacher of an outstanding Grammar School, National Teaching School and National Support School. The founding CEO of the Thinking Schools Academy Trust (TSAT) -a high performing Multi-Academy Trust in the South East.
A designated National Leader of Education since 2010 and an elected member of SESL Headteacher Board advising the RSC. As CEO, Denise has successfully sponsored and turned around several high-profile failing schools. After leaving TSAT at the end of 2016 Denise supported a small MAT of Free Schools to improve their educational standards, develop and undertake their first Ofsted inspections. All schools were rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted 2017-2019.
Kieran Soughton
Kieran is an experienced, highly commercial HR organisational development and change management specialist, with a wealth of mergers and acquisitions experience.
He has experience in the UK and overseas, at both operational and strategic levels and is able to add real commercial value to an organisation through an understanding of the business drivers. He has been a Board member of several organisations, specialising in HR and also including business risk and business strategy, as well as culture and change management.
Michael Mill Safeguarding Trustee
Michael has over forty years’ experience in education. He was, most recently, Diocesan Director of Education for Carlisle Diocese for nine years working with 105 church schools, many of them small and rural. In this role, he was also instrumental in establishing the diocesan Multi Academy Trust as its first CEO, which included supporting sponsored schools to good outcomes. He worked for three years as an education consultant mainly working on the ‘Building Schools of the Future’ programme.
He spent nearly twenty years working for Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire local authorities in a variety of senior education roles, working closely with designated local primary and secondary schools. This included supporting and developing SEN provision. Michael was, for some time, in charge of the large school’s capital programme in Oxfordshire.
He began his career as a secondary RE teacher in Bucks and then Essex.
Michael is married and has two daughters, who like him live in High Wycombe. He is an active member of St Andrew’s Church in the town.