Governors

A list of Norwich School Governors can be found below:

 


Mr P J E Smith MA - Chairman

Patrick Smith is an ON and went on to Caius College, Cambridge.  He joined Norwich Union in 1971 and qualified as an actuary. He worked in Norwich, Paris and Eastleigh, building and running business units including Healthcare and Norwich Union Direct. He left in 1999 to build an internet brokerage, its4me, and led a buy-out of Swinton Insurance, now the UK’s largest High Street broker. He was Chief Executive, and then Chairman. He has also served as Chairman of BIBA, the brokers’ representative body. 

He is married and has four children.   

Patrick is Chairman of the Council of Management and the Executive Committee and sits on the Development and Remuneration Committees. He is the Governor representative for the ONs and a Pension Scheme Trustee.



Mr N Q Back

Nigel Back was born and bred in Norfolk and educated at Harrow School and Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Norwich in 1974 and worked overseas for KPMG in Paris and The Hague. He worked for the Cargill Group as a trader in Paris, Geneva, the Far East and Australia, before returning to London to set up their LIFFE operations. He has also worked with Hogg Robinson, in financial services regulation with SIB (now the FCA) and moved back to Norwich to work with Norwich Union. 
Since 1996 he has been Managing Director of Barrier Biotech Ltd, designing and manufacturing innovative natural biocides, herbicides and pesticides for animal health and plant protection. 

Outside of work, his interests include theatre, classical concerts, sculpture, sailing in North Norfolk, game shooting, golf, cricket, F1, and Norwich City Football Club (when they are winning!). He is Chairman of the Freemen’s Committee of the Freemen of Norwich and of the Norwich Town Close Estate Charity, a Trustee of the Norwich Cathedral Choir Endowment Fund, of the Royal Norfolk Regiment Museum and of the Langham Dome in North Norfolk, as well as a past President of the Norfolk Club and a member of the Norwich Occasional Choir. 

He is married, with three children. 

 


Dr S C Bamber MA

Stephen Bamber was educated at Liverpool College and went on to study Italian at the University of Perugia, then read Classics at Caius College, Cambridge. He was commissioned from Sandhurst into the Royal Green Jackets. After 6 years he decided to change career and studied medicine at the University of Birmingham. He practised as a GP in South Norfolk. 

 

He and his wife have a son and two daughters, all of whom attended Norwich School. Stephen is one of the Governors with responsibility for the Lower School.

 


 

The Very Reverend Dr Andrew Braddock

Andrew Braddock was installed as the 40th Dean of Norwich in January 2023. Before his appointment as Dean, he served as Canon Missioner of Gloucester Cathedral and Director of Mission and Ministry for the Diocese of Gloucester from 2013, and was appointed Interim Dean of Gloucester in 2022.  Dean Andrew was ordained in Norwich Cathedral in 1998. Alongside serving the Church of England in Norfolk and Gloucestershire, he has also served as a Governor of Ripon College, Cuddesdon, a Foundation Fellow of the University of Gloucestershire, and was chair of the Gloucester City Centre Commission, working with a variety of partners to form a common vision for the city. He is the author of a number of works on the historic development of Anglican liturgy and spirituality.
 




Mr P J Henderson

Paul Henderson was initially brought up in the North-East of England but completed his secondary education at The Leys School in Cambridge, before going to University at Nottingham and then Cambridge. He moved from his first teaching post at Colchester Royal Grammar School to join the teaching staff at Norwich School in 1979 as Head of Classics and Master i/c Cricket. He eventually became Director of Studies here before moving in 1994 to St Albans School as Second Master (under Andrew Grant). In 2000 he was appointed Headmaster of Eltham College in South-east London, where he stayed until retirement in 2014. During his time as Headmaster, he was Secretary and then Chairman of the London Division of HMC, and a Governor at both Aldenham School and Reigate Grammar School.

In retirement he returned to Norwich with his wife Maryta, who had in their previous spell in Norfolk been Deputy Chief Sub-Editor on the the EDP and had subsequently gone on to work for the London Evening Standard and then The Times. 

 

Recently Paul has helped provide maternity cover for the Classics Departments at both Norwich School and Norwich High School. 

 


Mr J M Holme

Jim Holme joined an IT training scheme at Beecham Group after leaving school and then worked briefly for BOAC on the roll-out of their real-time reservation system. In the early 1970s Jim moved to Darmstadt, Germany as an IT consultant at the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Operations Centre (ESOC). From the mid-80s he spent 20 years working for the German software company Software AG, rising to become Vice-President (VP) for North America, stationed in Silicon Valley. In addition, he was VP for Global Alliances with particular responsibility for relations with Microsoft in Redmond, WA, USA. Back in Germany, in 2006 Jim became managing director of a small company developing software for, and supplying engineering experts to, the European space industry.

He retired in November 2012. Jim lives in Germany, is married to Edith and has two sons.
 


Mr J M Hunter

James Hunter is a lawyer and partner at Mills & Reeve LLP, where he is head of the firm’s corporate practice.  James is an experienced M&A lawyer, advising clients when they buy or sell businesses, as well as working on complex joint ventures, shareholder arrangements, partnerships, fundraising and other corporate matters. James is also a non-executive director of Barratt & Cooke, one of the oldest independently owned stockbroking businesses in the country, based in Norwich.



Ms M Jarrold MA

Michelle Jarrold graduated from Queens’ College Cambridge with a degree in Geography. Michelle worked in publishing in London and Norwich before switching to a career in retail with Jarrold, and was for many years also a non-executive director on the Jarrold Board. Michelle is now an independent retail consultant working across the UK. She is a Trustee of the Norwich Theatre Services Board, and a Trustee and non executive director for RC Snelling. 

Michelle lives in Norfolk and is married to Richard Martin, a landscape designer. She has two grown up children, both of whom attended Norwich School. Michelle is a member of the Norwich School Executive and Development Committees.

 


Mr H C Jourdain

Clive Jourdain was born in Mauritius and educated at Radley College and the Université de Poitiers. During his career he has worked for HSBC, Blyth Green Joudain Merchant Bankers, Blyth Brothers (Mauritius), Bristol Myers Squib International, the Office for National Statistics and Copyright Licensing. He was Prime Warden of the Worshipful Company of Dyers in 2012/13 and has been a Governor of Archbishop Tenison’s School and a Trustee of Archbishop Tenison’s Foundation.

He is married with six children and 11 grandchildren and takes a keen interest in disabled sailing, golf and the arts.



Mr A R M Little

Tony Little is an Educational Consultant, his background is as an English and Drama teacher in UK schools. He has had a particular involvement in the culture of boarding schools, having worked as a boarding housemaster and been head of three schools with a boarding dimension. He is currently Honorary President of BSA (Boarding Schools Association). 

 

He has been a head teacher for 26 years, successively at Chigwell School (from 1989), Oakham School (from 1996) and Eton College (from 2002-2015). Over the years he has been a governor of nine secondary schools, both state and independent, as well as six primary/prep schools: two of these secondary schools were newly created under the UK Government's Free Schools initiative.

Over the past 15 years he has become increasingly engaged in international education organisations and programmes including serving as President of the International Boys' Schools Coalition, chair of an association linking schools in China with schools in the West, Trustee of Afghan Connection and chair of the Mvumi School Trust, Tanzania. 

He has particular interests in developing pedagogy and the benefits of digital education, interests that came into focus with the creation of the Centre for Innovation and Research in Learning at Eton College.

 


The Rev'd Canon A Platten

Aidan Platten trained for ordination at Ripon College Cuddesdon and was ordained in 2003 in St Edmundsbury to serve as a Curate at St Mary’s Church in Woodbridge. He moved from there in 2006 to be Chaplain to the Bishop of Gloucester where he served until becoming Vicar of St Mark’s Church, Hamilton Terrace in London. Aidan joined the Chapter of Norwich Cathedral in September 2017 as Canon Precentor. Away from Norwich, Aidan serves as a member of the Westminster Abbey Fabric Advisory Commission, and as an executive member of the Association of English Cathedrals.

Aidan is married with three children. His interests are music, historic buildings, pipe organs and cars - particularly Land Rovers. 

 


Mr Narman Puvanachandra MB BChir MA FRCOphth

Narman Puvanachandra had practised as a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon in Norfolk since 2009 with particular expertise in paediatric and cataract surgery. He also is Head of School for Ophthalmology for East of England, Associate Professor and Associate Post Graduate Dean. He qualified from Gonville and Caius College Cambridge in 2000 and also trained in Hampshire and Vancouver. He has worked on projects in Sudan, Kenya and rural China whilst also sitting on the Royal College of Ophthalmology training committee. In addition he is a Director and Partner at Newmedica Norwich - providing NHS ophthalmology care for thousands of Norfolk patients every year. 

Narman is married with three children (two of whom attended Norwich school) and enjoys weekly five a side football, cricket, tennis and running.

 

 


Mrs A Roy B.Eng (Hons), ACMA, CGMA

Anasua Sarkar Roy grew up in London and has a degree in Biochemical Engineering from University College London. She worked at Merck before joining Price Waterhouse subsequently qualifying as an Accountant. She has worked as a Management Consultant to Pfizer and Unilever before working in Finance for Teletext, Sothebys’, ITN Group, and Thomson Financials. She moved to Norfolk in 2002 where she has worked for various charities as a Head of Finance and as a Non-Executive Trustee, mainly in the Arts and Culture sector as well as running the family-owned arable farm.

Her interests include teaching and practicing yoga, writing poetry and fiction. She can read and write in two Indian languages and is learning Sanskrit.  

She has a son that has attended the Lower School and is now in the senior school. Anasua is one of the Governors with responsibility for EDI.



Hannah Salmon BSc MPlan RTPI AIEMA

Hannah Salmon graduated with a BSc in Geographical Sciences from the University of Bristol before obtaining a Masters in Planning from the University of Manchester. She spent ten years in Leeds working in planning consultancy roles for Drivers Jonas, Deloitte and Quod, before returning to her childhood City, Norwich in 2016.

 

Hannah is currently an Associate Director for Lanpro Services and is a chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and an associate member of the Institute for Environmental Management and Assessment.

In her spare time, she enjoys rowing, gardening, swimming and coastal walks and holidays with her family.  Hannah is married with one child and a stepchild and sits on the Development Committee.




Mr J M D Schofield LLB (Hons), FCA

Mark Schofield is an ON and went on to read Law at Reading University, subsequently qualifying as a Chartered Accountant. Mark retired as a senior partner with PwC in June 2021 and has held several leadership positions building businesses in the UK and overseas in cross cultural environments. With a focus on transformation and change management, Mark lead a technology driven business globally, helping clients respond to the increasing challenges of being compliant in a dynamic and data enabled world.  

 

Mark lives with his wife Lisa in Dubai and has one son at the school. Mark is a keen, but still aspiring golfer, and a season ticket holder at Norwich City. He is a member of the Executive Committee.  

 


Mr G S Smith CB QVRM TD

Greg Smith was born in Norwich, Norfolk and educated at Norwich School (1965-75). He graduated in Agricultural and Food Marketing at Newcastle University. 30-plus year business career as a market researcher, leading marketing services companies including Taylor Nelson Sofres and Ipsos MORI.  

He returned to Norfolk in 2011 and was CEO of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association until he retired in 2020. He now provides management consultancy to a range of organisations in agri-tech, digital marketing and higher education. 

An Army reservist from 1981-2016, his final appointment was as the 2-star policy director for Reserves and Youth in the Ministry of Defence until 2013. He was awarded the Queen’s Volunteer Reserves Medal in 2008 and became a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the New Years’ Honours list 2013. Greg chairs the UK’s Council of Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations, an arms-length body of the MOD, and is an Honorary Colonel of the London Regiment. 

Greg maintains his connections with Newcastle University, chairing the board of its Business School from 2009-14, and as a member of Court. He was made an Honorary Fellow of Newcastle University in 2021 and holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of East Anglia. He is a founding Trustee of the Food and Farming Discovery Trust - an agricultural education charity, and chairs Active Norfolk the county’s sports and activity partnership, funded by Sport England.  

Married to Rebecca, they have three grown up children and six grandchildren. They ‘enjoy’ walking, boating, gardening and following the Canaries. They also have a small flock of Boreray sheep, keep bees and unruly hens. 

 


Mr D W Talbot FCA

David Talbot is a Chartered Accountant working with M+A Partners based in The Close, Norwich. He is an Old Norvicensian (1970-1977) and has lived for many years in Brundall.

David is married to Nicky and they have a daughter and a son, who was a former pupil of Norwich School.

David is an enthusiastic sailor and is a trustee of Norfolk Broads Yacht Club at Wroxham, having served on the committee as treasurer, flag officer and then Commodore. He is vice chairman of the Norfolk & Suffolk Boating Association and is currently a trustee and finance director of the Museum of The Broads at Stalham.  

He is a former Princes Trust Business Mentor, winning awards for his work in Norfolk and the Eastern region. 

David sits on the ICT Committee and is a Pension Scheme Trustee.  

 


Julian Wells MRICS

Julian is an ON (82-88). He studied Real Estate Management at Northumbria University before joining the international property company Hammerson Plc in London in 1991 where he qualified as a Chartered Surveyor and became Director of Group Investment and Development. In 2006, Julian joined Targetfollow in Norwich as Development Director and led the development of various UK projects. In 2011, Julian set up FW Properties in Norwich with his business partner Ian Fox and has since completed the development of many new homes throughout Norfolk and Suffolk.   

 

He lives on a farm with his wife Emma and has three daughters Olivia, Lara, and Honey – Lara and Honey both attended the sixth form at Norwich School. Julian was a Governor of Alpington & Bergh Apton Primary School and successfully co-ordinated the development of a new school hall building. He has recently been involved with the charitable development of the new Priscilla Bacon Hospice in Norwich and is also on the Council of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association. He is the current Chair of the Norwich Branch of Construction Interact. 




Mrs D Willmott

Dee Willmott runs an HR and executive coaching consultancy focusing on strategy, leadership development and 1:1 coaching with senior executives.   

Prior to October 2021 Dee held the role of Chief People Officer at Archant, the Norfolk based media and regional newspaper group for 11 years.   

Dee started her HR career at ICI in 1987, after graduating from Trinity College Dublin with a BA in Business Studies. She joined the US conglomerate General Electric in 1994 and during her time there she held a variety of senior HR roles. Latterly she was a European HR Director with GE Capital based in Brussels. 

Dee has lived in Norfolk for nearly 20 years, and both her daughters studied at Norwich School.  

Dee is a qualified Executive and Life Coach with the International Federation of Coaching. She recently graduated from Henley Business School with the Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching. 

 


Dr A Wood OBE

Andrew Wood joined Adnams in 1994 and became CEO in 2010. He has an MBA and a doctorate from Cranfield University. He has honorary degrees from Anglia Ruskin University (Business), Cranfield University (Science) and the University of East Anglia (Civil Law). He was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2013 and is a Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk. 

In addition Andy is Chair of Norse Group, SGWM and sits on the Board of Roys.  

 


Dr D F Wood MA MD FRCP

Diana Wood retired as Clinical Dean in the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine in early 2021 and was appointed as Emeritus Clinical Dean post-retirement. Dr Wood studied medicine at the University of Birmingham, qualifying in 1980. Having followed postgraduate training and research posts in Birmingham, she became a Lecturer in Clinical Medicine at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, London and later was appointed as Senior Lecturer, and then Reader, in Medicine and Honorary Consultant Physician at the London Hospital Medical College, subsequently Barts and the London School of Medicine, University of London. She moved to Cambridge in 2003 having been appointed as the University’s first full-time Director of Medical Education and Clinical Dean and was elected to the Fellowship at St Edmund’s College later that year. She was an honorary consultant physician in the Department of Endocrinology at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Currently she is the academic lead for the Cambridge University Medical Education Group, offering consultancy services in medical education both nationally and internationally.   

 

Dr Wood has been actively involved in UK medical education for many years. Although her career has focused on undergraduate medical education, she maintained an interest in postgraduate education through the Royal College of Physicians and membership of regional and national training programmes in endocrinology and diabetes. She has served on the Board of the Medical Schools’ Council Assessment Alliance and has Council and previous Executive roles on the Association for the Study of Medical Education and the Academy of Medical Educators.  She is a past Non-Executive Director and current Governor of the Cambridge and Peterborough Foundation Trust (the local mental health NHS Trust).  

Dr Wood’s main interests are in the field of clinical education, in particular experiential learning, attitudinal development and professionalism, student health and wellbeing and the development of resilience. She is committed to raising the standards of research and scholarship in healthcare education, promoting the introduction of evidence - based practice into all areas of educational activity.   

 


Miss T J Yates BA

Tracy Yates studied Law and Politics at Durham University before training and qualifying as a solicitor in Norwich. Tracy is currently a Consultant with Mills & Reeve LLP, having previously been a partner in the human resources practice of Eversheds LLP in Norwich and Cambridge. Throughout her career she has specialised in providing employment advise to business and public sector employers, and senior level employees. She also advises employers and individuals and their families in relation to their immigration options, helping secure visas to enter the UK, or apply for leave to remain, settlement or naturalisation.  

As company secretary, Tracy supports the trustees of the St. Martins Housing Trust, a charity supporting the single homeless in Norwich and Norfolk.  

Tracy lives in Norwich and has two daughters both of whom attended Norwich School in the 6th Form.  

Tracy sits on the Remuneration Committee and has joint responsibility for Safeguarding.  

 

 

Professor K H Yeoman

Kay Yeoman is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the UEA. She is a microbiologist lecturing in microbiology and molecular biology. In addition, she runs an undergraduate module in science communication and is the Director of the Biology with Science Communication degree programme. She is a member of the Society for General Microbiology, on the committee for education for the British Mycological Society and is a science advisor for the Norwich Castle Museum. In 2007 she was awarded the UEA teaching excellence prize and also a Wellcome Trust Peoples Award for the ‘Mobile Family Science Laboratory’, which travels throughout Norfolk to provide hands-on biomedical-related science activities for children and adults of all ages.  She was awarded the CueEast Public Engagement Award in 2010. 

 

Kay is married with two sons and sits on the Education Committee. 


Mr C J P Evans - Clerk to the Governors

 

Name and address for correspondence for the Chair of Governors:

Mr P J E Smith

c/o Ms Rachel Peters, Bursar's PA, Norwich School, 71a The Close, Norwich, NR1 4DD