The Heights Primary Trust are a group of members of the local community who took up the challenge laid down by Reading Borough Council to submit a bid to the Department of Education to set up a new primary school.  Since the school has opened, its operational and strategic direction is the responsibility of the Governing Body, Headteacher, teaching and support staff.  The Trust are focused on securing the permanent site for the school.

The Trust is made up of the following members:

Ruth Rosewell, the Founding Director of the Heights Primary Trust, is a former teacher and Head of Department for a Secondary School. Having recently completed an MBA, Ruth is now a Director of a fast growing mobile software company. Ruth led the recruitment process to appoint Karen Edwards as Headteacher.  Also involved in this task were Chloe Jenkins, a former primary school Deputy Head Teacher, Jane Borgeuad, an experienced Educational Consultant having worked with over 200 schools, Ruth Perry, Headteacher at Caversham Primary School, and our educational adviser and former Ofsted Inspector from the Department for Education.

Matt Gale took the lead on setting up the governance structure for The Heights Primary and establishing the Board of Governors. Matt was supported by Councillor Isobel Ballsdon, who represents the Mapledurham Ward and is also the Chair of Governors at the Avenue Special School.  Matt is the only member of the Trust who currently sits on The Heights’ Governing Body.

Sean McCarthy runs his own consultancy as a qualified Actuarial Consultant with 10 years’ experience in the public and private sector assessing and projecting financial costs.  Sean had overall responsibility for the allocation and control of The Trust’s funding resources, working closely with all other team members.

Zoltan Markella, a founding member, has 14 years of experience working in telecommunications in a variety of positions.  Zoltan took the lead on the school’s IT provision and procurement. In addition, he was part of the marketing and communications team.

Susan Jones, a founding member, was responsible for overseeing procurement and project management. With over 14 years of experience in the public and private sector, she has led projects on behalf of the Department for Energy and Climate Change and a major energy consultancy. Susan also helped to coordinate marketing activity for The Heights and oversaw the statutory consultation process.

Polly Grove, a founding member, has a consultancy, teaching and lecturing background in mathematics and statistics. Polly used this experience to develop the Evidence of Demand section of the initial bid.  Polly was involved in the Heights marketing and communications activities.  The other marketing team members were Aalia Bhatti, a Marketing and Communications Manager for a leading Academic Publisher, Andy Ray, the Sales and Marketing Director of a global technology company, Laura Allen, Zoltan Markella, Daniel Pagella and Susan Jones.

Daniel Pagella is a Chartered Surveyor with over 20 years’ experience in large scale commercial property development. Dan’s focus has been working with the DfE and it’s consultants on both the temporary and permanent home for the school.

Accounting Officer: Karen Edwards