Mike Bones
Chair of Governers and Safeguarding Link Governor
The role of the Governors is to support and challenge the school. They monitor performance, both academic, holistic and financial to ensure the best quality education for our children. The Local Governing Body meets three times per year and each governor is linked to an area of the school to monitor improvements and developments. Governors are appointed for three years. If you are interested in becoming involved with our Governors, please contact John Lines (Headteacher).
Governor Attendance
Click the link below to view our Governor Attendance at recent meetings.
Oak Learning Trust
Oak Learning Trust is a multi-academy trust based in the north east of England. We currently have three schools in our Trust and have supported a number of schools in their school improvement journey.
Our vision at Oak Learning Trust is to support our school to provide outstanding education for children every day, to develop our staff to be the best that they can be and to create a positive and supportive learning environment where everyone can thrive and enjoy learning.
The Trust Board and senior Leadership team at Oak Learning Trust are passionate about ensuring that all children in schools within the Trust receive the best possible education to allow them to reach their full potential in all areas of their lives. Because of this we ensure that all of our schools focus not only on excellent academic achievement for all but that we provide an exciting and enriched curriculum. This will include visits to and working with theatres, museums and galleries, with opportunities for performance and drama, excellent music tuition and successful sports engagement within the curriculum and through out of school clubs. Our forest school programme helps our children develop investigative and problem-solving skills as well as developing resilience and the ability to work with friends and peers.
Our staff are friendly, knowledgeable and extremely committed to improving the lives and outcomes of children within the Trust. There is extensive collaborative practice across the Trust at all levels with staff sharing ideas and resources as well as meeting together on a regular basis to plan joint work and projects. This creates a strong bond between schools and supports staff development which then leads into school development.
Although we have a strong ethos of high standards and high expectations, we also believe that every school within the Trust should be an individual. The communities that each school serves will be different and the staff within each school will bring different interests and experiences. By harnessing all of these we ensure that the school is individual and the best it can be for its own community while the Trust SLT and Trustees ensure that each child is able to achieve his or her academic potential.
Staff are supported to develop their own interests and passions to provide new opportunities for our children and we are keen to share good practice across the Trust in any areas that might be of benefit to our children. We hope you enjoy looking around the website for Columbia Grange School and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the school.
Governance Declaration
Governance Structure
John Lines
Headteacher
David Howe
Vice Chair of Governors
Dawne Taylor
Staff Governor
Veronica Sweeting
Parent Governor
Dawn Dobson
Parent Governor
Julia Tones
Community Governor
Sophie Crichton
Parent Governor
Linda Hutchinson
Staff Governor
Mike Bones
Chair of Governers and Safeguarding Link Governor
My name is Mike Bones originally from North East Lincolnshire area, with a happy, go lucky, you can do anything if you put your mind to it attitude,
When I was 19 I left home joined the army and never looked back, I settled in North East of England in 2001 and I have worked in the Recruitment and Transport industry ever since.
I have been a Co-Opted Governor at Columbia Grange School since December 2015, and prior to conversion to becoming part of Oak Learning Trust, I sat on both finance and Personal committees for several years and have had the honour of being the Chair of Governors from September 2020.
My Link Areas: Safeguarding and Blue Pathway
John Lines
Headteacher
Columbia Grange is my second special school headteacher post, one of the many appealing factors around joining is the very committed governing body. I have worked in education and autism since 1996 and although I have experienced a lot I'm still happy to learn. I am a governor for another local school. Away from school, I am a father to two boys, one teenager and one young adult. My main weekend interests are football and cycling, although I have just rediscovered a love for model kits. I enjoy DIY and motor vehicle engineering. My favourite TV shows are Strictly Come Dancing, Mastermind and University Challenge.
I am at my happiest when I see others- especially pupils being happy and engaged in an activity they enjoy which has a purpose towards their academic development. This means I am happy a lot of the time when in school. Not many people are lucky enough to work with one hundred and forty of the best little people in the world.
David Howe
Vice Chair of Governors
I have been a governor at Columbia Grange School for a number of years and I enjoy offering challenge and guidance in meetings. The school is always a lovely environment to enter and I enjoy my visits to school.
I work in finance and my major interests centre around family time and playing some golf.
My Link Area(s): Red and Rainbow Pathways
Dawne Taylor
Staff Governor
I have been a member of Columbia Grange staff since we opened in 2003. I am a class based senior HLTA and have worked in all areas of school including early years, key stage one and two. I have been a staff governor for over eight years and I am committed to providing a happy, safe and nurturing environment for our pupils to achieve their potential.
I have a passion for the outdoors and within school promote outdoor enrichment. I organise class sessions within our amazing school ground including ‘Outdoor classroom day’ a worldwide event which happens twice a year promoting outdoor learning. I run parent and carer training sessions sharing ideas for exploring the outdoors with their children and I am part of the Friends of Columbia Grange committee helping to organise fundraising events in school including disco’s, afternoon teas and Christmas fayres.
My Link Area: Website
Veronica Sweeting
Parent Governor
I am passionate about raising autism awareness and acceptance within our local community. This resonates with me as a mum of two of the most beautiful, kind and caring daughters, both with a diagnosis of autism that presents differently and requires bespoke strategies to support them as individuals.
Furthermore, driven by my own experience as a SEN parent I am proud to be part of our school governing body. This experience will not only enable me to share my experiences but also to learn from the whole community. I will be an advocate for children with SEN and ensure all our children receive the support they need and help maintain the schools already high standards
My Link Area: Parental Engagement
Dawn Dobson
Parent Governor
Hi everyone, I'm Dawn. I've been a parent governor here at Columbia Grange for over a year. My son has been a pupil here for 4 years. I became a governor so I could see what makes our school so fabulous. During my time as governor I have gained a whole new perspective into the work that goes on behind the scenes to ensure our children receive the highest quality, tailored education that best suits their individual needs. The dedication and commitment to learning from all of the staff here is second to none. In my role as governor I attend meetings to discuss any issues affecting the school and our children and brainstorm ideas and suggestions on ways we can improve our school.
My Link Area: Attendance
Julia Tones
Community Governor
I am currently the Headteacher at Fellgate Primary School and I am enjoying the opportunity to support and challenge Columbia Grange School as a Community Governor.
My Link Area: Wellbeing
Sophie Crichton
Parent Governor
Hello, I am Sophie Crichton parent of a child who has just started his time in this school and I am already seeing changes in his behaviour. He skips to school and is so excited upon arriving at the gates ready for his day with the brilliant team. I feel blessed that he has a place in such a lovely, specialized school in the heart of our community in Columbia where we as a family reside; I have lived in the area all my life and it really is home.
It is an honour to work alongside a team that continues to succeed in our children’s education as they are essentially who we do this for.
Since my son's diagnosis at twenty-two months old, I have a felt a strong sense of passion for children’s education and being able to have access to all things beneficial to their journey with autism. I understand as a parent the challenges that you are faced with and can relate to the worries and anxiety that it comes with along the way.
I am a nurse by trade having worked in various trusts and I am currently a service manager for a specialized mental health unit in Gateshead many of which have a learning disability or diagnosis on the spectrum. I understand the strategic vision and ethos of a service and my role is to help develop innovative new ideas and maintain a high standard. I engage with stakeholders, creating seamless pathways for all and improve data and insights for great decision making; I also understand the needs for our community with the focus of being there for people whilst championing equality, diversity and inclusion for all.
I really prize this opportunity to support the school and all of the dedicated staff.
My Link Area: Green Pathway
Linda Hutchinson
Staff Governor
I have worked at Columbia Grange since 2013, initially as a lunchtime supervisor and now as a teaching assistant. I have been afforded the opportunity to work with the most wonderful people in the world- our pupils and also to develop my skills through Continuous Professional Development which led to me gaining my Teaching and Learning qualifications. The school have really supported this and it is no wonder that I, like many others fell in love with the school when my two children first attended Columbia Grange. My love for the school and experience is from both sides, a parent and a colleague. My children were very happy here and learned valuable life skills which has led them to both being wonderful young men that I am immensely proud of and I’m proud to be able to pass that knowledge and those skills on to the children in school today.
My Link Area: SEND