Governing Body

Ian has extensive business experience, particularly in retailing, culminating in directorships and CEO roles in major UK and international businesses. He is involved with several voluntary organisations, and currently serves as Chair of the EDP Drug & Alcohol Services charity. Ian also has much experience as a school Governor.

Bishop Of Exeter’s Nomination

Kerstin is an experienced teacher and ex Headmistress and is an experienced ISI inspector. She taught at St Paul’s RC Girls’ Grammar School, Edgbaston, Wimbledon High School for Girls GDST, Putney High School GDST, Charters Ancaster School GDST and Abbot’s Hill School

Kerstin was also a governor for about 5 years at Charlotte House (formerly Rickmansworth PNEU) – Chair of Education and Personnel at Belswains Primary School, Hemel Hempstead – governor responsible for Head’s appraisal and Chair of Appeals committee. She has been a Council member of ASCL for 8 years and continues to serve as a minuting secretary at Council Meetings.

Stu Anderson is an Old Mount Kelleian then educated at Northumbria and Newcastle Universities holding an MBA and MPhil. A Management Consultant by trade, he has been involved in the world of entrepreneurship for most his career including running CSR programmes for corporates and extensive work with central and local Government on policy and delivery. Brought up in Tavistock, and after 20 years living in the North East currently lives in South East Cornwall where he was a Governor of a local primary school.

Roger is the nominated representative of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter Cathedral.

Wendy is a former primary school teacher with experience in both state and independent sectors. She works in a voluntary capacity at Mount Kelly Prep.

Wendy has served on parent/teacher committees at several schools including Kelly College when her children, Catherine, Isobel and William, were pupils. She is presently a Features Editor on The Talking Newspaper for the Blind.

Sara, born and brought up in Devon, is an experienced English teacher with also wide-ranging senior educational boarding management experience. She taught at Millfield School, Kelly College where she oversaw the move to full coeducation in 1987, and Sedbergh School where, as Senior Mistress, in 2000/2001 she masterminded the transformation of Sedbergh from a boys school since 1525 into a fully coeducational and thriving coeducational school. Whilst at Sedbergh she was a governor of two Prep Schools.

Sara is currently a governor of the Dean Close Foundation of Schools and Nurseries in Cheltenham; a CIE IGCSE and A Level English Literature examiner; a tutor for GCSE, A Level, and UCAS advice; a Senior Academic Adviser for Sedbergh School International Limited.

She is married to Christopher who was Headmaster of Kelly College from 1985-1995 before moving on to be Headmaster of Sedbergh from 1995-2010. They have 3 daughters all of whom were born during Christopher and Sara’s time at Kelly.

Keith qualified as a Solicitor in 1970, and worked mainly in private practice but also led the legal deptartment of a plc.

He has been a Past Trustee and interim CEO of The Lord’s Taverners, and is currently Chairman of Trustees of The Talking Newspaper for the Blind (West Devon). He is a keen sportsman, having played for Aston Villa as an amateur, played county rugby at youth level, and ran for Birchfield Harriers.

James is a local boy, having being born in, and lived all his life in, S E Cornwall – apart from a short spell in the city qualifying as a chartered accountant! He is now senior partner of Metherell Gard, Chartered Accountants and currently a trustee of Broadreach House (drug and alcohol treatment services).

He served as an independent County Councilor for Cornwall 1977-1985, where he sat on numerous local school governing bodies. He was a member of the Board of the S W Regional Health Authority between 1978-1984; a former Cornwall’s County Treasurer of St John; and a former High Sheriff of Cornwall.

Amanda Le Page is a Chartered Architect with specialist qualifications in architectural conservation and regeneration work. Her work includes large scale brownfield regeneration and consultancy. A director of Le Page Architects, she has worked with the public and private sector and for social enterprise organisations. She has been closely involved with a number of successful regeneration projects, including the role of lead heritage architect for the team that delivered the repair and conservation of the historic Royal William Yard in Plymouth.

Amanda has lived and worked in the South West since 1987. Her son attended Kelly College until the sixth form. She was appointed a Governor in 2015.

Andrew Main stepped down from being Managing Partner of the Fund Management Business, Stratton Street Capital, in 2014 having successfully developed the business from its inception in 2000 to managing and advising over £1 billion in Funds for Institutions. Most of Andrew’s experience has been spent in the City dealing with The Far East, including being based in Japan for 5 years. He is a Lifetime member of the Japan Society and member of the Hong Kong Association in the UK.

He now sits on a number of Fund Boards associated with the region and advises Fund Managers in the region and in the UK. He serves in various capacities the Alternative Investment Management Association being the Chair of their Next Generation Managers group, a founding member of their Sound Practices Group and Market Regulation Standing Committee. Through them he has helped publish their Sound Practices Guide for Fund Board Directors and detailed due diligence questionnaires for Directors.

With his family he moved to the Tavistock area in 2015. He is a qualified Swimming Judge and has recently taken the para swimming course. He actively supports and develops the Officials team associated with Mount Kelly Swimming of which his daughter is a member. He has recently become a Trustee and Chairman designate of the recently formed Tavistock Heritage Trust.

William was educated at Mount House School, King’s College Taunton, and Exeter University. He then joined Dartmouth Naval College and spent 10 years in the Royal Navy specialising as a Navigation Officer. On leaving in the early nineties he set up his own business in West Devon specialising in the restoration and renovation of old and listed properties.

He is Chairman of the River Tamar and Tributaries Fisheries Association, and a Council Member of the South West Rivers Association.

Hilary Monk studied Pharmacy at Manchester University and works as a community Pharmacist. She has been a local Magistrate for 20 years and has also been a member of Fitness to Practise committees for the General Pharmaceutical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Hilary has two children – Christopher was at Mount House School and then Kelly College where he was joined by Jennifer for many happy years. Hilary was an active supporter of the school through the Friends of Kelly and her children’s interests.

Niel is a Mount House old boy. His father and son also went to Mount House. He studied Mechanical Engineering at Bristol University and Petroleum Engineering at Heriot Watt University. He spent thirty-five years working with Schlumberger and Shell, mainly in the Middle and Far East. His most recent jobs were Development Manager in Syria and Head of Hydrocarbon Recovery Themes in Shell Central Offices, The Hague. He now lives locally but continues to carry out overseas consultancy work in the oil industry.

Rob Ormsby attended Kelly College in the early 1970s.

On leaving he joined the Dorset Police in 1975. He worked in various parts of this county until 1997, when he left to join the Regional Crime Squad. This organisation subsequently changed to the National Crime Squad (NCS), then the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and finally the National Crime Agency (NCA). Within all of these agencies he worked as a senior officer investigating serious and organised crime, nationally and globally. In 2015 he retired and now works as a private consultant for various insurers and private clients. He continues to support one niche area of the NCA as a special advisor in a pro bono capacity. In 2019 he was awarded an OBE for his services to law enforcement.

He also works in a voluntary capacity for a local charity the Brentor and Moor Compassionate Neighbours and lives locally.

Diane has significant experience working for large financial services companies, primarily in the City of London, where she has held various senior and board level positions. Her key strengths lie in business and IT operations with particular interest and focus on leveraging technology to support business growth and drive operational efficiencies.

She moved with her family to the South West in 2012 and now lives locally in Tavistock. She has two children, both of whom were pupils at Mount Kelly until very recently.

Claire Robinson is an experienced education leader, governor and consultant, with over 24 years’ headship experience across the independent and state sectors. A former Chair of Governors, SENDCo and School Improvement Partner, she is committed to values-led, inclusive education, leadership development and sustainability. Her work combines strategic insight, neuroscience-informed practice and a strong belief that all pupils can succeed.

Duncan is a Chartered Accountant with over 40 years’ experience in professional practice.

After attending Okehampton Comprehensive School 1973-1980, he took a Management Sciences degree at UMIST. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in London in 1986 and obtained his Insolvency Licence in 1990.

A nationally recognised farming and food production specialist, after a related degree from Seale Hayne, University of Plymouth, and numerous high-profile food supplier business rescues, Duncan provides regular media commentary on supermarket/supplier trading terms, the Groceries Supply Code of Practice and its Adjudicator. In 2019, he authored the Lloyd’s of London Evolving Risks in Global Food Supply  report.

In 2019-20, he was President of R3, the UK trade association for the restructuring and insolvency profession. In 2022, he co-founded Azets Plymouth office.

He is a member of Plymouth Area Business Council, and Treasurer of the Peninsula Medical Foundation.

Julian Trahair went to Marlborough College, before studying British Archaeology at Cardiff University. He qualified as a solicitor in 1980 and worked for commercial law firms in the City of London and Plymouth.

His two sons attended Mount House and he has been a Governor since 2011.

Adrian is a cultural entrepreneur whose early career involved founding the pioneering Leadmill music venue in inner city Sheffield, catalysing the growth of that city’s Cultural Industries Quarter.  Subsequently rooting his family life and career in the South West, Adrian was for many years CEO of the Theatre Royal Plymouth during which time he chaired the National Association of Art Centres, Destination Plymouth Ltd, the National Touring Partnership Ltd, Culture South West and the international Mayflower 400 Compact.

He was awarded an OBE in 2006 for services to the arts and regeneration and, in 2022, CBE for services to theatre nationally.  He is a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Devon and an Honorary Doctor of Arts.

Adrian has been a keen mountaineer, tackling the majority of the ‘Seven Summits’, and enjoys trekking wilderness areas including Dartmoor.

Julian began his career as an engineer in the Royal Navy, subsequently obtaining a teaching qualification and moving into the independent education sector.

He has more than 20 years’ school leadership experience in the UK, South America and South East Asia. He was Head of Taunton School and, more recently, the CEO and Head of College at the United World College of South East Asia in Singapore, an international school with over 5,500 pupils.

Julian now works as an education consultant and has been involved in the inspection and accreditation of schools, as well as the recruitment and coaching of senior leaders. He is also a partner in Thanyapura Health and Sports Resort, Asia’s leading swimming and triathlon training centre.

He is married with three daughters and lives in South Devon. He can invariably be found on the water, in the water or under the water such is his enjoyment of sailing, kayaking, swimming and scuba-diving.