Local Advisory Board

The Cumbria Education Trust Board Directors delegate to the Local Advisory Board (LAB) members its responsibility and powers as the Governing Body of the school. These responsibilities are discharged by the LAB members in accordance with its constitution, any Cumbria Education Trust Policies and advice from the Department for Education (DFE) and Ofsted.

View the Trust Board membership here: http://www.cumbriaeducationtrust.org/about-us/leadership/

The Tebay Primary School LAB is crucial to helping the school to raise standards.

Some of the roles of the LAB are to:

• provide the information required by the Trust and not to withhold any information which the Trust reasonably requires;
• refer certain decisions to the Trust for approval as set out in the Scheme of Delegation;
• report to the Trust Board Directors on the outcomes and progress within a one-week period of each meeting;
• act in accordance with the LAB Protocols.

If you have any queries for the LAB or would like to contact the Chair, please email Leanne Coats, Clerk to the LAB, lcoats@cumbriaeducationtrust.org or telephone 016977 45300.

Composition of Local Advisory Board (LAB) members:

Sandy Todd – Chair

Sandy has worked in Education in a variety of roles for 37 years, now lives near Kirkby Stephen with her husband and has two grown up children of her own. She started her career as a teacher in a Secondary school in the Outer London Borough of Havering and moved to Cumbria in 1986 to take a one year temporary post at Kirkby Stephen Grammar School. The temporary role was made permanent and Cumbria became a permanent home.  Whilst at Kirkby Stephen she took on the role of Assistant Headteacher with responsibility for Primary School Liaison. This led to a continuing admiration for and interest in the work of our Primary School Colleagues. Varied promoted posts followed in Barnard Castle, Cumbria Children Services, and secondary schools in Dalston near Carlisle and Workington. Sandy left full time work in schools in September 2015 but remains very busy and still spends much time in schools across Cumbria and Lancashire.

Sandy has always believed that as adults and especially as teachers we must strive to help children and our staff to be the best that they can be in all situations and help them to acquire the skills and qualifications to be able to choose what they want to do with their lives and the contribution they make to society.   At present Sandy continues her passion for making a positive difference to schools and young people through her own consultancy work in supporting School Leadership Teams to improve their schools by providing bespoke support and professional development to middle and senior leaders. She is also the Executive Officer for the Cumbria Association of Secondary Headteachers.

Sandy loves the natural environment, wildlife and the garden, is a keen sports and outdoor activities fan and participant and plays an EB base in the Kirkby Stephen Silver Band, and hates having her photograph taken!

Being part of the Cumbria Education Trust is a great opportunity for Tebay School on our improvement journey and Sandy is looking forward to working with fellow LAB members to take advantage of the opportunities this will present for our staff and students.

Lorrayne Hughes – Chief Executive

Lorrayne is the Chief Executive of Cumbria Education Trust, the county’s largest multi-academy school trust.

Lorrayne took up her first Headship at William Howard School in Brampton in 2007 and in 2014 was commissioned by the Local Authority to bring about rapid improvement in two special measures schools in Workington. One of the schools was removed from Special Measures within 20 weeks.

She has led CET since inception to its current position where it is responsible for the education of more than 4,000 children across three secondary schools, eight primaries and West Coast Sixth Form.

Lorrayne passionately believes in inclusion and that all young people deserve a high-quality education. Children are firmly at the heart of all her strategic decision-making.
All schools work closely together following Lorrayne’s lead that collaboration can make a difference to all involved, from pupils and students to staff and their communities.

Lorrayne is a board member of the Confederation of School Trusts, the sector body for school trusts.

Cate Floyd – Executive Prinicipal

After 12 years in education, working across the country in a variety of settings and alongside national bodies such as the North North West Maths Hub, Cate moved from Accrington to join the CET leadership team to take on her first headship at Longtown Primary School in 2017. She believes that all children are entitled to the very best education and working within a school improvement model to develop and sustain change, change that is for the better and not just reactive, is important to her.

After successfully securing their first Good judgment at Longtown, she have moved into her second headship within the Trust, at Yanwath Primary School ensuring that they, as a leadership team, continue to provide a sustainable school improvement model where children and staffs mental health and wellbeing are at the heart of all decisions being made.

Helen Wright – Headteacher

Helen started her career in the Northeast of England where she attended Northumbria University.  She taught for six years in a large Junior school before being recruited by South Tyneside Education Action Zone which supported 19 schools across the Local Authority.

In 2003 she relocated to Cumbria and continued her teaching career in two local primary school.  She became part of the CET team when Yanwath Primary school joined the trust and held the post of Assistant Headteacher until joining Tebay as Head of School.

Helen passionately believes all children should be provided with the opportunities they need to reach their full potential.

Jeff O’Neill – Co-opted Director

Jeff is a Chartered Accountant and an experienced Non-Executive Director.

Following a career in financial services based in the North-east, Jeff relocated to Cumbria in 2015 and retired from executive employment in 2017. He lives in Eamont Bridge near to Penrith.

He is currently a Non-Executive Director of Justships Ltd. which is a wholesale marine insurance broker; and for the three years to September 2021 was a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of a local NHS Trust.

With involvement as a non-remunerated Non-Executive Director between 2006 and 2018, Jeff was for several years Chair of RASCALS Ltd which was an OFSTED regulated community social enterprise providing affordable childcare in the economically deprived area of South-East Northumberland.

In his executive career, Jeff was employed for 25 years by North Group, a marine mutual general insurance group of companies where he was Finance Director and a member of the senior leadership team.

Rachel Lowis – Parent LAB member & Vice Chair (Safeguarding member)

Rachel was brought up in Cumbria and attended school in Kendal. She wants to help the school develop and grow as part of Cumbria Education Trust, whilst retaining its place at the heart of the village.

She hopes to bring her skills and knowledge of safeguarding to the role of LAB Member. She also has a keen interest in anti-bullying policy, child mental health and the development of effective practice around intervention and response to bullying.

Adrian Todd – LAB member

After leaving school at sixteen, Adrian went to work in farming.  He then moved into construction with TK Robinson.  Adrian went on to work for T Armstrong Construction and Cheetham Hill Construction, where he has been for 26 years, working as a Construction Manager, running projects for up to £20m.

Adrian is also a Parish council chairman and Eden district councillor (Portfolio holder).

Adrian has helped young people to get into construction, some from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Adrian is a local person who was educated at Tebay School and will always do his best to promote the school.

Nabil Subuh – LAB member

After growing up in a village in Scotland where Nabil completed Scottish Highers in Art, English, Metalwork and Technical Drawing he moved to London to start a journey in hospitality initially as a chef and then quickly he worked my way up in management.  Nabil worked in the early stages of some interesting companies such as Pret a Manger and Coffee Republic before becoming part of the leadership team at Welcome Break in 2000. He has been CEO of a Gourmet Pie Company and lived in the Netherlands recently as Group Operations Director of a business with over 1500 locations.

Nabil is now the CEO of Westmorland Family which is owned by the Dunnings who are well known to Tebay School and who’s children have recently been pupils.   He lives in Tebay 5 days per week as a resident and wishes to share the company’s and his desire to support its community.

Nabil has 4 grown up children, 2 of which he has been a stepfather from the ages of 2 & 4 who are now aged 19 to 32. He hopes to be able to share his experience and the businesses resources to support Tebay School. Nabil has had an interesting childhood with some challenges including dyslexia which is also a strength as it makes him creative.

Nicola Turner – Parent LAB member

Sharron Macdonald, LAB member

LAB members in the previous 12 months:

• Michaela Jameson – 30/08/2023
• Julie Hoggarth – 17/05/2023
• Kate Kilpatrick – 03/03/2023

Should you require any meeting minutes from previous years, please do not hesitate to contact Leanne Coats, Clerk to the LAB, at lcoats@cumbriaeducationtrust.org.