Tim Smith - Chair

I became a community governor at Knowle in early 2019.  My Champion subjects include English/Literacy and more recently, following my appointment as Chair in September, Safeguarding. I am a lawyer and worked in the Court Service for 40 years until I retired in 2018. I was pleased then to have time to take on some voluntary work in the area and jumped at the chance to become a governor at Knowle.  My son and daughter are in their 20s now, so it was a while since I had been into any school buildings, but one visit was enough to be impressed by the super facilities, to see and feel the infectious enthusiasm of all the staff and to experience the excited buzz of children clearly enjoying everything that the school has to offer. It's a pleasure to be connected with such a vibrant and positive place and a great privilege to chair the governors at this important and challenging time.

Linda Ludlow – Vice Chair

I joined the Knowle team in the summer of 2019. My Champion subjects include Pupil Premium and EYFS. I’ve just retired from the Royal Navy after 22 years as an Aviation & Maritime Forecaster (or weather forecaster!) and am focussing on being a Mummy whilst volunteering at Knowle and a committee member on my children’s school PTFA. I have 2 children Abigail (8) and Marcus (4) and love event management and raising money for our schools. This summer I was elected as Vice Chair and look forward to embracing what is required to prepare for OFSTED. I’m sporty and love getting involved with encouraging the children on the field with Athletics and Cross Country. I’m hoping to bring my leadership, team skills and motivation to support Knowle’s staff and students and look forward to attending school events.

Father David Bailey
I have been Parish Priest at St Francis Church Honicknowle since February 2008 and for most of the time I have also been a governor at Knowle Primary School. I regard my role as a governor as
an essential part of my ministry as a priest; it gives me many opportunities to support and serve the local community. One of the Church’s priorities is to “serve the people of Devon with joy” and
being a governor enables me to do this personally and also to encourage and enable the local church community to do so.
My particular interests are religious education (naturally!), literacy, history, the health, safety and
well being of children, families and staff, social justice and community development. I worked as a priest in South Africa for 20 years before coming to Plymouth, where I was involved in a number of schools and for a time chaired a committee responsible for school safety in situations of violence and a place of safety for orphaned, abandoned and abused children. I hope that my experiences there have been of help in my work as a governor at Knowle.

Amy Wilkinson

I became part of the governing team at Knowle Primary February last year as a parent governor. My champion subjects are EYFS and Maths. Knowle Primary has made huge improvements since my daughter joined four years ago. The work that Mr Lancaster and all of his team have put in to providing each child with the best opportunities they can through education is inspiring. It was being able to see these changes first hand which lead me to want to get involved and show them my support.

Jodie Moon

I have been a Knowle mum for 5 years. My daughter joined in year 4 while I was pregnant with my twins. I could never see them going to a different school when starting in September 2020 as I love the ‘Knowle way’. I love the enthusiasm of the staff and the love of learning from the students. But I understand we are not perfect and that is why I wanted to be a Governor. How can you expect perfection and not be willing to help? I want to make a difference. I want to help and be the link between the parents and the school, to give an honest point of view, good or bad, striving for the perfect school we know Knowle can be.

Scott Simpson-Horne

Scott Simpson-Horne is Headteacher of All Saints Academy Plymouth. He is committed to our shared communities and believes that Plymouth, more than any other city in England, deserves an outstanding educational offer. He previously worked across the South West and in the Midlands before settling down in Torbay.

Melanie Cavanagh

I have been a member of staff at Knowle Primary School for 10 years, firstly as a Teaching Assistant before taking over the role of Pastoral Lead where I provided both behaviour support and guidance to children and staff across the school, I am on hand to offer nurture and a calm space for children who need it, or just find things a struggle at times. I am a qualified Trauma and Mental Health Informed Practitioner, a qualification I gained with the support of Knowle Primary School, 

I live locally, my son Jimmy, now 16, attended Knowle Primary so I have a strong bond with the school and wider community. Being a member of staff, it is both interesting and informative to have an insight into how the school is run' behind the scenes' as well as knowing what is happening on the ground with regards to staff and pupils.

I am passionate about Knowle and strive to move forward in helping Knowle's children to achieve their full potential, I love to bring new ideas and approaches to the nurturing and wellbeing of our children.