Governance

Ty Power offers expertise in all areas of managing a multinational company and in directing a leading national business/education organisation.  Now retired, he is the former Operations Director of K Shoes Ltd. ( C and J Clark Ltd.) and former Executive Director and Director of the Graduate Programme of Young Enterprise.

Ty studied Economics and Business at the University of Edinburgh and at INSEAD in Fontainebleau.  He is a member of the Cumbria Schools’ Forum, latterly representing Academy schools in the South of the County.  Through the Schools Forum Ty has been involved in several revisions of Cumbria’s schools’ funding methodology and is well versed in schools’ financing issues. Ty was a founding member of the current Multi Academy Trust formed in May 2017, before which he was a Member of Queen Elizabeth School Limited Company.

Rev Richard Snow is team Rector of the Kirkby Lonsdale Team Ministry.  He studied aeronautical engineering at Bristol University and after graduation specialised in the hydrodynamics of minesweeping equipment and underwater systems.  He studied theology at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, and was ordained in 1990, but retains a passion for engineering, as well as the relationship between science and faith.   He served in the Diocese of Bath and Wells and the Diocese of Bristol before moving to Kirkby Lonsdale in 2007.   Has a Masters from Kings College, London in Youth Ministry and Theological Education and, in addition to parish duties, serves on the Carlisle Diocesan Synod and the Carlisle Diocese Board of Education.  Rev. Snow was a founding member of the Multi Academy Trust, formed on 16 May 2017.

Margaret Cunningham is a retired English Teacher and former Editor and Administrative Officer for a local company where she also had responsibility for Human Resources. Margaret is an active member of the local community through her church and charity work.

Richard Shepherd is a retired hospital doctor who worked at the Lancaster and Kendal hospitals. He has worked at a senior level in the public sector for many years and has a deep understanding of its complexities.

Peter spent much of his career in the footwear industry, working for both Clarks and K Shoes and subsequently led the setting up of a successful local retail franchise business in the late 1990’s. He spent the last 10 years of his career working for a leadership and management training company in the Lake District, helping individuals and teams become more effective inside their organisations. Now happily retired, he is involved in a number of different organisations both in the Kirkby Lonsdale community and internationally. He is a Trustee of CRMI Children of Hope, a local charity which works with some of the poorest and most vulnerable children, young adults and families in Uganda, helping them to build better lives for themselves and their families.

Fenner Pearson is the owner of a successful Kendal-based business. He has 30 years’ experience in IT and set up his own software house in 2004.

Steve is a former Deputy Head in two high schools and has worked as a School Improvement Officer / School Improvement Partner for Blackburn with Darwen Local Authority. Up to retirement in May 2021 he worked for 13 years as the Director for Quality and Development for the South Lakes Federation and as the coordinator of our Teaching School Alliance.

Ian Skillen graduated from the University of Hull with an honours degree in geology before going on to Loughborough to do his teacher training in PE and Geography.
His teaching career began at Gosforth High School in Newcastle before moving to Netherhall School in Maryport where he became Deputy Head. Following retirement he moved to Kirkby Lonsdale in 2009. His interest in education led to him joining the governing body in 2012.
His subsequent assignment to the curriculum sub-committee allowed him to utilise his experience in curriculum and data analysis. Ian has also been a magistrate since 2007 and sits on the South Cumbria Bench, as a Presiding Justice, in both the Adult and Youth Courts.
As a keen rugby enthusiast Ian represents Cumbria on the England Schools RFU, which together with his background in the justice system led to his appointment as the RFU National Age Grade Discipline Secretary in 2017.

Jacqui Scott had five children go through QES with her youngest recently starting. As a Director of the Kendal Mountain Festival, Jacqui has specific interest in inspiring more people to enjoy, explore and respect the outdoors, something she feel strongly starts with the youngest members of our community. Jacqui is also a member of the Creative and Cultural Sector Panel of the Cumbria LEP and believes in the potential of creativity to enhance opportunities and mitigate challenges for children and young people.

Cathy O’Neill is an experienced Headteacher, running Queen Elizabeth School.

Dr Sally Elton-Chalcraft is a Reader in Education (associate professor) at the University of Cumbria where she has worked with intending primary and secondary teachers since moving to Cumbria in 2002. Formerly she was a primary school teacher in Oxfordshire and Derbyshire.  She is passionate about providing young people with a balanced education, equipping them not only with the required skills and certificates for their future lives, but also an education which challenges them to think responsibly about their role as citizens in the world. She teaches and publishes in the areas of Religious Education, Anti-racism, special educational needs and school leadership.

Ben is a staff governor. He joined QES in 2020 working in Learning Support where his roles are many and various. Prior to QES he worked for 5 years at Morecambe Bay Academy.

Before his career in Learning Support, Ben worked as a Boom operator/Sound technician on TV and Films for 25 years!

Life experience and knowledge of the real world have helped shape the way he feels about education and the world we live in.

Outside work Ben has played hockey to a high standard in a long and distinguished career and currently plays for Kirkby Lonsdale.

Ben’s daughter also attends QES.

Jill Bargh is a parent governor with one child at QES and another to follow. Formerly a Business Banker she is currently a director of a company with two local auction mart sites, an Exhibition Centre, and associated Agricultural Business Rental Properties. She contributes to setting Group Strategy, monitoring financial performance and budgets, risk, growth projects and property management. Jill also runs her own property rental business and assists her husband with his farming enterprise.

Jill has first hand experience of the success achieved by both routes into the world of work, work experience enhanced with work-based learning, or purely academic learning, and feels proud to represent a school that has positioned itself to place value in both these educational routes through QES and QES Studio School.

Hobbies: Farming, Swimming, Walking, Tennis, History and Architecture.

Heather Rucastle started in 2017 as the performing arts technician for QES. Heather assists with GSCE, A level and pathway examinations providing technical support, costumes, and props.

Heather works closely with the pathway course as a professional partner in the theatrical make up unit. She also produces the school productions and assists in many school events. She has a BA degree in Theatre Arts History and Foundation Degree in Stage Management from the University of Brighton. Heather has previously worked at the University of Cumbria and manager of a theatrical makeup company in London.