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Board-appointed Governors
Stephen Bielby (Chair)
Governor, HMYOI Moorland
Stephen has 16 years experience of working and managing in a custodial setting. Currently Head of Security and Intelligence, he works with some of the most difficult and troubled Young People in the country. These young boys have issues ranging from behavioral problems, mental health issues and serious learning difficulties. He has formulated and implemented projects within this challenging setting to develop and engage the creative and communication skills of the young people with great success, working with experts such as Billy Bragg on a recent musical project.
As a father of 5, he has previous experience as a school governor at a successful local school and is fully committed to the long term future and goals of XP.
Stephen is our Link Governor to the Services community
Staff Governors
Gemma Thornton
Gemma started her educational journey at Coventry University after completing her BA (HONS) in Graphic Design. After a couple of years working in Further Education, she fell in love with teaching and pursued her career by doing a PGCE at Birmingham University.
She spent her first eight years of teaching at Armthorpe Academy where she built her career as an Art and Media teacher. Whilst teaching she became a Head of Year for a number of different year groups in both key stages. She became an Associate Leader where she worked alongside Senior Management and as part of this role had to lead a team of teachers to implement a project-based learning curriculum for the Humanities and Arts for Year 7 Students.
This is when she gained a new-found love for teaching, seeing students engage in subjects beyond their expectations and producing some outstanding creations. The opportunity then arose to become a Staff Governor of XP which she is proud to be a part of in such a pioneering school.
Jacqui Chappell
Before starting at XP, Jacqui worked for a global consultancy company with business clients from across the UK. She designed personal and business improvement training programmes, led senior management teams and successfully returned significant financial results.
During this time she was selected by the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) to represent and promote STEM subjects and careers to young students throughout schools in the UK.
When she decided to enter the world of education, XP was without a doubt where she wanted to be. Jacqui believes it is a fantastic learning centre and somewhere she could continue her personal development.
Parent Governors
Rachel Scott
Rachel has lived in Doncaster all her life and after completing her degree in Public Sector Management has worked at Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council as an Internal Auditor. This involves assessing organisation’s processes and procedures to give an independent assurance opinion on how these are working, as well as to add value to and help to improve the organisation’s operations.
Having 2 children of her own, when hearing about XP and its philosophy, Rachel was intrigued by project based learning and became incredibly enthusiastic about this more ‘real life’ approach. Now being part of the school herself she is even more committed and dedicated to the development of XP to ensure that the students have the best start in life by receiving a first class education.
As a Parent Governor, Rachel will be able to use her link between the school and parents to enable a balanced approach to be taken on decision-making.
Paul Haines
Paul is the Managing Director of Exploration Ltd, a local Doncaster based Geo-environmental ground drilling company, operating across the UK.
He has moved through the working system from Trainee to Director and has worked across many sectors, even though his academic schooling was not the best.
He became a Parent Governor at XP because he wanted to give something back to the community and feel that he could help to steer XP towards being even more fantastic.
Paul has three children and understands as much as any parent how schooling can give so much to a child if it is delivered effectively. He believes that XP supports children who want to learn and inspires others to follow, and is proud to say he is a part of it.