Governors' Profiles
Preston Manor School Governors: 2022-2023
Donald Palmer (Chair) (Curriculum and Teaching Committee)
Donald lives in Brent and joined the governing body in 2005, and is currently Chair of Governors. Donald’s background is in Higher Education having worked at various universities for almost 20 years. He is currently an Associate Professor in Immunology at the Royal Veterinary College, University of London and also an Honorary Senior Lecturer at Imperial College. He teaches on several undergraduate and postgraduate courses and conducts research in the area of immunology. Donald is passionate about education, in particularly its role in social mobility. He is also a governor at the College of North West London. Donald is co-founder and co-Director of a social enterprise; ‘Reach Society’ with the purpose of inspiring young people to fulfil their potential and is a Professional Mentor at the Amos Bursary. Donald is highly active in the public understanding of science often giving talks at schools, colleges and to the media.
Everton Counsell (Vice Chair) (Resources, Audit and Risk Committee)
Everton joined the governing body in 2010 and is currently Vice Chair of Governors. Everton has a social services and voluntary sector background and is currently Director of an Arts Charity, which works with and provides services for schools in London. A graduate in Economic and Social Policy from London University, Everton has also raised millions of pounds to establish community projects for and developed by children and young people for which he received an MBE.
Jonathan Bach (Vice Chair)(Chair of Learners Welfare Committee - Upper School)
Jonathan Bach lives in Brent near to PMS and joined the governing body in October 2010. After studying biology at Kings College London he trained as a teacher at the Institute of Education and has always taught in London schools. After a post as Head of Science in Camden, he had seven happy years at Preston Manor as a Deputy Headteacher before being appointed Head of a large 11-18 comprehensive in Hounslow. He then became a Senior Director of the Government’s National Strategies leading on Science, Maths, and initial teacher training. He returned to teaching as Head of a small 6-16 school before becoming Director of the Jewish teacher training partnership which trains graduate teachers locally. He also runs and teaches a BA course in education and works with many schools as a school improvement consultant. He is a keen skier, wildlife photographer and tennis player
Susan Lawrence (Curriculum and Teaching Committee Upper School)
Susan joined Preston Manor's Governing Body in 2003, initially as a Parent Governor and later became a Community Governor. She is currently Chair of Resources. Susan has worked in Brent for over 30 years having started her teaching career in a 4 form entry primary school. She has been a Head teacher for over 16 years and sits on the Strategic Management Board of the Brent Schools Partnership. She has a passion for the role education has to play in shaping outcomes for children and young people. She is committed to the notion of excellence; encouraging young people to strive to be the best they can whilst ensuring equality of outcomes. “Being part of the Preston Manor Governing Body is both exciting and rewarding. All the staff are incredibly hard working and constantly look for ways to inspire the pupils with their learning and ambitions. The Governing Body act as the school’s ‘critical friend’ and because of our wide skill set and experience, it is possible to view issues from various perspectives. With everyone from every part of the school sharing the same vision, we are a cohesive and successful team!”
Kinna Patel (Chair of Curriculum and Learners Welfare – Lower School)
Kinna has been a Partnership Governor at Preston Manor for just under a year. As a former student, the school is close to her heart and she wanted to ensure that each pupil had as fulfilling an experience as she did. Kinna believes school years can be some of the toughest for any child and so it takes a strong network of Teachers, Governors and Support Staff to encourage pupils to believe they can do anything they put their minds to. She studied Economics at the University of Manchester and is currently working for a Private Bank. She has experience in both Corporate and Private Banking and her role involves managing debt products as well as project delivery. She hopes to use all her experience to ‘give back to a wonderful school that truly cares about the success and well-being of all its pupils’.
Rajeev Gulati (Upper School Learners’ Welfare Committee)
Rajeev joined the governing board in 2019. As a former pupil of Preston Manor, he has fond memories of the school, including playing for the cricket team when they won the Middlesex cup! After A-levels he trained as a doctor at UCL Medical School including an Intercalated BSc. in Psychology. Throughout his career he has been heavily involved in education, writing medical textbooks, training junior doctors, appraising fellow GPs and examining medical students. He trained as a Hospital Physician and then as a General Practitoner. His experience of primary care has highlighted the importance of the school environment on the long-term development and well-being of individuals. He is passionate about bringing these aspects into his role as governor.
Shahzea Tahir (Curriculum and Teaching Committee Upper School)
Shahzea lives in Stanmore, having previously lived in Wembley for 13 years. She joined the governing body in April 2019. A law graduate from Brunel University, with a Masters in Policy Studies, she is a senior family solicitor working for a nationally recognised firm, specialising in International divorce and family matters. She is a member of Resolution and a member of the charity Rights of Women, providing free legal advice for women in need. In addition to her legal work, she is also a lay representative for the Royal College of Physicians, assisting in their General Internal Medicine Specialist Advisory Committee (GIM SAC) , and Speciality Certificate Examination (SCE) Steering Group. She also works as a surrogate for the MRCP (UK) PACES exams for doctors. Married to a Consultant Physician and a mother to two young boys, she supports many charities working with children, in the UK and abroad. She has visited many orphanages across the world with her family, and has a keen interest in helping young children in Education.
Shiraz Nasrabadi (Upper School Learners’ Welfare Committee)
Shiraz joined Preston Manor’s Governing Body in October 2018 as the Support Staff governor. Shiraz starting working at Preston Manor in August 2008 as the Exams Assistant and is currently Exams and Cover Manager and assists with whole school timetabling. With 18 years of experience in schools and 10 years of working at Preston Manor Shiraz felt that she was in a good position to be able to contribute to the Governing Body
Archana Chavan (Curriculum and Learners Welfare Committee Lower School)
Archana Chavan joined as a Parents Governor in September 2019. She is residing in Brent for last 14 years. For the past 12 years, she has been working as an Accounts payable in the Finance Department of Wembley National Stadium.
Archana feels she can positively contribute to the school’s continued improvement and will work with the parents, teachers, leadership team and other governors to help achieve and meet the objectives set, which will provide our children with the best platform to be successful. There are positive vibes of change around the school which she really wants to represent the parents’ views during this time.
She has seen many changes in the school and thinks it’s still the right choice as a parent that we can build up the best school. The role of Governor is often described as that of a ‘critical friend’, she plans to be that, as a parent she also brings her knowledge & experience, as well as her enthusiasm to the role of Parent Governor.
Nadir Minar (Curriculum and Teaching Committee Upper School)
Nadir is a former pupil at PMHS and joined the governing body in 2019. He has previously been a Governor at a primary school in Brent for seven years, where he was Chair of the Curriculum and Achievement committee and Link Governor for Pupil Premium. Since 2003 Nadir has had an outstanding career as a teacher and Head of Department in secondary schools across West London. He has taken over under-achieving departments and key stage subjects in challenging schools and transformed them to achieve outstanding results. In 2016 Nadir set up a private tuition service providing tutors for primary and secondary age pupils. As well as delivering academic tutoring, the service integrates a comprehensive personal development programme to enable pupils to realise their potential. Alongside being the Company Director, Nadir is an Education Consultant which involves providing education advice and guidance to parents, as well as coaching on parenting skills and strategies.
Sarah Venables Chair of Resources, Audit and Risk Committee)
Sarah joined the governing body in 2019. She has a background in economics, which she previously taught at undergraduate level. She currently works as an adviser at the Bank of England, where she is also involved in recruitment and efforts to improve outreach and diversity. She believes that education is key to delivering opportunities to those of all backgrounds and hopes to use her experience to deliver this for students at Preston Manor.
Alqayam Meghji (Resources, Audit and Risk Committee)
“Alqayam joined the governing board in September 2021. His current role is policy lead on blended finance in DEFRA. He has held multiple policy positions in the UK government, freelanced as a sustainable finance researcher, and held both strategic and delivery roles as an engineer. He looks forward to using his experience and enthusiasm for life long education to contribute to, and support, the work being done by the governors, staff, students, and community of Preston Manor.”
Suzanna Pramanik (Curriculum and Learners Welfare Committee Lower School)