Governance

Alison Thomas, HR Governor

Alison’s career has been split between working for HSBC, a mental health trust in the NHS and jointly running a B&B. She has been a bank branch manager, a commercial manager with a portfolio of business customers, an area manager responsible for 18 branches across London and a regional manager responsible for people development covering 140 branches over the East of England.

Alison then worked for Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) as a Leadership Development Lead responsible for commissioning and creating leadership and management training. Alison is a qualified coach and was responsible for coaching within NSFT, commissioning external coaching and leading a network of internal coaches. Alison was also responsible for the trust’s staff health and wellbeing strategy and initiatives, and had a role as an Organisational Development Lead, which mainly focused on facilitating team building activities and creating and delivering bespoke training programmes.

Alison has written HR policies and training for managers to use those policies. In HSBC she was trained as a disciplinary and grievance hearing manager and was seen as the regional expert in conducting hearings. Alison describes herself as a Leadership Development expert, Coach, Mentor and Organisational Development Practitioner.

In 2010 Alison relocated from Sussex to Norfolk to enable her husband to leave his work and set up a B&B which opened in 2011. They won two national B&B awards; the AA’s Friendliest B&B Award in 2016 and the Eviivo national award for ‘Bed, Breakfast and Beyond’ (for their quilt retreats) in 2019. The B&B closed in 2023, in order to care for a parent with dementia.

Alison has a deep and personal interest in supporting people with dyslexia which started when one of her children was finally diagnosed as being dyslexic at the age of 9 ½ years. She was shocked at the lack of support and information from the school and set about learning what she could about dyslexia. She created a resource in the school for other parents whose child was also diagnosed as being dyslexic. Alison has mentored and coached quite a few people who are dyslexic or who have other neuro-diversities.

Alison has a Diploma in Professional Coach Mentoring with The OCM and a Post Graduate Certificate in The Psychology of Organisational Development and Change with Middlesex University.

Alison hopes to be able to bring her wide-ranging knowledge of leadership, business management and managing people to support the leadership team of The Levels School in growing the school and developing the whole team.

Alison loves spending her time making patchwork quilts, whilst listening to football commentaries on the radio and cheering on her team, Sunderland.

Kevin Newton, Business and Marketing Governor

Kevin has lived in Somerset all his life and has built a successful career as an entrepreneur across a diverse range of sectors including property development, leisure, music and entertainment, and the hotel industry. His work has involved launching and managing multiple ventures, with a focus on creating innovative, community-focused businesses.

He remains actively involved in the oversight and strategic direction of his business interests, drawing on years of hands-on experience in development and commercial operations.

Outside of work, Kevin enjoys spending time walking , playing golf, and travelling whenever he gets the opportunity. He is happiest when surrounded by his family and grandchildren.

Angela Baker, Safeguarding Governor

Angela worked 1986-1992 firstly as Assistant Publications Manager and then as Publications Manager at the Eurodata Foundation, compiling, publishing and marketing information on European telecom services and tariffs.

1992-1999 she worked for BT (British Telecom) in the Corporate Relations Dept ending up as Head of European PR and Media, where she ran pan-European pro-active media relations programs to support the company’s profile and business ambitions beyond the UK.

As International Corporate Communications Director for an American multinational, she provided strategic counsel on dealing with European media and running international PR campaigns.

In 2001 she took the opportunity to re-train as a secondary school teacher and from 2002 worked in a local school in Camberwell, London, as 2i/c of a busy MFL dept. with specific responsibility for KS2 outreach and KS3 curriculum and assessment.  She returned to Somerset in 2010 where she continued to teach MFL at a popular school in Bridgwater.

Angela retired from full-time teaching in 2015 to concentrate on her child’s transition to secondary school and provide support for her elderly parents.  She taught KS2, KS3 & KS4 French, Spanish & Italian full-time in mainstream secondary schools from 2002-2015.  Alongside the teaching of MFL she particularly enjoyed the pastoral tutor role.

As the mother of an adopted neuro-divergent child (recently diagnosed with autism) Angela has first-hand experience of the challenges facing young people who struggle in mainstream education. Her aim is to help advocate on behalf of our young people to ensure that they can reach their full potential and are supported to succeed. Crucial in this aim is to ensure a whole-school approach to safeguarding and child protection.

Angela enjoys foreign holidays and exploring new and familiar destinations which allow her to practice her languages.  She is a bit of a cinephile and enjoys watching European films.  Every year she watches as many Oscar-nominated films as possible.  She loves listening to female singer-song writers from Joni Mitchel to Raye and adores Mahler’s 2nd Resurrection symphony.

Angela currently volunteers as a French and Spanish language assistant to support students preparing for their GCSE speaking exams at a school in Taunton – helping her to keep her own language skills alive.