Our Governors

The Governors OF BURY GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Working with our school community, Governors are committed to balancing traditional values with excellent, forward-thinking educational practices in a caring and collaborative family of schools, where pupils and staff flourish and succeed. This, combined with a wealth of extra-curricular opportunities, enables our pupils to be ambitious, confident, tolerant, respectful and well-rounded young people, extremely well-prepared to meet life's future challenges.

The Governing Body consists of local men and women who possess a broad span of experience and skills. They are dedicated to setting the strategic direction of the School and maintaining the School’s high reputation.

Please see all members of the Governing Body listed below and their biographies.

Gillian Winter - Chair of Governors

Gillian is an experienced school leader and teacher with 40 years’ experience covering all age groups from nursery to adults in the UK and Japan. Her specialist teaching subjects are Religious Studies and Philosophy.

Gillian’s educational philosophy has always been to reach academic achievement through outstanding teaching and learning, with systematic monitoring alongside effective pastoral care to ensure pupil and student well-being. Gillian taught at Withington Girls’ School for 7 years and her most recent roles have been as Assistant Head, Pupil and Student Development and Assistant Head (Sixth Form) at Altrincham Grammar School for Girls before she went on to be the founding Principal of Connell Sixth Form College in Manchester.

Gillian now runs her own Educational Consultancy and she enjoys working on a variety of educational projects. She is also passionate about improving the lives of children and so she is proud to work as a trustee with Wood Street Mission and Mynshull’s Educational Foundation which help the children of Manchester and Salford.

Gillian became a governor at BGS in 2015.

Those wishing to contact the Chair of Governors should write to:

Mrs J Stevens, Clerk to the Governors, Farraday House, Bridge Road, Bury, BL9 0HG 0161 696 8600

Nicola Waring - Member of the Governing Body

Malcolm Edge - Vice Chair of Governors, Chair of the Finance & Resources Committee

Malcolm Edge is a BGS Old Boy who went on to qualify as a Chartered Accountant, eventually becoming one of two Vice Chairman of KPMG in the UK.

He was also a European and UK Board member. He spent most of his career at KPMG providing professional services to a range of clients including FTSE 100 businesses, large family companies and private individuals.

Malcolm became a BGS governor in 2014. He retired from KPMG, and is now involved in various other activities. In addition to being a Governor at BGS, he is Chairman of the North West Business Fund (a fund of funds investing £153m into small and medium businesses, both equity and loans), a consultant to a family business with large commercial property interests and is both a Feoffee and the Chair of the Governing body at Chetham's School of Music.

Malcolm enjoys sports and particularly sailing and skiing. He also attempts to play golf!

Martin Entwistle - Member of the Governing Body

Martin was a pupil at BGSB from 1978-85 and went on to train as an accountant and later as a stockbroker, eventually becoming a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.

He has been a Partner at James Sharp & Co Stockbrokers of Bury since 1999 and retains strong links with the Schools both as Secretary of the Old Boys' Association and a parent of twin boys who have been educated at BGSB from Infant School to Sixth Form.

He was appointed to the governing body in 2011. Martin’s hobbies include skiing, cycling and playing the saxophone.

Suzanne Gauge - Chair of the BGS Education Committee

Suzanne Gauge was educated at BGS and is a former Head Girl of the School.

She studied modern languages, graduating from Leeds University with an Honours Degree in French with Spanish and went on to obtain a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management from Manchester Metropolitan University.

Suzanne has spent the majority of her career in a variety of Sales and Marketing roles within the Travel, Insurance and Textile Sectors. Her last position was that of Group Sales Director for a multinational firm specialising in the production and distribution of work-wear, corporate-wear and military fabrics on a worldwide scale.

She joined the Governing Body in 2015 as a Parent and has two children at the School. She is an active member of the BGS Old Girls' Association and has been its Secretary since 2009.

Pete Lee - Member of the Governing Body

Pete was educated at BGS and then graduated with an Economics degree from The University of Hull in 1992.

He went on to qualify as a Chartered Management Accountant, working in a number of businesses across a variety of sectors including manufacturing, professional services and technology. He is currently Chief Operating Officer at Purple, an early stage software business based in Manchester.

Pete is an active member of the school community having two boys who are currently at the Senior School. He joined the Governing Body in 2018. In his spare time, he enjoys running, cycling, football and travel.

Daniel Long - Chair of the Joint Consultative Committee

Daniel graduated in Law from Lancaster University in 2008 and went on to join local law firm Woodcocks Haworth & Nuttall where he became equity partner in 2014.

Daniel specialises in Commercial Litigation and heads up a successful team dealing with local and national clients. He joined the Governing body in 2017.

Daniel is a BGS Old Boy having left in 2005 and he comes from a family with strong ties to the school. A bursary recipient, Daniel was successful in both his academic career and in sport while at BGS. Daniel is passionate about making independent education available to as many children as possible. In his spare time, he enjoys golf, football and travel.

Dr Jagatjit Rajasansir - Chair of Governance Committee

Stephen Wild - Member of the Governing Body

Stephen Wild is a BGS old boy from 1974-1988 who went on to qualify as a Chartered Surveyor initially working for GVA Grimley where he became a Partner before moving on to become Managing Director at MediaCityUK – the new home for the BBC in the North West, together with ITV, Coronation Street and over 200 other businesses.

He has a son who has been educated at Bury Grammar School from Infant School to Sixth Form. He was appointed to the governing body in 2015.

Stephen’s hobbies include cycling, skiing and classic cars.

Antony Spencer - Member of the Governing Body

Antony is currently Director of Retail Operations for JW Lees, the North West based family brewer.

He is a former pupil of BGS (1972 – 1980) going on to study at Manchester Metropolitan University where he graduated in 1984 after which he pursued a career in hospitality and the licensed industry.

Antony is currently responsible for the managed estate of JW Lees which includes hotels, inns, managed pubs and city centre bars. Prior to this, he spent fifteen years with Daniel Thwaites PLC most recently as Managing Director of Shire Hotels. His earlier years were spent developing his career with a number of hotel companies and with P&O / Princess Cruises.

Antony is a parent of a boy who attended the School.

Tim McDougall - Member of the Governing Body

Dr Simon Hyde - Member of the governing body

Simon is General Secretary of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), which represents the Heads of 300 of the country’s leading independent schools.

Born and raised in Macclesfield, Simon attended the King’s School, where he later returned as Headmaster from 2011 to 2020. After reading history at Oxford, he completed a doctorate on mid-nineteenth century Prussia, before starting his teaching career.

Historical fiction and crime novels combined with the occasional long walk are favoured pastimes.

Nicola Smith - Member of the Governing Body

Nicola is a career teacher and educationalist. She has navigated the path from a classroom-based arts specialist in Salford and Bury Schools, Assistant Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher to that now of Principal.

Her current role is that of Joint Principal at Chetham’s School of Music, the foremost Specialist Music School in the UK. She has experience in all aspects of School life and Leadership- Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, Assessment and Data, Behaviour and Welfare, Safeguarding, Community and Stakeholder Engagement. She believes in nurturing professional caring relationships with staff, students, parents and all stakeholders so that each person can thrive.

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