THE KING'S SCHOOL, HARPENDEN
An Independent Christian School
GOVERNANCE
The Trustees of The King's School and Highfield Preschool
Ashraf Farahat, Chair of Trustees
Area of responsibility: Safeguarding
Ashraf has been a Trustee since March 2015 and was appointed as Chair of trustees in July 2021.
Ashraf is married to Jackie who teaches part-time at The King’s School. They live near Hitchin and attend Stopsley Baptist Church in Luton. They have three grown sons, all of whom were taught at The King’s School, and their eldest is now married.
Ashraf gained a B Com at Cairo University, graduating in 1985. He spent some years working in Egypt, his home country, before joining Youth With A Mission in Egypt. After several months of missionary training, he was invited to the UK to lead missionary training programmes for the Arabic-speaking diaspora. Since then, he has been equipping Christians in many parts of the Middle East and North Africa. He is currently the Regional Director of the Middle East and North Africa for Community Bible Study International which helps grow grassroots Bible study groups across the region with a particular focus on Children's ministry. His passion is to see people grow in knowing God's Word and become the family he wants us to be.
Clive Chalkley
Area of responsibility: Property
Clive has been a Trustee since April 2021. He lives in Harpenden, and is a member of New Life Bible Church, Harrow. He is married to Caroline and has two step-sons and one daughter and 2 grandchildren.
After graduating from Keble College, Oxford in 1997 with a degree in Jurisprudence, he qualified as a barrister in 1998 and qualified as a solicitor in 2001. He worked at SLAUGHTER AND MAY until 2011 before joining his current firm Gowling WLG (formerly known as Wragge & Co) where he was promoted partner in 2015, equity partner in 2018 and head of the property litigation team in 2019.
Clive is an active member of his church, being a trustee and part of the core leadership team.
Charles Hammond
Area of responsibility: Pastoral Oversight
Charles was appointed to the Trustees on 16th March 2015. He pastors Living Hope Church (an Elim Church) in Ealing in London and lives in Welwyn Garden City. He and Theresa have three children, all of whom attended The King’s School between 2006 and 2016.
Charles has a degree in Environmental Design (1983) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Architecture (1985) both from the University of Science and Technology in Ghana. He partnered with other Christian colleagues on campus to form Abundant Life Ministries, a music group that toured schools and colleges with the message of the gospel. This continued in the UK, where he went to Bible School (1989-1991) and travelled further with Abundant Life to other European nations, and to Canada. He joined the pastoral team at Kensington Temple, Notting Hill, in October 1991, and also worked as programmer co-ordinator at the International Bible Institute of London from 1992 to 1995. Charles served on the Board of Directors at West London YMCA between 1996 and 2003.
Tim Johnson
Area of responsibility: Information Technology
Tim was appointed to the Trustees on 25th May 2021. He would brand himself a "techie", and works for an IT consultancy for some of the UK’s biggest financial institutions. His IT passions are mainly in the area of IT Security and Cloud Technology.
A keen sports follower, his allegiance lies with Tottenham Hotspur, but also follows Formula One, Boxing and Snooker.
Tim lives in the local area and is a member of Christchurch Harpenden where he has been fellowshipping for the past 9 years. He has been married to Sabrina for 12 years, they have four girls and one boy. Tim currently has 3 children in The King's School and hopes the rest of his children will soon follow.
Christine Ottaway, Vice Chair
Area of responsibility: Education (Teaching & Learning) and Highfield Preschool
Christine joined the Board of Trustees in November 2018. She has a long association with The King's School going back to 1985 when she volunteered in the library when the school was still on the original site in Hemel Hempstead. In 1986 the first of her four children joined the school. All four completed their education at The King’s School and went on to study in local Sixth forms and then at university. All during this time, Christine was a classroom assistant till she followed God’s prompting to qualify as a teacher. In her forties, with four children and a busy life she completed a degree and PGCE at University of Hertfordshire. In 1998 she returned to the school to teach Year 4 then Year 6, later becoming Head of Primary in 2001. She continued to fulfil the role of class teacher and Head of Primary until her retirement in 2007. Christine's first retirement project was to write exciting Christian adventure stories for middle grade readers (aged 10 -12). She has now completed four novels in the Nick North series and a story concerning human trafficking into domestic slavery in UK.
Christine and her husband Christopher have a large family with 11 grandchildren. They travel extensively to visit family in Australia and USA.
Christine has seen huge changes in the school over the last 35 years, but has found it to be an honour to serve the school that is providing quality Christian education for the next generation.
Malcolm Skipper
Area of responsibility: Company Secretary
Malcolm was appointed to the Trustees on 27th January 2020. He lives in Luton, and is a member of Christchurch, Dunstable. He is married to Heather, and they have two married sons and 6 grandchildren.
After graduating from Queen Elizabeth College (London) in 1970 with an Honours Degree in Chemistry, he taught until his retirement in 2018. Starting in Five Oaks Secondary School (Caddington), he became Head of Chemistry at Northfields Upper School (Dunstable). During that time, in the late 1980s, he became involved in Christian Education, not least as a chemistry tutor at the Pilgrim Christian School (Dunstable), moving to become its Head Teacher in 1988. In September 2003 he joined the staff of The King's School when the two Christian schools merged. In the 1990's he was a governor for a Lower School in Dunstable, and more recently for a Secondary Academy School in Luton.
To read about the MISSION, VISION & VALUES of Kingdom Education, please click here.
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To read WHAT WE BELIEVE, click here.
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The Chair of Trustees may be contacted by post or email:
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Chair of Trustees
KINGDOM EDUCATION LIMITED
Elmfield, Ambrose Lane
Harpenden
AL5 4DU
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Email contact: clerktotrustees@thekingsschool.com