The School’s governing body was incorporated under the Royal Charter in 1890 and is made up of up to 24 people at any one time.
Rossall’s governing Council exists to govern the School in all matters to ensure Rossall School is able to provide a general education of the highest class and to do all things necessary, incidental or conducive to the attainment of this.
The implementation and effectiveness of decisions are monitored either directly by Council or indirectly through sub-committees, including:
Council and its sub-committees meet once per term. The Chairman of Governors can be contacted through correspondence using the school address or through [email protected]. The school address is also the registered address and the key telephone number is 01253 774201.
The Earl of Derby, DL
Mrs H N Trapnell
Finance and General Purposes Committee, Trustee Trapnell Scholarship Fund
Mr A N Stephenson, MA
Trustee Trapnell Scholarship and other trust funds
Mr M J Reece, MA
Mrs C M Preston, BSc ARICS
Appointed: 2012
Committees: Member of the Finance & General Purposes Committee, Chair of Senior
Salaries Committee.
Chris was born in Singapore and attended Rossall from 1962 to 1969 followed by Leeds University where he obtained a degree in Economics and Statistics. He qualified as an accountant with British Oxygen before enjoying 30 years with US construction firms Bechtel Corporation and Foster Wheeler operating in the Oil, Gas and Petrochemical industries. This span included assignments Saudi Arabia, San Francisco, Helsinki and London. Whilst in San Francisco he obtained an MBA. His last executive role was as CEO of MJ Gleeson Group. Since leaving Gleeson in 2012, he has held non-executive board roles in the telecommunications and structural steel industries, been involved in a local charity in Richmond Surrey and he was Chairman of Royal Mid Surrey Golf club for 6 years until 2021.
Appointed: 2011
Committees: Member of the Finance and General Purpose Committee; Member of the Education and Welfare Committee; Member of the Nominations Committee.
Educated at Rossall School and University College, Oxford where he read Geography and won a rugby blue. John has had a career in real estate spanning 35 years. Originally based in private practice in Lancashire, John’s career in corporate senior management has been throughout the North of England and in retirement he has completed a consultancy posting in the South Lakes.
John’s interests include sport and travel. His four children have all been boarders and music scholars in the independent sector.
Appointed: 2023
Committees: Secretary to the Governors of the Rossall Corporation
Michelle was educated at Huyton College, Rossall and Royal Holloway, University of London. She completed a degree in German with Italian and worked as an executive assistant at SG Hambros, Kingfisher and as a private EA. She also worked as a communications manager specialising in IT projects in the retail and public sectors in London. In 2017 she moved back to her roots in Merseyside and she recently qualified as a counsellor and clinical hypnotherapist. She is a counsellor in private practice and volunteers as a bereavement counsellor in West Lancashire and as a support volunteer for the Encephalitis Society. She has a wide range of interests which include playing golf, pilates, the theatre and cinema, reading and cooking.
Appointed: 2021
Committees: Member of the Finance & General Purposes Committee; Chair of the Nominations Committee
Jonty was educated at Rossall from 1972-1979 after which he began his career in insurance and financial services. He established an advice practice in 1984, retiring in 2020 having represented St. James’s Place Wealth Management for 27 years. He specialised in providing financial advice and career transition guidance to service leavers from the Armed Forces.
He plays cricket and participates in the Old Rossallian Cricket Club. He is an average golfer and performs regularly in amateur stage productions in Surrey. He lives in Hampshire with his wife Hazel and they have two sons.
Appointed: 2015
Committees: Member of the Education and Welfare Committee
Grant was educated at Rossall, Durham University and Oak Hill Theological College. After his curacy in Lancaster he became an Army Chaplain in 1989. During his 25 years in the Army he served in many places, including the Gulf War, Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Kosovo and Iraq (again). He was appointed Assistant Chaplain-General in 2007 and in 2011 was appointed Queen’s Honorary Chaplain. After retiring from the Army in 2014 Grant became Vicar of Euxton. In 2018 he was appointed Assistant Archdeacon of Blackburn.
Grant loves books, music, photography and pretty much anything to do with mountains and fresh air.
Appointed: 1998
Committees: Member of the Senior Salaries Committee
Martin left Rossall in 1961 and returned as a governor in 1998. He worked as a tea taster, financial journalist, merchant banker and stockbroker mainly in the Far East. On Council he manages the school’s trust funds. He advocated with fellow Governor, Michael Reece, for Rossall to play football and is currently promoting the introduction of padel tennis and bridge.
Martin has been a Churchwarden and Parish Councillor in Ditchling and is a director of a residential care home charity.
Appointed: 2013
Committees: Member of the Education & Welfare Committee
Lillian has worked in the schools’ maintained and independent sectors, in an Academy Trust and in Further and Higher Education. In 2012 she won the independent schools’ Lifetime Achievement Award for Education.
Educated at the Universities of Durham and Cambridge, she entered the teaching profession, and became the Principal for 25 years of a large independent day school in the north west. For ten years she was an Advanced level chief examiner for the Northern Examination Authority, a trustee for the Independent Schools Careers Organisation and an ISI inspector involved mainly with HMC and GSA schools, occasionally working in collaboration with OFSTED.
During her headship she appointed, trained, appraised and mentored many Headteachers in both the primary and secondary sectors. She is currently the Chair of the Corporation Board of a large FE College and University Centre in the North West and a trustee of Samlesbury Hall, Lancashire.
As an Associate of the London College of Music, Lillian is very interested in performing arts. She enjoys sport, playing golf and badminton regularly and is married with one son.
Appointed: 2023
Committees: Member of the Finance & General Purposes Committee
Belinda was educated at Rossall School, the University of York, Nottingham Law School and holds a Master of Laws degree from the University of London. She is a commercial solicitor with over 25 years’ experience. She started her career in private practice rising to become a partner in the following international law firms, Field Fisher LLP and Nabarro LLP (now CMS LLP). Upon moving in-house, she was Global Chief Privacy Officer and Associate General Counsel at leading education company, Pearson. Since 2017, she has been at Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) where she is Head of Legal for Data & Digital. As such, she sits on various risk and governance committees for LBG and UK Finance. Belinda is married to Alpesh and has two teenage children. She is regularly on the Fylde Coast visiting family.
Appointed: 2013
Committees: Member of the Education and Welfare Committee. Health and Safety Lead Governor. Liaison Governor with Common Room.
David was educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School and University of St Andrews where he was a Harkness Scholar and he completed his BSC in Medical Science. He then attended University of Manchester (MB ChB) and University of Central Lancashire where he completed his post graduate qualification in General Practice.
David was a Medical Practitioner for 33 years in a city centre practice in Lancaster. He was the Primary Care Cancer Lead for 12 years, a member of the Local Medical Committee for 20 years and a Trustee of Cancer Care, Lancaster and South Lakes for 20 years. He was also a Trustee and the Medical Officer at Inward House Therapeutic Community (drug and alcohol rehabilitation) for 33 years.
He is currently Governor at Loyne (Special Needs) School in Lancaster. Vice-Chair Westfield War Memorial Village Council. Volunteer and Member of Fairfield Nature Reserve Committee. His interests are: fell walking, jazz music and art appreciation.
Appointed: 2016
Committees: Chair of Education and Welfare Committee, Chair of Governors’ Safeguarding Committee, Lead Safeguarding Governor.
Educated at Rossall and Durham University, David taught Geography and Economics in maintained and independent schools, retiring as Headmaster of Barnard Castle School in 2010. He was an ISI inspector for 19 years, has been a Gold D of E Assessor for 40 years, was a Durham County Rugby Union Referees’ Society member, chaired Independent Monitoring Boards of two NE prisons, is a supporter of the Newcastle Falcons, and has been a Governor in independent, maintained and special schools, an academy and a nursery. He enjoys family holidays as well as wild camping, adventurous sports, cycling and building bonfires with grandsons, and leading trips for the Royal Geographical Society and U3A.
Appointed: 2003
Committees: Member of the Education and Welfare Committee
Henry attended Rossall pre-prep, Junior School and Senior from 1971 to 1984. After a semester‘s exchange at Phillips Exeter Academy in the US, he took up a place to read Physics at Christ Church, Oxford University, where he graduated with honours. Henry did research in Plasma Physics at the Joint European Torus and gained a PhD from Imperial College London.
Henry then went into Investment Banking and served at MD level around the globe at various institutions including Barclays and Dresdner. He has since worked as a tech entrepreneur and investor, set up a 6th form college abroad, worked as a consultant and has served on advisory boards. In the charity sector Henry has served on the board of The Thames Festival Trust, Roedean School and The Poetry Society.
Henry is a keen scuba diver, has been a commercially rated pilot and loves playing cricket and soccer. His interests include history, astronomy, and music, and he especially enjoys gigging on guitar. Henry has two daughters.
Appointed: 2018
Committees: Member of the Finance & General Purposes Committee
Born on the Isle of Man and educated at King Williams’s College, David took articles to train as a Chartered Accountant with a firm in Manchester. After qualifying he joined Moore and Smalley in Preston where he acted as the School’s auditor for more than 30 years until he retired in 2011. He holds a Diploma in Charity Accounting and is Chairman of Lytham Town Trust which owns the Grade 1 Lytham Hall and manages the Grade 2 Lytham Assembly Rooms. He is also the Finance Director of Centaur Technologies Ltd. David’s interests include Scuba Diving and has been a PADI Divemaster for more than 20 years.
Appointed: 2015
Committees: Member of the Education & Welfare Committee
Canon John Hall gained a BA in Theology and Sociology at Leeds and a Masters in Theology from Lancaster. He was ordained in 1986 and spent his entire ministry in Lancashire. Prior to retirement in 2022 he served in Preston, Nelson, Carnforth and Fleetwood. For ten years he has served on the General Synod of the Church of England and he was Chair of the House of Clergy for Blackburn for over fourteen years. He is an honorary Canon of both Blackburn and Bloemfontein Cathedrals.
Appointed: 2022
Committees: Member of the Finance & General Purposes Committee
An Old Rossallian, Jason initially read psychology and then law at London University. Subsequently, he studied for an MBA at London Business School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Law School. He won Royal Air Force flying and university scholarships and attended The Empire Test Pilots’ School as well as serving in Iraq. Thereafter, Jason’s career included directorships in Virgin Atlantic, easyJet and British Airways together with time in private equity and airline start-ups and acquisitions. He was the Chief Executive and board member of Europe’s largest airfreight airline in Luxembourg and latterly Europe’s largest airport services business. Thereafter, he was Whitehall’s Chief Executive for the United Kingdom’s Covid testing programme during the pandemic. He has been appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport to be the chair of Dover Harbour Board, the owner of the Port of Dover, as well as chairing a London medical diagnostics plc and a European regional airline. Finally, he is a trustee of a UK armed forces mental health and well-being charity.
Appointed: 2018
Committees: Member of the Finance & General Purposes Committee
Gillian is an Old Rossallian, a parent and President of the Rossallian Club alumni association. She graduated from Durham University with an honours degree in Economics before joining Price Waterhouse where she trained in accountancy. She completed a further first class bachelor’s degree in Law as well as two MBAs in Finance and Banking. She also holds professional memberships with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment and the Chartered Bankers Association. She has 25 years’ experience in banking and finance having conducted key change programmes across the top banks in the UK. She is currently Head of the Global Cyber Programme for HSBC.
Appointed: 2018
Committees: Member of the Education & Welfare Committee & Deputy Safeguarding Governor
Andrew was educated at Nottingham University & Cambridge University. He is a biologist who spent his entire career in teaching, starting at Blundell’s School before moving to Rendcomb College. The following 18 years were spent at The British School of Paris (Senior Teacher) before becoming Head Master at Altrincham Preparatory School. He retired in 2018. He has been an ISI Inspector and an ECIS accreditor. He was a Director of IAPS, Chairman of IAPS District 7 and Chairman of ISIS(N). His interests are in sport and music having sung and played (trombone) semi-professionally throughout his life.
Appointed: 2017
Committees: Chair of Finance and General Purposes Committee, Member of Senior Salaries Committee, Member of Education & Welfare Committee
Rodney was educated at Sedbergh School and Queens’ College, Cambridge where he read Natural Sciences followed by Law before qualifying as a solicitor. He practised in a leading insurance law firm and specialised in defending claims involving catastrophic injury. He was senior partner of the firm’s Liverpool office and was also a member of the firm’s management team and partnership board. He retired in 2017 and joined Rossall Council in the same year. He is a member of Formby Golf Club, where he was Captain in 2019, and also of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.