Mrs Anna Howe

Support and Challenge Advocate

I am born and bred in Birmingham, so have lived in and around Sutton Coldfield all my life. I am married to Dave and I have a grown-up son Luke and teenage stepdaughter Chloe, a Whippet and 3 cats. I am an enthusiastic walker in Sutton Park with said husband and whippet Misty, I feel so fortunate to have the park on our doorstep to indulge my love of the great outdoors. Health and well being are important to me and I am a huge advocate of the benefit of being active and especially Pilates and Yoga for mind and body.

My background is in Programme, Project and Change management, moving into more leadership roles over the last decade. I have worked in the private, charity and public sectors. In 2016 I began my current role as Programme Director for the Gambling Commission who is the regulator for the gambling industry and exist to ensure licensed operators uphold the regulations in the Gambling Act of 2007. It is a varied and interesting organisation to work in and there are a lot of changes happening to make the industry improve.

I have been a Governor twice before, a LEA (Local Education Authority) appointed one at Town Junior and a parent Governor at Bishop Walsh. I am passionate about education, learning and children’s opportunities. I was a founding Trustee on the charity Aspire who work with schools on physical activities and providing time, education and equipment for schools in Tanzania. I moved on from there in 2017 after 3 years and felt this year was the right time to get involved with my community and volunteer. I am fortunate and thrilled to be working with the dedicated and fabulous people who make up Hill West Primary School.

Mrs Gill Jones

Safeguarding Advocate

I have lived in the West Midlands for all of my life and settled in Sutton Coldfield with my Husband in 1976 before either of my daughters were born. Later that year we were blessed with my eldest daughter and just a couple of years after that we completed our family with my youngest daughter. The girls were an absolute delight and Chris (my husband) and I were devoted parents. It was during their early years that I decided to explore a career in early year’s childcare. It all started when I began to take my daughters to playgroup at St James’ Church. Initially I volunteered my services and supported with the toddler group. This quickly led to me taking up paid employment and within just a couple of years I was play supervisor. From there, I worked at a private school in their Kindergarten for a number of years obtaining my qualifications in early year’s childcare and education. During this time I also trained as a swimming instructor and taught children to swim during the day while at school and at Wyndley Leisure Centre in the evenings. In 1996 I joined the team of early years support staff as supervisor at the Hill West Nursery which was managed at the time by a private proprietor. When the opportunity arose in 1998 for Hill West Infant School to seek a new proprietor I was excited to offer my services and this is when I set up my own business and became the Hill West Nursery Manger. I have been the private proprietor since that time and have worked closely with the school’s leadership and management teams to ensure we offer the very best for the children in our care. I sat on the board of Governors of Hill West Infants for a number of years and remained part of the Governing Body when the school amalgamated into a primary school. Having relinquished my position on the governing board a number of years ago I was pleased to then have the time to spend with my ailing husband. Sadly I lost him in 2016 and although this was a significant bereavement I am fortunate to have both my daughters and my grandson for support. The Hill West community were a real comfort for me at this time and in addition working with young children means that they keep you young at heart and never allow you to dwell on the sad things in your life for too long. I was honoured to be asked to re-join the governing body again and look forward to continuing to make a difference to our whole school community through this strategic role.

Dr Beth Clarke

Head Teacher

I was born in Aberdare, South Wales to relatively young parents and had a fabulous childhood that was care-free and adventurous. I loved animals and had my first pony aged 7. By the age of ten we had two ponies and two dogs; Doberman pedigrees that bred many litters of puppies. I rode avidly for pleasure during the week and at weekends we would often head off to the nearest horse or agricultural show. Statistics suggest that the number of violent offences against children have not increased in the four decades since I was born yet children don’t seem to have the same freedom today that shaped me as a young child. I would often ride out on my own, for hours at a time, being completely at one with my pony. I was never an avid learner, life was far too exciting and when I moved on to secondary school I was probably of average ability. I really wanted to be a vet, inspired by my love of animals but having chosen the three separate sciences at GCSE soon came to realise that perhaps this wasn’t the route for me. I undertook a two week work placement in a Veterinary practice in Merthyr Tydfil while I considered whether Veterinary Nursing was an option. However I soon decided that if I couldn’t be a vet I would prefer to change direction completely. I wasn’t predicted the best A Level grades and I think it is fair to say that some of my teachers thought it unlikely I would ever do great things academically. I was still absorbed with my life out of school enjoying pony club, shows, and the social interaction that came with it. However I set my mind on becoming a teacher and worked hard to get the necessary grades. I went to University in Cardiff and undertook a four year BA’Ed. On completion of my degree I was keen to move out of South Wales to experience life in a big city and I was fortunate enough to secure my first teaching post in Birmingham. I started my career in Kingstanding and having spent 6 happy years working with the children and families there moved on to a school in Aston. It was here I was promoted to Assistant Head and developed a real desire for Leadership. I had embarked on an MA whilst new to post and wrote my dissertation on Family Literacy, a project designed to help parents with English as a second language better support their children at home. I completed my MA and then sought promotion to Deputy Head and joined the staff at Hill West as a non-class based Deputy. Although extremely sad to be leaving the classroom the thought of being able to make strategic decisions that could benefit a whole school of children filled me with excitement. My years at Hill West have been extremely happy. In my third year I decided to enrol on a taught doctorate programme at the University of Birmingham with the express desire to continually learn and improve my skills. I am aware that we are the temporary custodians of our schools, which ultimately belong to and serve the community. I hope that while I am the Head Teacher Hill West will continue to flourish and enrich the lives of many young people and their families.

Mr Matthew Walker

Vulnerable Children Advocate

From the age of 13 I grew up in Macclesfield, Cheshire (before that having lived in various parts of England!) and stayed there until I went to Nottingham University in 1999 to study Law with French, which meant that I studied in Nantes for a year as part of my degree – in many ways that was the easiest and hardest year of University life (3 hour long lectures on French law were challenging to say the least!).

Whilst at Nottingham, I met my wife Michelle and when we finished University we moved to Sutton Coldfield so that she could work at the hospital and I could commute to Birmingham City Centre when I started working for Wragge & Co (now Gowling WLG) which is where I still work today, 10 plus years on.

Whilst I enjoy the law and helping my clients be successful, I also love managing people and teams and striving to help people grow their careers and confidence and to see them achieve success. Having had two sons I decided I wanted to give something back to the school where my eldest Ben had started and hope that some of the skills that I had gained over the last 12 years at work would help me help Hill West to be the best that it possibly can.