The head of one of England’s largest academy trusts, a former civil servant and a leading safeguarding expert have been appointed to the board of Ofsted.
Lucy Heller, Hardip Begol and Alan Wood are among five new appointments to the governing board of the inspectorate, alongside Frances Wadsworth and Jo Coburn.
It comes after former Ofsted chief inspector Christine Gilbert was appointed last year as chair of the watchdog’s board.
It followed criticism in her review of Ofsted’s response to the death of headteacher Ruth Perry that the board’s role “appears curiously limited, apparently leaving some of Ofsted’s most critical activities outside of its control, unless Her Majesty’s chief inspector (HMCI) chooses to let it have some control”.
“This degree of autonomy and entitlement for HMCI does not make for effective governance,” the review said.
Education leaders appointed
Heller joined Ark Schools, which now has 39 academies, as founding director in 2004. She was previously managing editor of TSL Education and The Observer. She was appointed CEO of Ark, the trust’s parent charity, in 2012.
Wood held leadership positions in the London boroughs of Southwark and Hackney. He led a recent local child safeguarding practice review into Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy in Hackney.
It found the school’s success had been “achieved at too high a cost for some pupils”. In its formal announcement of the board appointments, the Department for Education said Wood had declared he was a member of the Labour Party.
Begol worked at the DfE for almost two decades and is also a former academy trust CEO who now sits on various boards, including those of Oak, Ofqual and the Education Policy Institute. He is also a controlling member of the Eden Academy Trust.
Wadsworth, the government’s deputy further education commissioner, is a former interim chair of Ofqual and a serving magistrate. Coburn is a former BBC News presenter who now presents The Times at One for Times Radio.
Heller, Wood, Wadsworth and Wood will serve for three years from February 1. Begol will serve for three years from August 1. They will be paid an annual salary of £8,292 for 20 days per year.
They join Gilbert and serving members Martyn Oliver, Ofsted’s chief inspector, and Martin Spencer, Laura Wyld, Jon Yates, Felicity Gillespie, Joanne Moran and David Meyer.
