Europa School UK

Europa School UK Governing Body

Terry Stock

Terry spent his working career in both the public and private sectors, retiring in 2008 from his last position of Chief Executive of the Vale of White Horse District Council.

Terry has a lot of experience in governance of charity and educational establishments. He was a Board member of Abingdon & Witney College, serving spells as Chair of Finance and of the full Board. He was also Chair of Governors at Kingfisher School in Abingdon, as well as Chair of the Propeller Academy Trust. Terry became a Member of the Abingdon Learning Trust in 2018.

Until his term of office expired in 2020, Terry was a Board member of the Adviza Partnership (a large Thames Valley charity providing careers advice across all ages), for the last six years of which he was Chair of the main Board.

In December 2019, Terry joined the Europa School UK Board of Governors as a co-opted Governor appointed by the Governing Body. He is a member of the Finance, Audit and General Purposes Committee. He was appointed Chair of Governors in October 2021.

Andrew Brent

Andrew Brent has a strong commitment to the core values of the Europa School. Central to this are strong international connections, having lived and worked in many parts of the world, including 5 years in Kenya where he met his wife, Bernadette, who is from Germany. Their two children are raised bilingual and attend the Europa School.

Andrew combines a strong interest in science with a passion for education. Having trained in Medicine at Cambridge and Oxford, he completed his PhD at Imperial College London, and is currently Consultant Physician and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer in Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine in Oxford. He has served on and chaired several committees and holds local and regional clinical leadership roles. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, and is actively involved in educational supervision, teaching and appraisal at undergraduate and postgraduate level. He is an examiner for the University of Oxford and the Royal College of Physicians.

Jackie Holderness

Jackie Holderness taught in the Netherlands and in the UK state system. She was the Deputy Head Teacher of an Oxfordshire primary school before becoming a Senior Lecturer in Education at Oxford Brookes University, where she ran a Masters for Teachers in International Schools, specialising in teaching, learning and curriculum design. She also spent three years as the English SenCo in the European School at Culham and is a qualified, but ‘dormant’, Ofsted inspector.

In 2011, Jackie was one of the team which founded the Europa School. Jackie helped to design its balanced (50:50) bilingual and European curriculum and has continued to serve as a founder-governor of ESUK, ever since. She is the Chair of the Primary Education Committee.

As Education Officer for Christ Church Cathedral, from 2015, she worked with learners of all ages, to develop their understanding of Religious Education, local history and spirituality. Now semi-retired, Jackie continues to work with schools and cathedrals and to write stories for children, such as The Princess who hid in a Tree, about Frideswide, the patron saint of Oxford. She has written a wide range of education books and ELT materials and, as Chair of the Oxford Children’s Book Group, is involved in several initiatives, which focus on children’s literature, storytelling and the arts.

Sandrine Philippot-Gasc

Our staff elected governor Sandrine is a French, Geography, and History teacher, who has very strong social skills and as such is a very good link between pupils, staff and governors.  

Victoria Shepherd

Sami Cohen

With a background in languages and in education, Sami was delighted to be invited to join Europa’s Governing Body in 2022. He is a firm believer in the value of a multi-lingual and multi-cultural education and of the International Baccalaureate, which the school embraces throughout the secondary years, as a broad, well-rounded and well-grounded educational model.

Having been a teacher of French and a Director of Studies, Sami was Principal of d’Overbroeck’s, an independent school in Oxford, for 21 years, from 1996 until he retired in 2017. During his tenure, d’Overbroeck’s successfully completed a transition from being predominantly a sixth form to an all- through 11 – 18 school with a strong and distinctive ethos, high standards of academic achievement and pastoral care and an increasingly rich and thriving provision in music, drama, art and sport.

Sami was for a number of years a member of the Main Committee of the Society of Heads of independent schools and, following retirement, acted as a mentor for new heads in their first year of headship.

He speaks four languages and has spent time living and working in France. He has an academic background in science and mathematics as well as languages. He is also an amateur potter.

Lizzy Hegarty

Lizzy is a staff governor and currently teaches in the English Primary stream. In addition to her teaching role, she serves as one of the school’s Data Managers, playing a key part in overseeing many aspects of communication across the school community.

With two children in the secondary school, Lizzy brings a unique whole-school perspective that further enhances her ability to support and connect different areas of the school.

Since beginning her teaching career in 2004, Lizzy has held a wide range of roles including class teacher, subject leader, Assistant Head, and Primary Curriculum Computing Consultant for other schools. She is deeply passionate about learning and is committed to helping every student reach their full potential.

Ruth McAleavey

Ruth McAleavey has always had a love for languages studying French, German, and Spanish before completing a degree in French and Spanish at the University of Leeds. Her early career took her across Europe, teaching English as a foreign language in schools in the UK, Italy, and Spain where she lived for 12 years.

She moved into educational publishing, collaborating with teachers to develop engaging, curriculum-aligned English language learning materials before transitioning into marketing, working with colleagues around the globe and putting her Spanish to use on a regular basis.

Ruth is now a Global Marketing Director, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, holds several CIM qualifications and maintains Chartered Marketer status through continued professional development. She’s passionate about mentoring and has supported others through Moving Ahead and the Social Mobility Foundation.

Ruth lives locally with her Spanish husband, their bilingual son – now in Secondary, has been part of the Spanish stream at Europa School since Reception.

She was delighted to be elected as a Parent Governor in 2024, she serves on the Finance and Premises Committee, chairs the Audit and Risk Committee, and is Link Governor for Art, Design & Music and Careers.

Grace Henderson Slater

Grace has a background in primary education, with experience of working as a teacher, deputy headteacher and headteacher in various primary, middle and nursery schools within Oxfordshire and elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

Grace was deputy and then acting headteacher at Orchard Meadow Primary School on Blackbird Leys, Oxford and then become headteacher at Radley Church of England Primary School from September 2013 until August 2022. At the request of Oxfordshire County Council, Grace worked as interim headteacher at Grandpont Nursery School and Childcare for periods between November 2022 and June 2023 as the setting went through a period of change. At the request of Kirtlington Primary Church of England School she then worked as interim co-headteacher throughout the Autumn term of 2023.

Grace is passionate about learning within the primary education sector and has especial interests in literacy and Special Educational Needs holding an MEd in ‘Individual Differences in Education and Training’. She joined The Europa School’s Governing Body in Autumn 2024 and values the opportunity to serve as one of its governors.

Manu Mavrikis

Manu (Manolis) Mavrikis has 3 children at the school. He is Professor at the UCL the Institute of Education where he teaches and conducts research on Educational Technology, Artificial Intelligence in Education and Learning Sciences. He has a balanced academic and knowledge exchange activities with significant methodological and practical contributions in the field. He has participated and led several national and international award-winning projects partnering with schools, teachers, and other key stakeholders such as start-ups and larger companies outside academia. Manolis is also one of the editors of BERA’s prestigious British Journal of Educational Technology.

Sandra Romanelli

Nicola has an M Phil from Oxford in English Language and Literature and a special interest in 18th and 19th century novels. She taught at the British Campus of Evansville University before moving abroad with her husband, a geophysicist with Shell, which included several postings in The Hague. Nicola has wide experience of different cultures, having spent 3 years in Calgary, Canada, and 8 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. She played a leading role in a Book Club exploring West African literature with Nigerian ladies, and relevant issues such as polygamy and FGM. She also taught English to some of the expatriate Dutch, Swiss and French ladies. In The Hague she ran and edited a Shell magazine sent out worldwide to expatriate families. Since returning to England Nicola taught English at Sherborne School for Boys. She studied for a Diploma in Art History with Christie’s, in London, and is a member of the London-based Decorative Arts Society. She has been a magistrate for 17 years. With her major interests in art and literature, and with some French and Italian, she is keen to promote art, literature and drama at the Europa School and enthusiastic about its language model. She has two grandchildren in the German stream.