Brunel Trustees (ID 1138)

• William Wyldbore-Smith
  Member and Trustee
  William Wyldbore-Smith

  Brunel Academies Trust (BAT) Board Chairman and Trustee. Retired partner in Thrings LLP, Solicitors ; High Sheriff of Wiltshire 2013-14. Trustee of various charitable organisations including the Wiltshire Community Foundation (retired October 2019), Marlborough College Foundation (retired 2019), Plum Layton Charitable Trust, Westcountry Rivers Trust, Maud Heath Trust, Bremhill Village Hall Trust, Vice-President Community First Wiltshire, Vice Patron of Wiltshire Victoria History Society, and Patron of Uplands Enterprise Trust. Appointed as Vice Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire in 2019.

• Jackie Fieldwick (nee Smith) MBE
  Trustee and CEO
  Jackie Fieldwick (nee Smith) MBE

  Trustee and CEO of the Brunel Academies Trust and Brunel Education, previously Secondary Maths teacher; Maths Lead for Residential BESD school; SENCO; Head of Inclusion; Deputy Headteacher; Headteacher. Head Teacher and Executive Head Teacher of Uplands School (Ofsted “outstanding” 2014 and 2017 & TES School of the Year 2015); CEO, Principal Trustee and founder of Uplands Enterprise Trust (UET); opened 19-25 Specialist post-16 institution (Horizons College); developed UET farm provision; developed local Supported Internship Programme; Chair of Association of Swindon Special School Headteachers (2012-14); Former Chair of Special Educational Needs Resourcing Panel; Conference delivery 'Setting Up Alternative Provision', Bespoke training to school leaders 'Developing Funding Streams', Leadership & Management mentoring for new leaders; Schools Forum (2014-present); Vice Chair of School’s Forum (2016-2018), Former Chair of School’s Forum (2018-2021), member of School’s Forum (2021); Member of SEND Strategic Board, High Needs Debt Recovery Group Member, Swindon Inclusion Forum Executive Member, F40 Executive Committee Member (2018 – present), SEND Representative for the Regional Education Partnership Board; Education Representative on the Swindon Safeguarding Partnership Executive (2019 – present), Member of the South West SEND Strategic Group, Member of the Department for Education’s Advisory Board.Jackie owns several horses and spends most of her spare time in a horse lorry, driving her daughter around the country to compete in show jumping events.

• Alison Thunder
  Trustee
  Alison Thunder

  Trustee Brunel Academies Trust; Vice Chair and Chair of the People and Culture Committee. Alison has worked within the Facilities Management private sector for over 40 years. Alison was responsible for operational management, senior management development, health and safety, business continuity and risk management. Alison has developed robust management skills and has been accountable for the management of over 500 individuals at any one time. She has over 35 years of leadership experience in delivering business and personal objectives through coaching, mentoring and unbiased feedback. She achieved various qualifications from Internal Auditor, Risk Management/Business Continuity practitioner, IOSH and RIPHH qualifications, experienced in Safeguarding and Prince 1 Project Management expertise. Outside of her volunteering role, Alison is also an avid Formula 1 Motorsport follower, a poor tennis player and loves growing fresh vegetables.

• Dr Andy Tait
  Trustee
  Dr Andy Tait

  Trustee Brunel Academies Trust; Chair of the Brunel Academies Trust Audit, Risk and Finance Committee. Andy is a retired Director of Operations for the Intel Corporation and Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Intel 1996 Pension Plan. Andy has considerable experience within the charitable sector including: Board Trustee for the Wiltshire Community Foundation, Board Member Swindon Place Marketing Board, Board Member Swindon Education and Skills Board, Board Member & Acting Chair of Involve Swindon. Board Member of GWE Holdings.

• Chris Sims
  Trustee
  Chris Sims

  Trustee Brunel Academies Trust; Chair of the BASIS Local Governing Committee, Member of the People and Culture Committee, Swindon Carers Centre, Trustee; Uplands Enterprise Trust Trustee; Kennet and Avon Canal Trust. Mostly retired IT specialist having held senior positions at Gartmore Investment Management and Ignis Asset Management.

• Nigel Green
  Trustee
  Nigel Green

  Trustee Brunel Academies Trust; Co-opted Governor for the Primary Local Governing Committee; member of the Audit, Risk and Finance Committee; Myhre Syndrome Charity Trustee/CFO/CEO. Nigel works for the UK’s largest community bank Metrobank plc and brings 30 years of corporate, social purpose, financial and transformation experience. Nigel has always worked in the financial sector and has a passion for achieving the right outcome. Often you will find him running polling stations and election duties.

• Trevor Branch
  Trustee
  Trevor Branch

  Trevor Branch is an IT professional who has worked in the IT services industry since graduation from London University in 1979 having read mathematics. Trevor has been the Technical Director in a public company that provided disaster recovery services to large financial customers, Local Authorities, and the public health sector. Trevor continues to be part of the IT world as Cloud Project Architect Director developing and delivering business solutions of cloud-based systems to financial investment services.

  From 2005 to 2014, Trevor was Non-Executive Chairman of Three Cs, an organisation based in Greenwich, providing care and support to those with learning difficulties and mental health challenges. Three Cs became a leading organisation in their market with a turnover in-excess of £4.5m.

  From 2014 to 2019, Trevor was invited to be Chair of governors at Pembroke Park School Salisbury it being a new academy. After appointing a new Head, the board was built with new members, processes, and procedures. Ofsted examined the school as “Serious Weaknesses” and as the new Head moved the school forward the board took on its revised governance. In July 2016 Ofsted inspected the school as “Good” making comment of the good governance that was then in place and experienced.

  From 2018 to 2020, Trevor served on the governing body Wyvern School in Salisbury, a senior school for boys and during his time with them joined with St Edmunds Girls School.

  Trevor joined Summerset Road Education Trust Board in April 2018 becoming Chair in academic year 2019/20. The small trust had governance that need attention and schools not meeting their potential and judged by Ofsted as requires improvement. The trust led by new Executive principle turned schools around and we established good governance renewal. The schools were judged by Ofsted as Good. An NGA review established the governance had become Good. To ensure the academies continued to grow and the trust remains sustainable, worked to merge the trust into The Brunel Academies Trust at start of 2024.

  Trevor joined The Brunel Academies Trust Board at the start of 2024 as Foundation Trustee.

  Trevor is a regular member of The Church of England and a member of Salisbury Cathedral where he is Head Server in a voluntary role leading the large serving team which includes in-excess of 20 young people. In 2022 he was awarded the Diocesan award of The St Aldhelm Cross by The Bishop of Salisbury.

• Jerry Giles
  Trustee
  Jerry Giles

  Jerry qualified as a secondary physics teacher in 1988 with a Physics BSc and PGCE from Birmingham University. Following one year of teaching in the West Midlands, Jerry worked in the Republic of Botswana, returning to the UK in December 1991. In 1998, Jerry moved to the South-West and became Head of Science at Matravers School in Westbury, before moving on to be Deputy Headteacher at Thomas Keble School in Stroud in 2002. From Thomas Keble, he was seconded to the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust for two years, acting as the Head of Regional Networks in the South-West. Jerry joined Saint Joseph’s Catholic College in 2014 and is now the Principal. Jerry has also worked for OFSTED as an inspector since 2010, is a local representative for the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and for 2024/25 is also the Chair of SASH (Swindon Association of Secondary Headteachers).

• Dr Marion Watson
  Trustee
  Dr Marion Watson

  Marion has retired from the Health Service having spent over 20 years as an eye specialist. Marion has a broad experience of the issues relating to the delivery of health care to a diverse population and believes that there is considerable overlap with the provision of good education. Marion is excited to be joining the Board both to learn about the Trust and hopefully to offer some of my insights from an alternative perspective.