Meet the Team!

Gill Jones – Lead Proposer and Trust Member (Chair Person)

Gill is an experienced education and school improvement professional. She has been involved in opening four primary free schools in Hertfordshire and was the CEO of West Herts Schools Trust. Previously she was Head of Standards and Effectiveness in Hertfordshire. She was also a member of the Director of Children’s Services strategic management board. Her career prior to this included work as a school adviser, Ofsted Inspector, NPQH trainer, Head Teacher and teacher.

Heidi Russell Jones – Community Trustee (Vice Chair Person)

Heidi has spent many years working alongside schools through her role as a Marketing Manager for an educational ICT resource provider and a charity developing life skills in young people.  During this time she developed a passion for supporting schools to create meaningful and memorable learning experiences that inspire young people and help prepare them for life beyond school. 

As a mother of a young son heading off to school in September she has both a personal and professional interest in understanding the opportunities and challenges of a growing school.  She is committed to support HCFS in offering the very best education to each and every child in the school. A keen wildlife watcher and traveller she is enthusiastic about the outdoors and understanding and enjoying the world around us.

Helen Mussellwhite – Community Trustee

Helen Mussellwhite is a Community Trustee. Helen is a Secondary School teacher at a local secondary school. She has been a teacher for 20 years and specialises in Physical education and Childcare. Helen is the vocational and PSHE Co-ordinator for her school. 

Helen is very passionate about education and ensuring that schools give their students the best opportunities and experiences that they can, in order to help the children become model citizens and succeed in the future. Helen is looking forward to working with the school to share experiences and knowledge to make this happen.

Victoria Hobson – Principal Trustee

Victoria began her teaching career at HCFS, before spending a short period of time working at the sister school at the time. Victoria returned to HCFS in 2019 as a member of the Senior Leadership Team and became Principal in January 2021.

As HCFS’s Principal, Victoria reports to the Trust Board on the progress the school is making and advises the Chair and other Trustees on a range of matters in relation to the strategic development of the school. Victoria is passionate about ensuring the pupils at HCFS are not just seen as a number on a page. She strives to ensure all members of the school community are uniquely valued in school, are given the care and attention they require and are provided with the relevant opportunities and support to flourish and become the very best they can be.

 Victoria’s biggest passion is her family. She has a three year old son and a loving husband who she adores and loves spending time with. Victoria has an allotment and a lot of her and her families’ free time can be spent outside there, growing fresh produce and enjoying each other’s company.

Maxine Kinghorn – Parent Trustee

I am delighted to have recently been elected as a parent trustee. I have two children at HCFS, one in Reception and one in Year 2.  My background is in business & finance, as an accountant and office manager working in various business areas, from small start-ups to a global law firm for the last 25 years.  My aims are to assist the school in achieving and maintaining excellent standards in all areas, utilising my current knowledge as the financial governor of another school in Hatfield, where I have  been placed for the last 2 years, making sure high standards are met in line with OFSTED guidelines, maintaining policies and budgets and supporting the school during the COVID crisis.  It is very important to invest in a child’s future and to ensure that their school and teacher are working to the best that they can be. 

Anne Richardson – Staff Trustee

I am married with three grown up children and seven Grandchildren. Being a Grandma is a role I treasure, and spending time with my family is my favourite pastime.

I remember vividly walking around the building site that was to become HCFS on a soggy Saturday with my eldest Granddaughter who had been allocated a place in the first reception classes. Her two siblings have since joint our school, one is just completing year 6 and the other year 4.

I was employed in March 2015 as an inclusion LSP, then I moved to classroom LSP before in September 2018 taking on the role as Thrive Practitioner. I am very passionate about the Thrive approach and look forward to continuing  working in this role and growing the Thrive approach across our school. 

I have loved being a part of our school as it has grown, Hatfield Community Free School is a very special place where I believe everyone is committed to ensuring that all our pupils are nurtured and educated to the very highest standard. 

Ellen Summers – Staff Trustee

I feel incredibly fortunate to have been elected as a Staff Trustee at HCFS. I have spent the last six years working at HCFS across each phase in the Primary Curriculum and feel this offers me a clear -understanding for the curriculum  and day-to-day running of HCFS. Across the years, I have been fortunate enough to undertake a variety of training to support the school in a number of roles. In 2021, I qualified as a Thrive Practitioner and am now enjoying helping all pupils develop socially and emotionally across the school; something that is extremely topical and close to my heart in our current society. In my spare time I enjoy taking walks with my Husband and my dog and spending time with family and friends. I have an interest in amateur dramatics and definitely bring this into my teaching practice on a regular basis! I definitely hope to get back on to the stage at some point in the future. 

David Adeniyi - Community Trustee

I am pleased to be elected as a community trustee. I am an IT and Management consultant that has been working on various projects in various sectors for over 10 years. My aim is to use the skills and experience I have developed over the years to support the delivery of HCFS’s ambitious and exciting plans over the coming years. I intend to support the school to high standards in its strategic objectives, especially on the resource management part.

My hobbies are listening to music, singing, and researching.  I cherish helping children achieve the highest standards in their endeavours.

Chetan Pawar – Parent Trustee

Chetan is an Engineer at core and an experienced IT practitioner.  He currently leads the Microsoft technology-based health practice across all Europe for one of the largest & global IT consulting organizations.   

He previously established some of the UKI education practice for his employer which spreads across schools to higher education and academic facilities.  Over the last two decades, he has been instrumental in setting various new benchmarks in both Educational and Health fields from transformations to re-enabling the workforce, from fine tuning business processes to releasing trapped value for client investments across brown or green field highly complex IT environments which he enjoys.  

At HCFS, he would love to use this experience, contacts, and insights to help the school, its staff, it’s pupils and where possible parents in all possible ways to enhance their learning, skills, apply productive use of technology and any such thing that he can bring in from the wider UKI educational sector to enhance and enrich the school in any positive way possible.  

When not working, he loves spending as much time as possible with his better half and two lovely daughters apart from his passion for cooking and being a technical author with published work sold on Amazon. 

Vinh Huynh – Parent Trustee

I currently work in IT as a Software Engineer. I have previously worked as a secondary school teacher of computing within Hertfordshire, and have had the pleasure of teaching some ex-HCFS students. I am passionate about educating the minds of our future, and making sure everyone reaches their full potential. I have taught through the pandemic lockdowns, and have seen how it has negatively impacted on many students through all aspects of their education and life, so I hope to be a part of the change in expanding the depth and breadth of their education by promoting high standards. I understand first-hand the challenges faced by teachers, and my personal aim is to support the school in reducing teachers' workloads and improving their well-being, which should make a direct positive impact towards students' achievements and progress. 

Trust Board Attendance 2021/2022

Trust Board Attendance 2020/2021

*retired on 31/12/2020

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