Neil Bichard has been a governor since September 1992 and was originally an LEA governor appointed by Dorset County Council.

Neil is a qualified architect practicing in Broadstone, with a degree from Portsmouth School of Architecture and a post graduate diploma from Birmingham School of Architecture. Prior to that he was educated at a local boys grammar school and has been married since September 1990 and has a daughter and a son. It’s best not mentioned that he was chair of the old boys association of his former school for 6 years.

Neil also served as a governor at Springdale First School for 9 years, 8 of which were as Chair of Governors, and is a local scout leader . In his spare time Neil is a volunteer warden on Brownsea Island, a board member of East Dorset Heritage Trust and sings in the choir of St. Peter’s Church in Bournemouth together with Dorset Chamber Choir.. Many of you may also have seen him as head marshall and co-organiser of the Broadstone Christmas Parade.

Neil has always been a strong supporter of the school in his time as a governor and has been a “staff” member on the school ski trip for 7 years and was also a DofE supervisor and assessor having helped run the Bronze award at the school for more than 10 years. He has also supported, and taken part in, the History Department’s Battlefield Tour, speaking on the architectural aspects, and in particular the work of Sir Edwin Lutyens at Thiepval. In addition he has helped on the Y7 Viking experience at Cranborne ATC as well as attending music, drama and sports events at the school.

As well as being on the Full Governing Body, Neil chairs both the Governors’ Premises Committee and the Health and Safety Committee, and is link Governor with both the History and Music Departments. Neil is also chair of Poole Grammar School Enterprises Limited, the school’s trading subsidiary.

Marianne joined the governing board in 2022 as a parent governor. She serves on the curriculum committee and also attends full board meetings. She has two sons at the school. Marianne has a degree in Geography from the University of Manchester and an MBA from Bournemouth University. Marianne is currently Director of Governance at Bournemouth and Poole College. Prior to this role, she worked for fifteen years at Bournemouth University. 

I have been a Trustee since 2014 and have had 2 boys attend Poole Grammar School and 2 girls attend Parkstone Grammar School, where I am also a governor.
I have a degree in Physics and Masters degrees in Maths and Computing and I am currently studying at UCL
I am on the Education Committee and am the school’s Data Protection Officer. I am particularly interested in Educational performance and especially in our Special Educational Needs support. 

James joined the governing board in 2023 following his collaboration supporting the school’s DT Entrepreneur scheme and the FIRST UK robotics challenge. As an Old Grammarian, James brings first-hand learning experience at the school, decades of specialist marketing expertise and strong links to the local business community. As a school governor, James is passionate about fostering a positive school culture for all and a commitment to championing STEM careers. 

Lucy joined the governing board in 2024 as a parent governor, she has a son in year 10 at the school. Lucy gained her masters degree from Bournemouth University and an MBA from Birmingham University. Lucy is currently CEO of the Dorset and East Devon Coast World heritage Site (the Jurassic Coast). Prior to this role she has worked in leadership roles for the public and charitable sectors for 20 years. Lucy was previously chair of governors for another local school and is a board member for other organisations.  

I joined the Full Board of Governors as a Parent Governor in 2022. I am currently Chair of the Resources Committee, which covers Finance, Staffing, Premises, Audit and Risk matters.  I am also the Link Governor for Pastoral matters including behaviour and attendance.

I have a BSc (Hons) degree in Financial Services from the University of Manchester and a professional banking qualification, gained during a 34-year career with Barclays, RBS, Santander and Handelsbanken.

In my banking career I undertook a variety of roles and some of the skills I developed are particularly useful to me as a Governor.  These include strategic planning, financial analysis and risk assessment.  I also gained significant experience in people management including leadership, coaching and mentoring.  I now work part time as a consultant in the financial services sector.

My husband and I are retired now but my previous experience of finance director running the accounts for our business led me to study accountancy to Technician level.  This enabled me to further understand controlling the accounts, payroll and all financial decisions required to run our successful company.
I was first a governor in 1993 at our children’s First School in Verwood, serving two terms as a parent governor, a role where I found being involved in the development of the school very enjoyable. When I finished my second term I was vice chair of governors and Chair of the Finance Committee, our youngest being at middle school by this time.
Two years later I was elected as a parent governor at Poole Grammar School my son was in Year 9 by this time and where I have been pleased to be able to reprise my governor role, albeit on a completely different level. The differences in the size of the budget and the age and number of pupils are vast but I found it surprising how many similarities there are and how much of my past experience has been invaluable. I am now an Academy governor serving on the Admissions, Staffing and Finance committees and am Chair of Finance.

I was elected as a parent Governor in 2016; I have a son in year 9 and I currently work at Canford Heath Junior School. I worked in retail management but stayed at home once we had children. Since then I have taken numerous educational courses and am currently working towards a qualification as a level 3 teaching assistant. As a parent I have been involved in various committees, I was the chair of the PTA at my children’s infant school, this included organising and running various fund raising events and I currently represent the Grammar School as a member of Poole Parents Voice. I attend the Full Governor Committee meetings and am on the Premises Committee. I am also a link Governor for the Learning Resource Centre.

I joined the Governing Board in 2023 as support staff governor. As a HR professional I feel passionately about putting the staff at the forefront of all decisions concerning the school. I have two children in secondary school so understand the needs and requirements of a parent as well. I am keen to ensure that the staff have a voice at this level of the organisation. Staff wellbeing is important to me and in turn making Poole Grammar School a great place to work.