Gordon Smith, Chair of Governors

Gordon Smith is the Principal at Riddlesdown High School, a local secondary school of 1900 pupils and students. He is Chair of the Central and South Croydon 14-19 Partnership as well as Vice Chair of Governors at Croydon College.

Gordon’s work in a range of London schools means that he has a clear understanding of educational and leadership issues which he contributes to Kingsdown.

Cheryl Butler

Cheryl Butler BA (Hons), PGCE, MA (cantab) has considerable experience in special and short stay schools as well as at a senior level within a Local Authority. She has been head teacher of a PRU and a Special School for boys with SEBD. As Head of Inclusion within a large London Borough she was responsible for running all 6 PRUs, the Education Welfare Service and the peripatetic SEN services from Portage through to post 16.

“Barbara was born in Nottingham in 1942.  After grammar school she went to university at the age of 17 to read Modern languages at Exeter.  After graduation she taught for a year in Germany, before gaining a teaching diploma at the University of London Goldsmiths.  She taught in Brixton at Stockwell Manor School, rising to Head of Sixth Form and briefly Acting Deputy Head.  She was then appointed First Deputy Head of Riddlesdown High School, a post she held for 24 years before retiring in 2003.  She also worked on several teacher training initiatives.  Barbara is married to Michael Round, former Headteacher of Haling Manor High School.  Together they have fostered a number of teenagers, now all grown up with their own families.  She continues to have wide interests in education.”

Paul Rhys-Taylor DiP SW, DiP Ed has a formal background in Care and Education and is presently a senior manager of a Croydon Independent Residential Home for boys aged 11-16 years. He is also Governor of a large Croydon Special School.The Governing body and MRCS Limited (Independent Residential Care and Fostering Agency provider) combined, provide skills and have capacity for the delivery of both education and social care. The experience and high level strategic ability is evidence of their capacity to further extend and support more vulnerable students within the Croydon area.

Kevin Henry

Kevin spent the first 16 years of his working life in the Manufacturing sector working as an apprentice Electrician before becoming a Control Engineer.  He gained an HTC in Electrical and Electronic Engineering before completing a BEng (Hons) in the same subject. Kevin undertook an MBA at South Bank University, completing his dissertation in 1995. 

In 1994, Kevin changed career path and began running McRae Residential Care Services (MRCS) Ltd, a small family business providing residential care for ‘looked after children’. Having had the benefit of a good education himself , Kevin was determined to provide educational opportunities for the young people in MRCS’ care and began the journey in 1999 into what was to become Kingsdown School.

 Kevin became a business governor for Croydon College in August 1997, Vice Chair in 2001 and Chair in August 2005.

In addition to his interest in MRCS Ltd and Croydon College, Kevin is also a Director of Focused Fostering Services Ltd.

 Mike Vingoe

Mike Vingoe has been a Science teacher in Croydon since 1972, having previously studied Zoology at Liverpool University. He began his teaching career at Haling Manor High School and was then Head of Year and Head of Science at Sylvan High School. After gaining a DMS qualification he moved on to Riddlesdown High School as Head of Faculty and eventually became Vice-Principal with responsibility for community involvement. This included acting as the science specialism co-ordinator and allowed him to concentrate on his first love, science teaching. He has been instrumental in devising an award-winning primary-secondary pupilpeer teaching scheme and his science club won a competition to represent the UK at a NASA sponsored competition at their HQ in Houston, Texas. He is a science consultant to the Science Learning Centre in London and a member of the ASE.