Governance

GOVERNANCE
Forres Sandle Manor Ltd. is administered by a Board of Directors.
The Board holds termly meetings with the Head and other members of SLT by invitation to discuss standing agenda items, including education, safeguarding and health & safety.
Members of the Board of Directors make an active effort to attend a number of formal
school events throughout the year as well as more informal occasions where possible. In the
event of a major problem or disagreement, parents can write to the Chair of Directors, c/o
Forres Sandle Manor, Fordingbridge, SP6 1NS. There are also various committees which
meet regularly to discuss specific focus areas of the School development plan, such as
academics, boarding, welfare and safeguarding.

Toby Mullins

Chair of the Board

Toby is Chair of the Board and member of the Finance Committee of FSM. He been a Head for over 22 years in a wide variety of different settings. He started his career in boarding schools, was the Housemaster of a large girls’ boarding house at Framlingham College before his promotion to Deputy Head at Churcher’s College. His first Headship was at Seaford College where, in his 15 years, he increased the roll from under 300 pupils to over 600. A three-year spell in the midlands as Executive Principal running two large secondary academies in deprived areas was followed by two short spells setting up two schools in the ‘for profit’ sector.

He has an MBA from London Business School, where he specialised in leadership, new venture development, managing change and project management. He is also a qualified executive coach and works with clients from both the business and educational sectors. He has been an ISI inspector since 2001 and currently carries out both compliance and educational quality inspections.

Toby has been both the Chairman of the Society of Heads and also of the ISC, which he took on at a very difficult time early in 2011, when it looked as though the organisation was doomed, and brought the discussions to a successful conclusion later that year. He is an experienced board member having served on six governing boards, both state and independent, and is one of the trustees at The Children’s Trust, a major charity for children with acquired brain injury.

Christine Dure-Smith

Christine Dure-Smith is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales and is a senior member of the legal team at Merlin Entertainments Group as Senior Contracts Director. She has been employed by Merlin since 1995, having started in finance, eventually taking charge of the financial control in the Capital Projects division (Merlin Magic Making) and more recently moved to a senior role in the legal team. Merlin Entertainments Group is the largest operator of visitor attractions in Europe and the second-largest operator of visitor attractions worldwide (after Disney). As at August 2021, Merlin operated over 130 attractions, 22 hotels and 6 holiday villages across 24 countries and 4 continents.

Christine’s key area of focus in Merlin at present is around the negotiation of significant contracts for Merlin including new leases for smaller attractions, new LEGOLAND Parks, new intellectual Property relationships, permits and licenses for new attractions, and coordinating the legal process for any sale or acquisitions Merlin makes.

Christine is married and a mother of 3 boys, all of whom attended FSM. Christine is the Chair of the Forres Sandle Manor Educational Trust and is keen to support the school with her commercial acumen having seen that happy children really do succeed. She is a member of the Finance Committee of the School.

Duncan Murphy

Duncan works closely with the school leadership to help shape and navigate its future direction. As an “Old Forresian”, Duncan has first-hand experience of FSM’s strong family heritage, and he is fully committed to a well-rounded educational philosophy. After life at Forres, Duncan attended Malvern College before undertaking a degree in English and subsequently a Masters degree in Educational Leadership.

In 2017, Duncan was appointed as the Headmaster of Kingswood House, Epsom, with the primary objective of overseeing a successful cultural and strategic evolution for the school from 13+ to 16+. During this time, he served as Chairman of the Sixteen Group for the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS), a pro bono role which saw him elected onto the Education Committee and invited to speak at the Heads’ Conference about the benefits and pitfalls of a potential increase in age range for preparatory schools up to GCSE.

Having gained a valuable insight by leading a stand-alone preparatory school’s journey through to GCSE when it was largely unchartered territory, Duncan has since advised a growing number of fellow heads and governing bodies about the potential for their schools to consider a similar transition. Duncan espouses that the well-publicised threats to the independent sector can best be addressed by adopting creative and enterprising solutions, underpinned by forward-thinking leadership, which will enable the best schools to find a meaningful, relevant identity in a competitive market.

Prior to his current headship, Duncan was the Head of the Preparatory School at Claremont Fan Court for five years and Deputy Head at Milbourne Lodge; he is also an associate at Anthony Millard Consulting, a member of the Society of Heads and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. A more obscure point of interest is Duncan’s membership of the Sherlock Holmes Society, and, as an English specialist, he holds a general passion for Victorian literature. Duncan enjoys all sports, especially cricket, and keeps abreast of current affairs and politics. Based in leafy Surrey, Duncan and his wife have two grown-up children and a younger son who attends Epsom College. In his spare time, Duncan likes nothing more than escaping to the Isle of Wight and walking his two dogs on the beautiful beach at Priory Bay, Seaview.

Cherry Han

Cherry settled in the UK with her family after leaving Coca-Cola as General Manager, China in April of 2017. Before Coca Cola, she served for Ingersoll Rand (a top 500 multi-national company with HQ in US) as Vice President of Asia Pacific for over 10 years for the responsibilities of public and government affairs, communications and enterprise branding across Asia Pacific.

Cherry worked with multinational companies including Microsoft China and Microsoft Research Asia covering a broad spectrum of responsibilities including 5 years experiences of P&L business owner. Cherry has extensive experiences of leading teams to facilitate business growth under tough & difficult situations. Cherry also served as Independent Director of a public listed company in China, and Senior Consultant for career development in Management School of Fudan University, both for over 10 years.

Cherry Graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University, Cherry also holds an MBA degree of Bradford Management School, Bradford University, UK and an EMBA degree of Guanghua Management School, Peking University, China.

Richard Stevenson

Richard has worked in a variety of schools, including day and boarding, single sex and co-educational, prep and senior school, tied prep and stand-alone. After completing his degree in politics, economics and philosophy, Richard headed the science, IT and DT departments in a large independent school. He moved to the position of Academic Deputy Head at Holmwood House before being appointed to headship at Kelly College Prep, then subsequently, Castle Court School in Dorset.

During 15 years of headship, Richard re-positioned the schools and restructured the businesses and curriculum, leading to growth in pupil numbers, finances, development and academic achievement. He has been an ISI inspector, taken a lead role in training and has an outstanding track record of mentoring, coaching and appraising for success.

Richard is a people person; his ability lies in strategic thinking, the building of teams, growing a business and appointing outstanding people. His excellent understanding of building construction and development as well as his extensive experience in bringing development projects to fruition, on budget and on time, is a worthy addition.