Anthem Community Council (Formerly LGB)
As part of a multi-academy trust, our school is not restricted to the traditional model of local governance that most people are familiar with.
Society is changing, and our governance structures need to change with it. Anthem is leading the way by launching a completely new kind of governance across its 16 schools with local views, experiences, and expertise at its heart.
You can find out more about the strategy on the Anthem website.
Our school is part of Anthem Schools Trust and the name for our local layer of governance is Anthem Community Councils (ACCs). Members of our ACCs are known as Anthem Community Council members (ACCms). The ACC has four delegated areas of responsibility:
ACCs will have four delegated areas of responsibility:
- Community
- Celebration
- SEND, inclusion and safeguarding.
- Panels
Each ACC will include Anthem Community Council members who are Champions in key areas such as safeguarding, SEND and inclusion, and climate change. Our ACCms ensure the voices of students, parent/carers, staff and the community are heard and considered across the school and trust. Further details of all the Champion roles can be found here https://www.anthemtrust.uk/accs
Current Members and Declaration of Interests 2025-26
| Name | Position | Appointed | Stepped Down | Interests Declared |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suzette Coleman | ACC Chair | August 2025 | ||
| Melody Thorpe | ACC Member | October 2022 | November 2025 | Head of People, Kingston Educational Trust |
| Ore Akande | ACC Member | March 2022 | ||
| Makeda Griffith | ACC Member | February 2023 | ||
| Tan Jeraj | ACC Member | 18 September 2023 | Children attend St Mark's Church of England Academy | |
| Emma Burgess | ACC Member | 28 November 2024 | ||
| Aimee Gallagher | Headteacher | September 2025 | ||
| Ed Veale | ACC Member | March 2025 |
Our Governance Professional (clerk to the ACC) is Catherine Frewing. ACC members can be contacted via our Governance Professional at governance@anthemtrust.uk.
A summary table of ACC members' interests and meeting attendance for the last full academic year can be found on https://www.anthemtrust.uk/governance
Do you want to make a difference?
We currently have Champion role vacancies for ACC members who are passionate about contributing to our school and community. If you are interested in finding more out about being part of our school’s ACC, we would love to hear from you! For further details, please click on the link below:
A Message from our Anthem Community Council
As an Community Council, we understand and take seriously our responsibilities in terms of ensuring that St Mark’s has developed and implemented its inclusive and distinctive Christian vision and values of Love, Hope, Trust and Transformation for all.
We play a key role in monitoring the impact of the Academy’s vision and values to ensure that it enables all students and staff to be transformed by the renewing of their minds, realise their God-given potential and develop their unique gifts and talents so that they flourish and can live “life in all its fulness”.
As Community Council members, an important part of our role is to preserve the Academy’s original foundation by promoting the importance of Academy engagement in diocesan and national school initiatives. We also ensure that the Academy’s distinctive Christian vision and values shape policies, actions, decisions and strategic planning.
One of our central responsibilities as community council members is to ensure that a robust self-evaluation process is in place that involves the school community in evaluating the effectiveness of St Mark’s as a church school which includes focussed link community council member visits, participation in SIAMS reviews conducted by the diocese of Southwark as well as taking part in staff and student panels and joining acts of worship.