Our Trustees

The trustees of The Southwater Junior Academy are unpaid volunteers who are elected to provide strategic leadership and accountability to the academy. The trustees work in partnership with the leadership team at SJA and have the following key areas of interest:

Holding the academy leadership to account for the educational performance of the academy and its pupils
Overseeing financial performance and making sure funds are well spent
Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
Acting as a critical friend to the headteacher who undertakes operational responsibility for the academy
Ensuring accountability of the academy team
Promoting high standards of educational attainment
Agreeing the Academy Improvement Plan
Setting an annual budget detailing planned spending
Approving the staffing structure
Supporting the leadership team, when and wherever appropriate

The trustees work with the academy leadership team to set the aims and objectives for the academy and set the policies and targets for achieving them. They monitor and evaluate the progress the academy is making and act as a source of challenge and support to the headteacher.

The trustees come from all walks of life, with a wide range of work and life experiences which enriches the benefit that they provide. They uphold the SJA values of Kindness, Resilience and Working Hard.

Information about the governance of The Southwater Junior Academy is available here

Our current trustees

Rebecca Toogood (Headteacher)

Rebecca started her lifelong interest in education by volunteering in a primary school in a deprived area of Norwich. This started her on her career path, quickly followed by teaching in Japan for 2 years. Upon returning to the UK, she studied for a PGCE in secondary English.

Rebecca, then took on the challenges of teaching in various outer-London secondary schools, with a keen interest in working in environments with challenging circumstances. She then moved into Local Authority advisory work for Hillingdon. Whilst working as an Education Adviser and English Consultant, she completed a Master of Education in Educational Leadership & School Improvement. Rebecca then took on the role of Assistant Headteacher at a large secondary school in Hillingdon, helping the school move from requires improvement to good with outstanding features.

In 2014, Rebecca became part of the senior leadership team at the Littlehampton Academy, in the role of Assistant Principal. She supported the transition to bring the Academy out of special measures.

In 2018, she became the Headteacher at SJA. The combined experiences in Rebecca’s career to date; the drive to make education in the academy the very best it can be; and working with a committed team at SJA, demonstrates her extreme pride in being the Headteacher at SJA delivering a high quality
and well-rounded education to all of our children.

In her spare time Rebecca is passionate about cooking, gardening and spending time on creative projects, which include upcycling and DIY.

Howard Wilder (Co-Opted Trustee, Chair of Trustees)

Howard has been a co-opted trustee since November 2024 and has been in the role of Chair of Trustees since April 2026. He has more than 40 years experience as a leader in the animal pharmaceutical industry. He holds a BSc degree in Plant Science from Cardiff University an MSc in Agricultural Marketing form Cranfield University and is a Chartered Director. The father of two adult daughters Howard is passionate about giving every child the best possible start in life and has been instrumental in developing the careers of many young people.

Marcus Medley (Co-Opted Trustee - Chair of Curriculum Committee)

Marcus became a parent trustee in October 2020 and a Co-Opted Trustee in September 2024.

He is the Assistant Head Academic at Christ’s Hospital School and has over fifteen years of secondary and tertiary education experience, having worked as teacher, middle leader, and now senior leader. He is married with two children; one of which is at Southwater Junior Academy and the other at Southwater Infant Academy.

Marcus graduated with a PhD in organic synthetic chemistry in 2009 from Bristol University before moving to Horsham to take up a position as a teacher of Chemistry. His passion is for everything STEM-related and he is keenly interested in the education sector both locally and nationally.

Marcus has recently moved to Southwater and spends what little spare time he has enjoying sport, fitness, outdoor pursuits and gardening.

Gemma Gholap (Co-opted Trustee)

Gemma joined as a parent trustee in November 2024 before becoming a co-opted trustee. She is married with two girls, both of which are at SJA. Gemma is a sustainability consultant, working in recycling and waste to helping everyone to do their bit to mitigate the impact of climate change.

Gemma is passionate about ensuring that every child achieves their potential and will be working with SJA to support them on this as well as their eco-curriculum.

In her spare time when she’s not watching her children’s football or basketball matches, she enjoys running, skiing and manages a small property portfolio.

Ramatoulie Nyang (Parent Trustee)

Ramatoulie has been a parent trustee since November 2024. She is married with three children, one of which is at Southwater Junior Academy.

Ramatoulie is a qualified chartered accountant and an executive coach. She has been working in the finance and accounting field for over 19 years now and is currently a Senior Finance Business Partner at ODI Global, a think tank charity headquartered in the United Kingdom. She has also recently started her Executive Coaching practice helping Finance executive navigate the corporate world in their leadership roles.

When she is not working, Ramatoulie enjoys reading, spending time with children, and going to the gym.

Jon Bye (Co-Opted Trustee)

Martha Lewis (Co-Opted Trustee)

Lee Hume (Co-Opted Trustee)

Lee joined as a trustee in April 2026. A qualified CIMA Management Accountant, Lee has built a career in finance with multinational consumer product companies before moving into roles within the education and charity sectors. He has a strong background in all aspects of management accounting, budgeting, and planning.

Lee is a parent of two adult sons who both attended Southwater Infant and Junior Schools.

He enjoys running and cycling as well as watching both football and cricket.

Reza Sahandi (Co-Opted Trustee)

Professor Sahandi joined the trustee board in April 2026 as a co-opted trustee. He brings an educational background and wealth of computing knowledge to the board.

Professor Sahandi completed his BSc degree in Physics, MSc in Control Engineering and PhD in Image Processing and has held various academic posts at universities in the UK. He was a Professor in Computing at Bournemouth University, before his retirement and remains an Emeritus Professor. He had many leading roles, including Head of Department and Head of Research and has also been a member of many national and international committees. His research areas included computer networks, cloud computing and multimedia systems and he published over 59 papers in international referred journals and conference proceedings. His career demonstrates his passion in ensuring young people achieve to their potential and he has supervised 13 PhD and 2 MPhil students.

Interested in becoming a trustee?

The trustees meet 6 times a year, and sub-committees a further 3 times per year each. There are currently 2 sub-committees covering "Finance, Audit & Risk" and "People & Pay". The trustees are also involved with visits to the academy and Parents' Evenings, and they regularly support academy events.

The trustees role is covered by the DfE's Academy Handbook, and is a commitment each trustee makes for a 4-year period, renewable at the end of each term.

If you would like more details about the role of a trustee, or feel that you would like to take up such a position, please contact us below.

Contact us

Please use the form below to send Trustees a message or question.

Alternative you can write to us at Clerk to the Trustees, The Southwater Junior Academy, Worthing Road, Southwater, West Sussex, RH13 9JH.