Hereford Sixth Form College

Ian Archer

Appointed as Governor in January 2022.

Ian’s post graduate career began with EMI Records working as a product manager. Specialising in Marketing and PR, Ian moved back to his home city of Liverpool to take up the position of Director of Marketing for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, where he remained for 14 years before managing Clwyd Theatre Cymru, under the artistic directorship of Terry Hands (Ex RSC Director). Another career move took Ian to Hull Truck Theatre as General Manager and then Chief Executive. Ian then moved to Herefordshire in 2013 to take up the position of Chief Executive and Artistic Director at The Courtyard where he is responsible for a team of 39 full-time staff and 40 part-time casual staff and for the Courtyard’s vast array of shows, education and outreach, film and bars and catering.

Andy Clarke

Appointed as Staff Governor in January 2020.

Andy has been teaching Biology for over twenty five years. He gained his degree in Biological Science from Leicester University and his PGCE from Cardiff University. Although the majority of his teaching career has been in the post-16 sector, Andy has also taught overseas. He spent two years in Eritrea with VSO and a year in Madrid at an International school. After a brief period as Assistant Head of Education, at Marwell Zoological Park, he returned to mainstream teaching. Andy joined Hereford Sixth Form College in 2003 and has been the Head of Biology since 2007. He has recently been given the responsibility for increasing STEM provision at the College.

Peter Cooper

Peter became Principal of the College in September 2017, having been the Deputy Principal at the College for a significant period during which the College gained two outstanding Ofsted inspections and became the inaugural TES Sixth Form College of the Year in 2016. Peter has worked on Academy Trusts and was a member of the British Colleges' Sports Board for a number of years, due to his interest in student life beyond the classroom. Peter previously worked in schools and at Priestley College in Warrington, having graduated in Chemistry from Nottingham. 

Rob Gorle

Appointed as Governor in October 2022 

Rob worked as a teacher for several years during which time he enjoyed the opportunity to work with many talented people in a variety of cultures.  He co-authored a book, raised funds to build an outdoor drama space and led the English Department at The Hills Grammar School in Sydney.  

He left teaching to follow interests in personal development, publishing, property and justice. Having experienced both success and failure in life and in business, Rob is interested in exploring how responses to success and failure influence learning, development and quality of life.  

As a Governor he wants to listen and learn about the College.  In particular he wants to understand the College community's hopes and aspirations so that when possible he can help to facilitate their achievement.  

Rob has a BEd from Sydney University and an MLitt from the University of New England (NSW Australia).

Robert Gorman

Clerk to the Governors appointed in 2013.

Robert is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants. After many years working in practice and commercial corporations, for UK and overseas companies, he moved to an FE college as Head of Finance & Administration for 3 years, before finishing his career with the LSC and SFA for 11 years as Head of Finance Gloucestershire and then Provider Financial Support Manager South Division. Work at the Funding Agencies included financial health monitoring, college recovery, mergers and major capital projects.

Martin Jones

Appointed as Governor in November 2022

Martin, a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, has been a professional engineer since qualifying in 2008 and has worked as the Head of Estates in the NHS in Herefordshire and Worcestershire for over 20 years. A large proportion of his time was spent managing the sites of Herefordshire County Hospital and Worcester Royal Hospital. Recently he has moved to a new role as Head of Estates managing the team responsible for the mental health and community properties within Herefordshire and Worcestershire.  

Martin has managed large teams and led large scale projects within the estates, buildings and infrastructure of many of the local hospitals. One of his key interests is the NHS's impact as an anchor institution and specifically sustainability of the buildings and systems within the estate.    

As a father himself of three children, he has a vested interest in the longevity of youth education, with his eldest child due to transition from secondary school this summer. Martin says he is a driven individual, striving to further his professional knowledge and understanding.  He is due to embark on a Masters qualification in Business Administration later on this year. One of his passions is mentoring and coaching early qualified staff into their roles and supporting them through education and training. 

James Miller

A College Governor since 2009 and Chair of the College's Governing Body.

James has spent his career teaching in the independent sector with 17 years at Winchester College, as Head of Economics; five years as Headmaster of Framlingham College in Suffolk; and 14 years as Headmaster of Newcastle Royal Grammar School. James also found time to be a governor of a 16-19 comprehensive, another sixth form college and four independent schools. James also had spells as a Winchester City Councillor (including three years as chairman of one of the main service committees), a school inspector (ISI), a member of the Newcastle Education Commission and a board member of the Durham University Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring.   

Chandra Rao

Appointed as Governor in November 2022

After qualifying in Medicine from India, Chandra undertook Orthopaedic training at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic hospital, Oswestry, Shropshire, UK. He was awarded the Fellowship of Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh in Trauma and Orthopaedics and holds a Master’s degree in Orthopaedic Engineering from Cardiff University.

He was appointed as Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Hereford County Hospital and Nuffield Hereford hospital in 2010. His Orthopaedic surgical expertise includes total hip replacement, total knee replacement, ACL reconstruction, total ankle replacement, knee and ankle arthroscopy, surgeries for ankle and foot arthritis and sports knee and ankle injuries.

Chandra has published original articles in journals of international repute on hip and knee replacement surgery.  He has presented in international conferences on hip, knee and ankle surgery. His current research interests include outcome of ankle and foot surgery.

His interests outside of work include playing and watching Cricket and Tennis, Psychology, Theology and Eastern philosophy.

Andy Roberts

Appointed as Parent Governor in May 2020.

Andy works as an IT Service Management consultant for a number of UK Government departments in the UK. Having worked in many interesting and challenging IT environments supporting IT Service Improvement and Digital Transformation programmes. Before consultancy he worked as an intelligence gatherer for the UK Ministry of Defence and a telecommunications engineer for the United Nations travelling to exotic places such as Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, Afghanistan, Ascension Island, Falkland Islands and Cyprus.

Andy firmly believes in play-based learning in the early years of schooling and the strong emphasis on quality of life, relationships and group experiences throughout all the years spent in education.

Rev Kina Robertshaw

Appointed as a Governor in January 2021. 

Kina is an associate vicar in Bromyard Benefice. She is married with four children, and has a Masters in Christian Theology from the University of Durham. She is an international speaker, host of Conversations with Christian Entrepreneurs, and a passionate advocate for racial and social justice.  She co-authored "A Voice to Be Heard" Christian Entrepreneurs Living Out Their Faith.  

An Angolan refugee who grew up in Zambia, Kina previously owned businesses in Zambia and South Africa. She is also the founder of Bookbuddies Africa, a charity working to help establish a reading culture in Zambia. Kina and her family moved to Herefordshire in 2016. Her daughter was a student at the College, who went on to read German at Unversity of Oxford. 

Beth Rudolf

Appointed as Parent Governor in May 2020.

Beth started her first company when she was 18 years old with the help of a government scheme.  Although not a storming success, the courses she attended as part of the scheme gave her new insight into the possibilities of learning, and she went on to spend a year developing her sales skills as an estate agent before becoming a residential property lawyer.  Beth says she is proof positive that there are lots of routes to education having not gone to university but instead achieved 2 degree level legal qualifications as well as a diploma in psychology, certificate in sport and having attended a myriad of financial and marketing courses …her latest being behavioural economics.  

Beth is now a self-employed legal consultant, regularly delivering professional training and presentations and working for clients like the Conveyancing Association in the residential property industry to improve the home moving process.  After moving to a small holding on Bromyard Downs in 2015 both of Beth’s sons attended the College, and the College’s ability to adapt to their very different learning styles inspired Beth to apply to be a parent governor.

Nicola Taylor

Appointed as Staff Governor in January 2022.

Nicola has an Honours Degree from the University of Humberside, as well as a Diploma and a Masters Degree from Birmingham University. She worked as a criminal psychologist in prisons with young offenders and was a security and business consultant before re-training in teaching in 2019, and gaining her PGCE at University.

Nicola was employed directly after her PGCE placement in College and since then has taught law as well as undertaking, in her second year of teaching, the role of Acting Head of Law during a maternity leave.  She has run the GCSE Film Studies course and was a GCSE Co-ordinator for three years before creating and setting up the increasingly popular Level 3 Criminology course, for which she is the Head.

In addition to this, Nicola is a published author for several Criminology based magazines, and is about to embark on teaching Criminology to adults, due to its popularity as a subject. Nicola has also been invited to study for a PhD, which she will commence in 2022.

Danielle Thompson

Appointed as a Governor in October 2018.

Danielle started her career at National Grid on their graduate scheme after completing a Management degree at Loughborough University and after 8 years, she moved to work for an electricity transmission and distribution company in Perth, Australia. Danielle now runs her own business which is focused on helping business leaders to execute strategic change and implement associated projects. She has completed a MBA from Warwick University Business School specialising in strategic marketing and value proposition development.  

Catriona Ward

Appointed as a Governor in October 2018.

Catriona is an Icon Accredited Conservator who has worked in the heritage field in the UK and Australia for over twenty five years. She has worked in public sector organisations including the NSW Government, Herefordshire Council and the National Trust as well as in the private sector including International Conservation Services and is currently the Conservator for Ward & Co (Building Conservation) Ltd. She has also worked as a freelance Conservator. Her specialisms are Project Management, Preventive Conservation and Conservation Management. She has managed many individual collections conservation projects, provided training in care of collections and has been a Project Conservator on several large historic building re-servicing projects in the UK for the National Trust. Catriona has always been active in the conservation profession including several years as the Treasurer for the NSW Australian Institute of Conservation (AICCM) and as member of the NSW National Trust Cemeteries Committee. She provides training locally and abroad and has presented papers at national and international conservation conferences.