Felicia Hughes – Chair
I moved to Peckham in 1982 and have lived here ever since. I love the area for its nearness to London, its many green spaces and the great variety of people here. I am always pleased to see our pupils out and about, making the most of our local area.
I am retired after 35 years teaching, mostly in special schools (in fact I taught at Cherry Garden school in the 1980s!). My final position was deputy head at Greenvale school in Lewisham.
I believe passionately in all children having access to high quality, stimulating education and am delighted to be a Governor to support this.
Kelly Hawker – Headteacher
I am the Headteacher at Cherry Garden School and am totally committed to ensuring pupils have an amazing education which supports all aspects of their holistic development. I have a broad and varied background in teaching and supporting pupils with complex learning differences across the early years and primary phase. This includes working in a number of settings and schools, plus working for local authorities supporting learning within a broader context. I have experience of being a school governor and highly value and welcome the strategic support to drive school improvement.
My family are all originally from Southwark and my favourite food is pie, mash with lots of liquor!
Sabrina Prempeh – Staff Governor
As someone who has worked in education for more than 10 years I am ecstatic to be a member of the governing board of such a dynamic and nurturing school. As a member of staff, I often witness first-hand the hard work that the dedicated staff put in to ensure that all pupils gain the best possible education and care whilst at Cherry Garden School and as staff governor I feel that I’m a good position to represent staff and bring a staff viewpoint and perspective to the governing body.
Within my personal life, I’m a governor & trustee of my local church for over 6 years and have lived in the South East London area my whole life. I am a mother and I enjoy holidays abroad, reading, trips to the cinema and eating out.
Laura Hutchinson
I am a co-opted Governor at the School and joined the Governing Body in 2017 because I am a passionate believer in the power of education. My Dad was a teacher, so I grew up talking about it! I was looking for a school I could make a contribution to locally and found Cherry Garden. I’m so glad I did – it’s such a special, inspiring place and I’m always so impressed by the atmosphere in the school whenever I visit.
In my work life, I am the Head of PR for Historic Royal Palaces, the charity that cares for six historic visitor attractions, including the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace. My team look after press, social media and filming across the six sites. It’s a very varied job and although I don’t work with schools myself directly, the charity does a look of work with schools, which I feel very proud of. In my spare time, I’m often to be found on a busman’s holiday, visiting historic places and museums!
Dr Margaret Morton
I am a community governor at the school.
My background: I am retired but previously worked in Southwark for just over twenty years as a community paediatrician specialising in childhood disability. I feel that my work has given me an understanding of the challenges that the children at Cherry Garden School can face and of the services that they might require. I was involved in neuro-developmental follow-up studies locally and nationally and this has been very helpful when looking at the school’s reports on pupil progress.
With six grandchildren living in Southwark, four in primary schools and two fast approaching school age, I have a personal interest in primary education here and a lot of useful hands-on experience!
Jack Shea
I am a co-opted governor at the school, having joined the team in May 2025 following moving to Southwark a year earlier. I have a passion for ensuring that every child has access to the best possible education with an emphasis on holistic support and development, as well as for creating closer alignment of local institutions to improve outcomes for the community as a whole.
I’m proud to be involved with Cherry Garden as the school’s ethos aligns with my own and its success is demonstrated by the recent Ofsted inspection. I have been made to feel extremely welcome by the staff and governing teams and look forward to getting to know the Cherry children and families.
I currently work in Police Public Contact Policy at the Home Office, working on innovative ways to improve the way that the public and policing can communicate. Before this I worked in policy at the Ministry of Justice and as a Probation Officer in Tower Hamlets.
Both of my parents worked in education and we did a lot of fostering for children with additional needs while I was growing up. At various points in my career I have worked as a teaching assistant in schools for children with a wide variety of needs and had always hoped to return to education.
Outside of work, I love travel, recent trips have included Kenya, India and Northern Italy and I am always looking for new destinations. I’m a keen – if not particularly talented – footballer, and a similar cook.
If you see me around the school, please do come and say hello.
Heidi Ahlborn – Parent Governor
My child began attending Cherry Garden in September 2021. I am passionate about a child centred approach to learning and development which is evident in my child’s school journey with Cherry. I was inspired to become a parent governor to actively support the school as it continues to develop and grow, and also to support the many school families. Professionally, I am a Chartered Accountant with experience working in risk and compliance roles within financial services firms in Canada, Ireland and the UK. I enjoy creative arts, baking and the occasional round of MarioKart.
India Stevens
I am a co-oped governor at the School. I’ve been a Southwark resident since 2020 and I’ve been looking for a way to become more involved in the local community.
I was delighted to have the opportunity to get involved with Cherry Garden. I loved my own school years and am passionate about supporting quality education for all.
Professionally, I work in financial services as a Compliance Officer with experience in a range of regulatory, compliance and project management roles. Outside of work, I’m a keen amateur gardener, love cooking and an avid sports fan.
Jane Thomas – Community Governor
I have worked as a Nurse in the NHS for 40 years with a break in service after I had my own four children. Whilst they were in primary school I worked at a Special Needs secondary School in Lewisham as an LSA. I started my NHS career on an adult male surgical ward then progressed to being a Midwife for around 6 years, I was a mainstream School Nurse in Southwark and Lambeth for 10 years, and more recently the Children’s Complex Needs Continence Clinical Nurse Specialist for Lambeth and Southwark. I very much look forward to my fortnightly visits to Cherry Garden, it has such a lovely happy atmosphere and reminds me so much of my time in Lewisham.
I was encouraged to join the board of Governors by Kelly who I have met in my capacity as the schools continence nurse, and Felicia who I worked with many years ago in Lewisham. I was delighted to be encouraged, being in the twilight years of my career it feels that I will continue to have a voice have something to offer.
When I am not working you will mostly find me running, I am one of the run directors for Junior parkrun in Bromley and feel very passionately about encouraging everyone, young, old and in between to enjoy the great outdoors and to be as active as they can be. I am also a very crazy cat lady and am one of those sad people with thousands of photos on their mobile phone of my three cats.
Lizzie Cavill
I am a co-opted governor at the school. I work as an actuary at a commercial insurance company as my day-job. Since qualifying and no longer having to sit exams alongside my job, I wanted to put my extra time towards something worthwhile. I was lucky enough to find Cherry Garden School and take up my first governor role.
As the only non-teacher in my family, I hear a lot about education and am keen to get involved and make a difference. My future plan is definitely to become a maths teacher when I get sick of the desk job!
Outside of work, I’ve lived in South London for 7 years now. I love running, cooking, holidays and going out for dinner.
Governor Documentation
