Governors

Mrs Kawasaki’s daughter attended Bowdon Preparatory School until 2023, and she was closely involved with the Parents’ Society before joining the Governing Body. She worked for the Japanese Ministry of Justice for 11 years as an International Communications Advisor and later lectured in international communication at a Japanese university. Since 2010, she has been an International Affairs Associate for the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, supporting numerous international forums and, most recently, attending the G7 Summit in Italy as part of the Ministry’s delegation. She has a particular interest in promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in education and also serves as a Parent Governor at Altrincham Grammar School for Girls.

Mrs Bacon has recently retired having enjoyed a varied career in Primary Education in both the state and independent sectors in UK and abroad. She has held a variety of senior management and advisory roles including being Headteacher of a large multicultural school in Nairobi, Kenya. On returning to UK and moving to the area, she joined Altrincham Preparatory School as part of the EYFS team becoming Assistant Headteacher for KS1 until retirement beckoned.  She continues her international work with an educational charity in Goa, India and is currently Chair of Governors of a local academy school.

Mr Edwards is a retired bursar and has been an Independent School Bursars Association consultant bursar for the past 7 years, in five different schools, including BPS during the first lockdown.  Prior to that he had a 16-year career as a school bursar in the North West, and still further back as a regular officer in the Corps of Royal Engineers.  His skills lie in the operational management of schools and support to leadership teams and boards of governors.

Ms Hussain’s two daughters both attended the school, the youngest leaving in July 2022. Ms Hussain is the Head of IT Transformation and Change at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and has a wealth of IT change experience. Throughout her career she has maintained a keen involvement in diversity having set up inclusivity initiatives both in schools and within organisations like Lloyds Banking Group and The Co-op Bank.

Mr Lines’ two daughters both recently attended BPS. He grew up in Hale and was educated at St. Ambrose College, is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has experience of working in the off shore financial services industry. Since returning to the UK in 2004, he is now the Managing Director of Mandata Contracts Ltd and Blue Line Containers Ltd, companies operating in the transport, document archive and storage industries.

Ms Murphy’s two daughters attended Bowdon Preparatory School. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has spent many years working in private practice specialising in tax. She is a partner in a North West firm of Chartered Accountants.

Mrs Stewart grew up in Bowdon and attended Withington Girls’ School. She is an experienced primary school teacher and worked at Altrincham Preparatory School for sixteen years, teaching in the Pre-Prep as well as being a member of the senior leadership team. She has recently moved into a new career, working with children in care. Her daughter was a pupil at BPS and becoming a Governor seemed the natural next step to keep involved with the school as it develops for the next generation of girls.

Dr Sumra has two children who attended BPS. His background is in medicine, with experience spanning both the UK and US where he specialised as a neurologist. Dr Sumra has for a number of years now been working within the healthcare sector in R&D.

Dr Tighe’s two children both attended Bowdon Preparatory School, and she has been actively involved with the school for many years. With a background in medicine, she spent eleven years as a GP partner in a local practice and has extensive experience looking after children and their families. Dr Tighe is currently a director at M.J. Tighe Limited and works part time as a GP in Wilmslow.

Dr Wang’s daughter attended Bowdon Preparatory School. Dr Wang has worked at international law firms specialising in commercial law. Dr Wang is currently a co-founder of a Chinese school Wenlu Chinese Academy based in Altrincham and is passionate about creating a supportive and inspiring environment for every pupil to thrive. She is also a governor of the Bollin Primary School.

Mr Willey’s daughter recently attended BPS. A qualified Chartered Engineer, he has spent his career in the energy utilities and construction industries as MD/Commercial Director of several companies with a strong focus on leading strategy, value creation , customer service and safety whilst creating and leading high performing teams. He has recently started his own business to support the energy transition to net zero.

Dr Zhao’s daughter was a pupil at Bowdon Preparatory School. Dr Zhao is a Lecturer in Language Education at the University of Leeds, specialised in assessment and technology-enhanced learning. Dr Zhao hopes to work closely with the governing body and the teaching team at BPS to continuously enhance the curriculum designs and teaching/learning efficiency.