Maggie is currently the Chair of Orchard Manor School Governing Board.

She started her career as a special school teacher and then worked as an educational psychologist for 20 years, before moving into education management, becoming assistant director of Children’s Services in Plymouth in 2005.

Since retirement from that role in 2013, she has maintained her passion for special education, and is a governor at Mill Water School in East Budleigh as well as at Orchard Manor.

She also works part-time for Scomis, part of Devon County Council that supports schools with their ICT needs.

She enjoys singing in a choir, and singing holidays, Pilates (exercise lying down!) and cooking for family and friends .

After graduating from university with a degree in Languages, Economics and Politics, Rachel worked and travelled across France and Australia before returning to the UK to join the police service. Twenty-three years later, she remains a serving officer at the rank of Inspector, with a strong and enduring commitment to public service. Her police career has been varied, encompassing response policing, command and control, and training, and one of her proudest moments was receiving a Commendation for saving a life in custody.

Rachel now specialises in Custody and Criminal Justice, a demanding role that involves influencing both local and national issues while also advising on day-to-day tactics within custody units. She firmly believes in contributing to the communities of which she is part, and her role as a Governor represents an opportunity to apply the skills developed throughout her policing career while gaining a fresh perspective and new challenge.

Rachel is married to Paul, who also works for Devon and Cornwall Police, and they have a young son who attends Orchard Manor.

After qualifying as a Mental Health Nurse, Gavin worked in the NHS for 25 years. For much of his career, he specialised in working with offenders in forensic mental health care. Gavin progressed to be Deputy Director of Nursing in Oxfordshire before relocating to Devon and taking up another Deputy Director of Nursing role with the local NHS Trust.   Gavin now works with a friend, running a nursing agency, home care services and care homes.

Gavin has been lucky enough to work internationally with several human rights groups, including spending time in Turkey, Moldova and Croatia. Until lockdown, he regularly visited Georgia and especially Ukraine, working on projects to improve mental health services in psychiatric hospitals, prisons and social care homes. Another area of interest has been the spiritual aspect of mental health care, especially mindfulness.

Gavin has three children, one of whom attends Orchard Manor.  His obsessions outside work are rock music, American football, reading, meditation and personal fitness.

After studying English Literature at university, Emma completed a PGCE at Exeter and went on to spend ten years teaching in schools in Bristol, Milan and Plymouth. For the past two years, she has worked for Teach First, an education charity.

Emma lives in South Devon with her husband, Rory, and their two young children, and enjoys swimming, running, and spending time at the beach and on Dartmoor.

Pen Portrait to follow