Ardingly College has announced that Jayne Adams will be the new Chair of Governors for both the College and for Great Walstead School, as of 24th February 2025.
Robert Haynes Brown previously served as the College’s Chair of Governors, having been a Governor for eight years and serving as Chair from 2020 until he stood down in September 2024. His Deputy, Jenny Martin, kindly stepped in as Chair while a permanent successor was recruited, in line with our long-term succession plan. When Jayne becomes Chair on the 24th February next year, Jenny will revert to her previous role as Deputy Chair.
Jayne Adams, incoming Chair of Governors, said: “ I am very much looking forward to my new role as Chair of Governors at Ardingly College. In my visits so far to the College, Prep School and Great Walstead School, I have been extremely impressed by the excellence of the educational provision for all age groups and by the leadership and vision of the Heads and Executive team. With Great Walstead recently joining Ardingly College’s family of schools, this is the start of an exciting new chapter for us all and I look forward to seeing the schools continue to go from strength to strength over the coming years.”
Ben Figgis, Head of Ardingly College, said: “I am delighted that we have recruited such an impressive new Chair of Governors. I know we will all benefit from Jayne’s wealth of experience, as the Chair of Governors at another school for the last ten years, and also as a leading expert in charity law and governance. She is clearly a worthy successor to follow in the footsteps of Robert Haynes Brown, who made such a lasting impact on the College during his long tenure as a Governor here. We are all also very grateful to Jenny Martin for stepping in so capably as Chair in the last few months and overseeing this important recruitment process. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Jenny, and benefiting from her considerable expertise, as she reverts to her previous role as our Deputy Chair of Governors.”
About Jayne
Jayne is a practising solicitor and partner in a law firm, McCarthy Denning, as well as running her own consultancy. Her work focuses on advising charities and not-for-profit organisations on all aspects of charity law and practice, regulatory, constitutional and governance matters. Jayne is also an experienced charity trustee and school governor, having previously served for ten years as Chair of Governors at Walthamstow Hall school. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Fraud and Financial Awareness Campaign.
Jayne was educated at Edinburgh Academy and the University of Durham, from where she holds a BA Joint Honours degree in French and Italian. She undertook her academic legal training at the College of Law, prior to practical training and qualification at Bircham Dyson Bell.