- EDUCATION AUTHORITY / EDUCATION AUTHORITY REPRESENTATIVES: Mrs D Williams (Chairperson) and Mrs A Macfarlane
- DEPT OF EDUCATION REPRESENTATIVES: Mrs K Kidd, Mrs A Davey
- PARENT REPRESENTATIVES: Ms N Conner
- TEACHING REPRESENTATIVE: Mrs D McAlister
Board of Governors
Ashgrove Nursery School Board Of Governors.
Karen Kidd
Department of Education Representative
Karen’s daughter attended Ashgrove Nursery School during academic year 2016/17.
She has worked for First Trust Bank for almost 20 years. Her current role is Cluster Leader, managing four branches across their network.
Karen has a degree in Accountancy and spent a few years working for South East Regional College, as a part time lecturer for Degree of Business and finance students.
Danielle McAlister
Teacher Representative
Mrs Mc Alister is the class teacher for the part time sessions in our school. She joined us in September 2021.
Debbie Williams (Chairperson)
Education Authority Representative
Debbie is a busy mum of three children, all of who came through the doors of Ashgrove for their Nursery education.
Debbie has been employed for over 15 years in Children’s Services within the local health and social care sector. She strongly promotes multiagency collaboration in her work to ensure best outcomes for children and their families.
When she is not working, she enjoys nothing more than a picnic in the park with the kids… and this must include a large flask of tea!!
Mrs Nicola Cruickshank (B.Ed) Honours
Secretary
Mrs Cruickshank is our teacher in the Full Time Class. She joined us in September 2023.
Angela Macfarlane
Education Authority Representative
Angela is a mum to two young children and has been employed by the Health Service for 16+ years.
Angela currently works on a part time basis for the Northern Health & Social Care Trust.
Angela’s daughter became a pupil at Ashgrove Nursery in 2015 which gave Angela the desire to become a member of the Governor team to assist with promoting and improving the school and helping to ensure all of the children at Ashgrove enjoy their first learning experience.
Her son Matthew attended the Nursery School during the academic year 17/18, so again, she knows the School well and also the varying needs of the parents who are welcomed into the Nursery each year.
David Thompson
Parent Governor
David is a dad to two boys. The eldest (Archie) attended Ashgrove Nursery during academic year 2017/18.
David is normally known as the “Jack of all Trades” within his friendship circles and currently works within the field of IT Incident Management in Queen’s University, Belfast. David holds a geography degree and uses it to help develop award-winning, community-led science projects, promoting biodiversity and clean rivers.
A keen social media enthusiast, he has helped develop the Nursery School’s online presence over the past year.
In his spare time, he can normally be found entertaining his family or partaking in some fly fishing.
Natalie Conner
Parent Governor
Natalie is a mother of two children.
She was one of our parents from the Full Time Class 22/23. She was appointed to our governors in January 2023.
Michelle works for a mental health charity as a Communications Manager and hopes that her knowledge in this area will help build and grow the excellent reputation of Ashgrove Nursery School.
In her spare time, Michelle is a keen singer and enjoys spending quality time with her young family.
Anne Davey
Department of Education Representative
Anne has recently retired from teaching and has many years experience in the Primary and Nursery sectors.
She has always been passionate about young children’s learning, their well being and learning environment.
She is a very busy mum and grandmother to three energetic preschoolers. In her free time she loves gardening, swimming, reading and watching boxsets!
Anne is looking forward to being part of the wonderful Ashgrove Nursery experience.
”One of my children attended the school in recent years and I wanted to play a more activate part with the dynamic and forward-thinking educators that make up the School team. Their passion for child learning and development is second to none. When I hear them talk about ‘our kids’, it makes me smile but I’ve had to remind them that the children don’t actually belong to them and they have to send them home each day.
Helen BowmanPrevious Governor