Kench Hill Centre is owned by Hackney Council, but since 2008 has been managed by The Kench Hill Charity, a company limited by guarantee.  Staff are directly employed by Hackney Learning Trust and seconded to the Charity.  We are currently seeking to recruit new Trustees to the Board, particularly from those who share our commitment to inclusive education, with experience in property management, marketing and fund-raising.

Board of Trustees   

Nick Corker, CHAIRPERSON (Head of Virtual School for Looked After Children, Care Leavers & Youth Justice, Hackney)
Nick is currently head of Hackney’s Virtual School, which advocates and supports these children in the education system. Previously he was Deputy Head of a large Hackney school. He has attended Kench Hill many times over the last 18 years in both roles. He is a strong believer in the power of outdoor education, and has led groups to a range of places including Wales, Romania and India.

Barney Clarke, Environmental Science BSc (Hons), PGCE (Head of Centre)
Barney has been teaching in the outdoor sector for over 15 years. He has experience of managing a wide range of outdoor education Centres, forest schools and outreach programmes. He is passionate about connecting children with nature and fostering a love and respect for the world around us.

Nicola Baboneau
As an educationalist, Nicola has a BEd in Sociology and MA in Education (University of London). Previously, as an assistant director and senior adviser at The Learning Trust she had lead responsibility for Community & Partnerships. Promoting community cohesion and raising educational achievement for marginalised young people were key components of her role. Prior to this she was a headteacher in Hackney for ten years and then worked for three years across Education, Health, Social Services and the Voluntary Sector, with lead responsibility for Hackney’s Children’s Services Plan.  Nicola has been involved with Kench Hill over many years both as line manager to the Centre Director and more recently as a Trustee.

Tom Brooke
Tom is a solicitor specialising in education law, with over 20 years experience working for Wandsworth Council and Learning Trust, Hackney.  He currently works as a consultant for Stone King solicitors and has been appointed as judge in the First Tier Tribunal, Social Entitlement Chamber.  Tom’s three children have all attended happy visits to Kench Hill with Hackney primary schools, where Tom lived for many years, spending time as a school governor at Grazebrook Primary.  He is now a governor in a Suffolk federation.

Elizabeth Cooke Szewczyk
Retired English teacher. Secondary and primary, formerly EMAS, SENCO, Deputy Head, Inclusion Manager in Hackney.  Currently Associate Governor and volunteer at Burdett Coutts Primary, Westminster.  School Journey organiser while in Hackney with strong links to Kench Hill for over fifteen years.

Bernard Hawes (SEN School governor)

Naomi Mulholland
For a substantial part of my life I have been involved in one way or another in Hackney education.   From the age of 5 to 11, I attended Our Lady & St Joseph’s primary school.  I started as a Newly Qualified Teacher in Hackney in 1989 and for the last twenty three years have been teaching and leading education in a number of different Hackney primary schools, becoming the Head teacher of St Scholastica’s Primary in 2010.

Maggie Rees
I was a teacher in Hackney Primary Schools from 1966-1997 and then spent 8 years teaching in Tower Hamlets until  retirement in 2005. For many years I organised the school journeys at Grazebrook School, initially at ILEA-owned centres, and then at Kench Hill. At Tower Hamlets I was involved in the planning and organisation of weeks at Gorsefield Centre. I was a secretary of the initial Friends of Kench Hill committee set up in 2002 and was happy to rejoin as Treasurer in 2014.

 Accountant: Chavereys Chartered Accountants