Meet Our Governors

I’m Keith Andrews, and I’m the Chair of Governors here at North Islington Nursery School.

I became a parent governor when my daughter attended North Islington Nursery School. Having seen first hand what a fantastic job the staff did with her development from a baby into a young lady!

It was because of the amazing work of the staff I volunteered to be the Chair or Governors.  Outside of work, I enjoy socialising, cinema and music.

You may see me around the school or at events so please come and say hi.

I have been a co-opted governor for 7 years, and have a lead role in Health and Safety.

I have lived and worked in the area for 27 years, and my children have attended the nursery and local primary schools.  I am a consultant anaesthetist and the Clinical Director of Theatres and Anaesthesia at University College London Hospital.

My name is Mary Meola.

I am proud to be a parent governor at North Islington Nursery School.

Since 2012 I have worked in education- teaching and supporting children reach their individual potential in mainstream settings.

Over a year ago I left the teaching sector, whilst I still work with educational settings my role is within a local authority consulting.

I am passionate about SEN and equality, I am immensely pleased with how North Islington Nursery approaches these two areas specifically.

My professional and personal knowledge is able to support the governing body.

The staff ensure that all children feel safe, are happy and are encouraged to learn through play and imagination. 

I am a parent of a former pupil at North Islington Nursery School, and a longstanding local resident, so care passionately about the success of the school and its importance to the community.

Within the governing body, I have a specific responsibility for safeguarding matters.

In addition to a belief in the importance of strong early years education, I also bring expertise in diversity and inclusion, as well as marketing and communication skills, gained through over 15 years working professional experience across multiple industries.

In my spare time I love to travel, and am happiest when exploring new places with my husband and two daughters.

I am a speech and language therapist working in primary schools and early years clinics in East London supporting children, education staff and families with all areas of speech, language and communication difficulties.

I enjoy working with multilingual children and is an advocate for early intervention and building language through play.

I live in Islington with my two teenage children, who both attended North Islington Nursery. I am bilingual in French and English, and fluent in Italian. My interests include travel and cycling.

I hold an MBA from the University of Westminster, specializing in scenario planning, an MSc in Neurokinetics from Simon Fraser University in Canada, and a BSc in Sports Science from the University of Greenwich.

I have a diverse professional background, having worked in scientific research at Imperial College, commercial strategy at Pearson Education, and for the past eight years, as the Head of Commercial Analytics and Business Intelligence at Stepstone UK. In this role, I lead teams working across multiple geographical locations, always with a focus on analytics and critical thinking.

In my personal experience as a parent of three children who attended North Islington Nursery School has given me a profound understanding of the significant impact early education has on children's lives and futures.

I have been volunteering as a Parent Governor at NINS since November 2021. My twins, Marina and Gabriel, have been attending the nursery since May 2021 and I welcomed this opportunity to have a more active role in the setting. 

I have a PhD in Applied Linguistics and a keen interest in language development and multilingualism, and its impact on one's identity. My partner and I are raising our children trilingual - Romanian, Spanish and English.

In my professional life, I am a research fellow/survey methodologist at the European Social Survey at City University. 

Hopefully, many of you will be familiar with me as I have been a nursery nurse at North Islington Nursery School since 2002, and I am happy to be the current staff governor. Prior to me working at the school, I volunteered whilst my children attended North Islington Nursery School. 

I am extremely passionate about the importance of early years' education. 

I hope that I can continue to use my enthusiasm and experience to support the school and wider community even further in my role as a governor