The school operates as a Foundation under the legal title Stichting
British School of Amsterdam. You can access its Articles of
Association, in Dutch and English languages, by clickinghere
The school is led and managed by a Supervisory Board and a Management Board.
The Supervisory Board, Management Board and Parents Organisation work together for, and on behalf of the school
The current Board Members are as follows
NAME
FUNCTION
Rev. John Cowie
Chairperson
Tati Freeke
Treasurer
Hugh Monro
UK Education Specialist
Karen Collins
Representative from
Workers Council
Nick Rust
Board Member
John McLaren
Board Member
Logan Smith
Board Member
John CowieChair
John Cowie has been minister of English Reformed
Church (ERC) since 1990. The ERC is an international English speaking
congregation and is part of both the Protestant Church of the Netherlands and,
despite the name, the Church of Scotland. (For more information see www.ercadam.nl.) He graduated from Edinburgh
University, first with a BSc in Chemical Physics (1976) and then a BD in New
Testament (1981). During his university period he also spent three years
teaching science and music in Pakistan at a school for the children of
missionaries working in Pakistan and surrounding countries. After a period as a
minister in Scotland he has now worked for over 20 years among Amsterdam’s
international community, in a congregation which contains over 40 nationalities
and with people from many different backgrounds, as well as being involved in
wider community groups such as the Rotary International, the British Legion and
the Royal Air Forces Association.
He is
married to Gillian, who works part time as a music teacher and choir director
at the BSA. They have three children, all of whom went through the Dutch
educational system but are now back in the United Kingdom, variously as an
advisor in the British Treasury, a primary school teacher and a music student.
In
November 2010 he agreed to join the Supervisory Board of the British School of
Amsterdam as chairman, and is committed to supporting the school community, and
helping to maintain and develop the quality education which the BSA offers.
Tati Freeke-SuwargandaVice-Chair and current parent
Tati Freeke-Suwarganda (1974) was elected onto the
Supervisory Board on 15 October 2009, after joining the BSA Finance Committee
following the AGM on 3 July 2009. She currently has two children in the BSA,
Victor in Year 1 and Yasmin in Nursery. She is also a full-time business
director at SKOR Foundation for Art and Public Domain. Her professional
background as a former strategic management consultant combines international
experience in the field of merger & acquisitions with a financial
understanding of business strategies. Her experience as board member of various
renowned Dutch art institutions (De Appel arts centre, Cobra museum for modern
art, De Nieuwe Kerk/Hermitage aan de Amstel amongst others) has enhanced her
understanding of the not-for-profit field. She specialises in institutions,
which have a financial reporting obligation towards the Dutch ministry for
Education, Culture and Science (OCW) on the basis of multiple year grants.
Building upon the organisational strength of the BSA, her aim is to establish:
transparent financial procedures,
goals and benchmarks
Karin Collin was
elected onto the Supervisory Board in October 2009.
She has been a principal for 6 years at a Dutch primary school in Hoorn.
She has worked and lived in Amsterdam for over 20 years. She feels very
passionate about the development of children and challenging them to develop to
their fullest intellectual, social, emotional, and physical potential. She
believes that children need to be guided towards success and fulfillment. In
her mind, true success also includes the ability to love, have compassion and
have the capability to feel joy and spread it to others. She hopes to be
able to contribute to the children, teachers and management of the British
School of Amsterdam by being part of their Supervisory Board.
Hugh Monro studied Economics and History at
Cambridge University before working in industry. Having then qualified as a
teacher, he taught history, economics and politics at independent schools
in England, the United States and Scotland, before becoming head of four
independent schools in Nottinghamshire, Berkshire and Bristol. He became
the founding principal of the first choir school in Britain to become an
Academy.
He has been a
governor of independent and state schools in different parts of the UK.
For ten years, he has been involved in the recruiting and appraising of
headteachers and inspecting schools.
He is married, with two grown up children.
I am a new
parent organization elected member of the SB of the BSA elected in October 2010
for a two yearterm of office. I am
British and have been married to Elaine for thirteen years. Our children Chloe
and Samuel joined the school in September 2010, in years eight and five
respectively and settled in brilliantly.
We moved to
Amsterdam in September 2010 from a small village near York in England. I was
born and brought up in North London prior to gaining a degree in Geography from
Durham University.
I started my
professional career in Sales with Mars and have worked for Heineken NV and its
UK predecessors for the pasttwenty
three years. I have considerable management and leadership experience, gained
across a broad spectrum of roles and functions, including Sales, Marketing,
Human Resources and Supplychain. I am currently based in the Heineken Corporate
office in Amsterdam with commercial responsibility for draught beer in the
Western European region.
I have previous experience of English Schools governance, having
been vice chair of Governors at a UK OFSTED rated ‘outstanding’ school for six
years. I passionately believe in full and open engagement and communication
between all the stakeholders within the school environment. I also have a deep
desire to help the school succeed for the benefit of the whole school community
including current and future children, staff and parents.
Personally I am naturally interested in beer, good food and the
company which goes with the previous two. Anything and everything sporting,
plus being English means that I still manage to play cricket each summer and in
the winter I can be found sliding down mountains.
Logan Smith was elected onto the Supervisory Board in 2010, and
has children at the BSA. He and his family are American and he has worked
for several years in Amsterdam as the Head of European Acquisitions &
Dispositions for ProLogis, a global commercial real estate firm whose European
headquarters are in Amsterdam. His expertise and professional background
includes property investment and finance, private equity/capital markets, and
general management. These are skills which he hopes to be able to
contribute to the Supervisory Board and management of the BSA.
John McLaren is Corporate Director Communications
at AkzoNobel, the world’s largest coatings company and a leader in specialty chemicals.
A change agent, he has been responsible for communicating the massive transformation within AkzoNobel, including 27
billion euros worth of deals (divestment and acquisitions), and a complete
rebranding of the company with a new global identity.
Mr McLaren was previously Vice President of
Corporate Communications at DSM, during which time the company won a number of
awards, including prizes for Best Media Relations in the Netherlands and Best
Annual Report. A recognised authority in promoting international brand image
(having worked in London, Brussels, Washington D.C. and now Amsterdam) and
developing effective global communications strategies, he has also worked as
Director of Corporate Communications for News Network, the digital arm of News
International.
He has an honours degree in law from the
London School of Economics.
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The School Board's Code of Conduct can be found here