Chair of Governors
Appointed September 2023

Simon Brookhouse began his early career as an accountant with BP Chemicals in Grangemouth, Scotland.  He spent some time in the life insurance sector, and then moved to London in 1993 to join an investment bank.  Simon was in investment banking for over 20 years, spending more than half of his career in Hong Kong and Australia – latterly as Head of Pacific Rim Equities for Merrill Lynch.  Simon was also Global Head of Equities for HSBC, and most recently, Global Head of Equities for Standard Chartered Bank.  

Simon is married to Amanda, and they have three adult children. Simon became a governor of Halstead in 2018, and at the same time joined the Strategy Board for the Beacon School at Banstead in Surrey. He became Chair of Governors of Halstead St Andrew's in September 2023.

​Mr Simon Brookhouse can be contacted c/o the School: Halstead St Andrew's School Trust, Church Hill House, Wilson Way, Horsell, Woking, Surrey GU21 4QW.

Bursary (Chair) and Finance & General Purposes (FGP) Committees
Appointed at Halstead in March 2016.

Simon Hartley has been a solicitor for over 30 years and a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP for over 20 years. He has two daughters, both of whom attended Halstead. 

Finance & General Purposes (FGP) and Pastoral, Education & Staffing Committees
Appointed at Halstead in July 2022.

Beryl Hunwicks is a retired deputy head teacher, having had 35 years’ experience in Senior State and Private Prep School Education as well as overseeing and marking overseas O Level Examinations. She gained further qualifications as an ESOL teacher and taught locally for 7 years in that capacity. Beryl has served in Local Government for 14 years, making and developing strategies for the communities in Woking. 

She became Mayor of Woking in 2019 and served for two years, allowing her to learn about and meet many wonderful charities in the Borough. She now serves as a Member of The Swan Trust, is Chairman of The Maybury Centre Trustees, is a Trustee of The Friends of Woking Community Hospital and Community Links Coordinator for CAP (Christians Against Poverty) at Welcome Church.​

Vice Chair of Governors

Appointed at Halstead in October 2018

Faith has over 24 years' experience in the risk and insurance industry and is a Chartered Insurer. Faith was appointed Customer Segment Director for Ecclesiastical insurance in 2021 and works closely with a number of sectors, including the independent schools sector, the heritage sector and the charitable sector in her role. 

She is also a qualified counsellor and runs her own private practice, specialising in providing therapy to young people and young adults. She’s also a trustee for Harry’s Hydrocephalus Awareness Trust.
 

Pastoral Education & Staffing Committee Chair
Appointed to Halstead St Andrew's in Sept 2023

Sharon Maher is Head at a London Prep School, having 15 years’ teaching experience in a variety of Prep schools in Surrey and London.  She has held positions of Assistant Head, Deputy Head and Head.  Sharon worked in the City for 15 years in the London Insurance Market and for a large actuarial company.  She has two children who were educated in local independent schools.  Sharon is Chair of the Pastoral Committee, the specialist Governor for SEND and a member of the Education & Staffing Committee.
 

Finance & General Purposes (FGP) and Pastoral, Education & Staffing Committees
Appointed at St. Andrew's in September 2017

Claire is Headmistress at St Teresa’s School, Effingham, which she joined in 2013. She is also a teacher of Latin, Ancient Greek and Classical Civilisation, and is the Head of the Classics Department. She is also involved in boarding duties, and lives onsite. Prior to St Teresa’s, Claire was Head of English and teacher of Latin at Kilgraston School, a girls’ boarding school in Perthshire, and started her teaching career in 2006 at Merchiston Castle School, a boys’ boarding school in Edinburgh. 

Claire read Medieval Literature at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, before completing her PhD at Edinburgh University. In her spare time she enjoys literature, quizzing, opera and the theatre.
 

Appointed at St. Andrew's in March 2022

Danielle has over 20 years’ communications and marketing experience, and is currently the Head of Marketing at GL Assessment – a provider of educational assessments that are widely used in the independent and state sectors. She oversees the company’s communications with schools in the UK and around the world, as well as their school and corporate partnership programme. Danielle’s early career was in public relations, working for brands such as Vodafone and Sony.
 

Danielle lives in Datchet, near Windsor, with her husband and two teenage children, and has previously been a governor at her children’s primary school. She is a keen runner and fundraiser for the children’s Type 1 diabetes charity, JDRF.  
 

Governance & Nominations (Chair) and Finance & General Purposes (FGP) Committees
Appointed at Halstead in November 2021

Mehran Nikoo has a BSc in Computer Hardware Engineering from ECE, University of Tehran and an MRes in Computer Science from Birkbeck, University of London. He has been a technologist for over 25 years and is currently a software architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS). Before Amazon, Mehran has had various technical and leadership roles at Microsoft, McLaren, and Trainline.

He has also helped startup businesses in the early stages of their journey.Mehran is married and has one daughter, an ex-Halstead girl. Mehran is the specialist H&S Governor.

Pastoral, Education & Staffing and Bursary Committees
Appointed at St. Andrew's in April 2017

Lukas was born in the Czech Republic, and moved to England in 1998 where he completed A Levels, undergraduate studies and gained an MBA at the University of Durham. He has been teaching Economics and Business at Reed’s School since 2006, was a resident boarding tutor and a Housemaster before becoming an Assistant Head with responsibility for the Middle School (Y9-Y11) in September 2016. Lukas is responsible for introducing Mindfulness and the .b Foundations course to Reed’s and continues to be involved in the Combined Cadet Force, Careers and rugby.

In his spare time, he is passionate about ice hockey, enjoys tennis and spending time with family. He is married to Emma, a teacher of Classics, and they have two young boys, Jonny and Billy. Lukas is the specialist Governor for Safeguarding.
 

Finance & General Purposes (FGP) Committee (Chair) & Governance & Nominations
Appointed at St. Andrew's in September 2017

John qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1992 and worked in the Audit and Corporate Finance departments of Arthur Andersen until July 2000.

At that time John and a colleague started a firm of Chartered Accountants, based in Woking, specialising in the ‘not for profit’ sector in London and the South East, ranging from small local start-up charities to large multi-national campaigning and development organisations.

The company has grown to be the largest specialist provider of outsourced accountancy services to the sector. Outside of work John is an avid F1 fan, loves cars in general and enjoys travelling. He has two daughters at secondary school, and is never happier than helping manage the scene changes at their annual ice pantomime performances each December.