Trustees
The Board of Trustees of the Eynsham Partnership Academy are the legal governors and trustees of the Trust and the directors of the company.
The Trust central executive delivers the strategy of the Board of Trustees and provides leadership and central support to the schools in the Trust, under the direction of the Chief Executive Officer.
The Trust is overseen by its Board of Trustees.
The Chair of the Board of Trustees is Julian Soanes – he can be contacted by email to or by writing to the Chair of the Board of Trustees, Eynsham Partnership Academy, Witney Road, Eynsham, Oxon, OX29 4AP.
Julian Soanes
Julian Soanes was appointed to the board of trustees in March 2019. Julian is the CEO and Founder of a Global automotive engineering company specialising in electric and autonomous vehicles. The business is located in both Oxford UK and San Jose, California with outlets in both China and India. Julian was appointed to the board of directors in 2019 and had previously served as a primary school governor for over 8 years.
Anne Carter
Before becoming a trustee, Anne had been a governor for seven years. She used to teach KS2 and later was a Homelessness Officer. She is also a trustee of ADHD West Oxfordshire. Anne is a diocesan appointed trustee on the EPA board.
Dr Jennifer Faulkner
Jenny has been a Trustee of EPA since 2015 and she is the Chair of the Standards Committee of the main Board. She is a very experienced Chair of Governors having been both a Chair of a Secondary School in Bolton and the Chair of Stanton Harcourt Primary School for EPA, where she recently led the school through its ‘Good’ Ofsted Inspection. Jenny has also previously been a governor at Bartholomew School where she led the Achievement Committee. Therefore she has a really strong and unique understanding of governance at both primary and secondary levels and how this is such an important part of building great schools.
Jenny is a Lecturer in Chemistry at The Queen’s College, University of Oxford and also supports the Open University having a real commitment to education in the widest sense. She has previously worked on Aim Higher initiatives looking specifically at supporting diversity in those reaching the highest levels of achievement and progression. She is a parent with children at EPA schools and despite her many commitments is also helping us with the development of our 5 Year Strategic Plan of which Science will be a key part.
Rain Newton-Smith
Rain Newton-Smith is a primary school appointed director. Rain is the Chief Economist at CBI and previously worked at Oxford Economics as Head of Emerging Markets and before that on monetary policy and international forecasts for the MPC at the Bank of England.
Jane Osborne
Jane is a secondary school appointed trustee and chair of the standards committee of the EPA. She is also chair of governors of Bartholomew School - where she has been governor for more than twenty years. Jane is also the quality of teaching and learning governor of Eynsham Community Primary School. She had a diverse and rich experience as a secondary school teacher and leader in the UK and overseas. Jane was leader of a large secondary school department for a number of years. One of her roles overseas included involvement in secondary teacher training.
Michael Ryan
Michael is an Appointed Governor of Bartholomew School and secondary school appointed Trustee of the Eynsham Partnership Academy. He is currently Chair of the Teaching and Learning Committee of Bartholomew School. For twenty years Michael worked in clinical biochemistry within the pathology departments at the Radcliffe Infirmary and Luton and Dunstable Hospitals. He then left the NHS and subsequently managed a family firm, a specialist contractor within the construction industry, as joint MD and finance director.
Tony Wilson
Tony is the Director of Education for The Diocese of Oxford overseeing 282 schools across Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. He possesses extensive headship experience including providing intervention for schools in challenging circumstances as well as leading a school designated as outstanding. In addition, Tony has international school improvement and system leadership experience gained from his role for four years as Principal Education Consultant in The Kingdom of Bahrain. During this time, Tony developed an intervention programme for primary schools to ensure rapid improvement as part of a 'Challenge Programme'. This had demonstrable impact in the country's standing in relation to the PISA and PRL tests.
Simon Morrell
Simon joined the Board in September 2021 and he is the Chair of the Audit Committee of the main Board. He had previously worked as Chair of Governors at Heyford Park School and worked with EPA on the transfer of that school to the EPA in 2020.
Simon studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University but left that behind to train as a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) with Grant Thornton. Having spent time in audit and then in a training role, he joined the Dorchester Group, a housing developer at Heyford Park, in 2016. There he manages the property estate from an operational and financial perspective as Estates Financial Controller.
Simon brings his Dorchester experience to the EPA Board working strategically on developing new school sites and bringing a new school into operation, working with the local developer, council and the RSC. As a committed Christian at a CofE church, Simon is also a Foundation Trustee for the diocese.
Ross Macken
Ross is an Operations consultant who enjoys trouble shooting manufacturing issues and advising companies on long term planning.
He has previously worked for large multinational medical manufacturers, including Abbott Healthcare and Smith+Nephew, during which time he travelled widely and spent 2 years as an expat in Japan.
Ross is also Vice Chair of Eynsham Parish Council.