Staff

Cobham Hall is supported by an experienced and dedicated Senior Leadership Team and faculty members.

Headmistress: Mrs Wendy Barrett

Mrs Barrett joined Cobham Hall in September 1993. She has a BSc (Hons) degree from Royal Holloway College, London, in Mathematics and Physics and a PGCE in Secondary Mathematics Education from Canterbury Christchurch. She initially trained as an Engineer and worked for Thorn EMI Instruments in Dover, Kent, eventually specialising in sales and marketing.

Following this, she worked for the Department of Trade and Industry in London before taking up employment with the Royal Fellowship of Engineering as a Manufacturing Engineer.

After a career break, Mrs Barrett retrained as a teacher and has taught both Mathematics and Physics to students across all year groups. She has held various academic and pastoral roles at Cobham including that of Round Square Representative, which involved taking girls on Round Square trips to South Africa, Botswana, Australia, Europe and the USA amongst other duties.

Mrs Barrett enjoys teaching as it is always a challenge to make Mathematics engaging and to help students gain an understanding of just how often Mathematics is used in the world beyond school.

While she occasionally dreams of being able to tell people she walks the tightrope in her spare time, in reality Mrs Barrett enjoys the simpler pleasures in life, such as getting together with friends, going out for meals and to the cinema. She likes reading and watching both political and crime dramas and has watched ‘The West Wing’ box set several times. The excessive consumption of the West Wing has not yet mutated into dreams of political greatness, although she may have come across a few aspiring politicians in her classroom!

 

 

Deputy Headmistress: Mrs Suzanne Carney

Mrs Carney joined Cobham Hall in 2008. She has a degree in Physical Education and Geography from Exeter University, a course that allowed her to combine her love of sport with a preference for the outdoors, and a desire to work with children.

Originally joining Cobham Hall as a PE teacher, Mrs Carney now teaches Geography, as well as being Deputy Headmistress. She enjoys the work ethic of girls at Cobham Hall, who put their heart and soul into their sport and work hard to go above and beyond. She admires their collective determination not to let their peers down – an essential part of successful (and enjoyable) team sports.

Mrs Carney likes travelling and has Interrailed around Europe, as well as travelling around America after coaching tennis at summer camps. She considers herself very fortunate that during her time at Cobham Hall, she’s had the opportunity to accompany school trips, including a Netball Tour to Barbados, a joint Science/Geography trip to Iceland and Skiing in Italy – albeit as the nurse on that occasion!

Married with three incredibly sporty children, Mrs Carney says she still enjoys mountain biking when the knees allow! Her daughter is a Cobham Hall Elder.

The Senior Leadership Team also includes:

Director of Studies: Dr Drumm BMus, MA, DPhil
Director of Boarding and Pastoral: Mr Williams BMus, PGCE
Head of Upper School: Mrs Thompson BSc, PGCE
Head of Lower School: Mrs Wilkinson BA

Meet Our Staff

Heads of Faculty

Head of Academic Progress: Ms Ryder BSc

Head of Arts Faculty: Mrs Pepper BA

Head of English and Languages Faculty: Ms Bonner BA, MA

Head of Student Support Faculty: Mrs Topps

Non-Teaching Staff

PA to the Headmistress: Mrs Odendaal BSc

Commercial Manager: Mr Moore BA (Hons), MSc

Office Manager: Miss Shipton BA (Hons)