Ashdown Garden School
Governance at Ashdown Garden School
Accountability Framework
Ashdown Garden School’s Accountability Framework outlines where responsibility and accountability sits for the key functional areas within its educational provision among tiers of governance and management.
Our Board of Trustees
Aonghus Gordon OBE - Chair of the Board of Trustees
Aonghus has pioneered Ruskin Mill Trust’s unique method of Practical Skills Therapeutic Education (PSTE), inspired by Rudolf Steiner, John Ruskin and William Morris’s ideas about social renewal, healthy human development and the importance of art, crafts and land work.
Helen Kippax
Helen joined Ruskin Mill Trust in 2004 and was tasked with setting up the Trust’s third centre, Freeman College in Sheffield, where she served as Principal until 2012 when she became a Trustee of Ruskin Mill Trust.
Tara Gratton
Tara started her career in education in 1992 as a teacher in a primary school. In 2004, Tara took up her first Head Teacher role and over the following years has worked with a range of schools and education federations, as a head and executive head, to improve their outcomes and quality. Tara was appointed co-CEO of Ruskin Mill Trust in September 2024 and transitioned to CEO in September 2025.
Mattias Emous
Mattias has been a dedicated member of the Ruskin Mill Trust community for over two decades, bringing a wealth of experience and deep commitment to the organisation’s land-based education. Throughout his time, he has held a variety of land-based roles within the Trust, developing a broad and hands-on understanding of its ethos and practice.
He currently serves as Senior Land Manager at Ruskin Mill Trust, where he provides leadership and expertise across the organisation’s land-based educational activities.
Toby Zundel
Toby is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He has been working with children and adolescents for over 20 years and currently leads a specialist NHS CAMHS service in London that provides an alternative to inpatient care in the form of a day service and outreach team. Toby has been a Psychiatric Advisor to Ruskin Mill Trust since 2014, supporting a wide range of students and advising staff. He brings his expertise in mental health and child and adolescent psychiatry to the Ashdown Garden School Board of Trustees.