Leadership & Management Staff
South Devon Steiner School has no Headteacher.
Members of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and College of Management (College) are detailed below.
Members of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and College of Management (College) are detailed below.
Senior Leadership Team (SLT)
- Jeff van Zyl BA, PG Dip Ind Admin
Education Manager, SLT Chair - Tom Parker
Chair of College of Management - Julie Thomas MA, BA(Hons), Assoc CIPD, NEBOSH Certificate
Business Manager from 4.3.2019 - Kaycee Fordham (currently on maternity leave)
Senior Leadership Assistant (non-voting member)
- Gaby Wood
Designated Safeguarding Lead (non-voting member)
Jeff van Zyl BA, PG Dip Ind Admin
Education Manager
I was born in Cape Town and spent my childhood and school going years in a variety of South African towns, cities and settings. A lasting memory is asking my parents to please send me to the Constantia Waldorf School, where a friend of mine was a student, and being told that our family couldn’t afford it. I 'survived' school, and entered the world full of idealism and passion, but not really knowing anything at all.
My working life began in commercial organisations. During this 'chapter' I learned and practiced organisational and operational skills, as well as business administration. I became outwardly successful and operated at an executive management level, with responsibility for significant projects, budgets and teams. It all changed when I met and married my wife, Eve.
It was through my wife and her family that I first engaged with Rudolf Steiner’s work. My mother in-law had been diagnosed with cancer and was working with Anthroposophical doctors in Munich and Switzerland. I was both intrigued and inspired. I joined a study group and began to explore Steiner's lectures and works. I have never stopped. My wife and I decided to send our children to our local Steiner School. At around this time I made contact with the Association for Social Development (ASD). The ASD is a global body of organisational consultants who draw inspiration for their practice from the works of Steiner and Bernard Lievegoed. I applied for membership in 2000 and became a full member of the ASD in 2004.
In 1998, I left the corporate world and founded the Network Consulting Group (NCG), a management consultancy that focused on organisational development and social development. The NCG allowed me to fuse my organisational experience with my developing philosophical framework. The NCG's mission was to support the effectiveness of organisations through bringing about individual, social and community development. Through the NCG, I worked with worked with many and diverse organisations, including multi-nationals, Steiner Schools, Charities and Anthroposophical organisations.
My family and I arrived in the UK in December 2008. I met an ex-Chair of the South Devon Steiner School (SDSS) through our common interest in biographical counseling. It was she who first introduced me to the SDSS, and, in 2010 I was appointed as the Education Coordinator. Over the next two years I worked at the SDSS, helping it through a complex time of needed change.
In 2013 I accepted a position as the Upper School English and Humanities teacher at the Norwich Steiner School (NSS). A critical part of my role was to help create a new, healthy and successful Upper School. The NSS had committed itself to developing an Upper School that followed the Steiner curriculum, and one that would not do any of the state qualifications (GCSE's and A-Levels). It was a challenging and entrepreneurial venture, one that needed the ongoing belief and support of the teachers, pupils and parents. This project culminated in July 2017 when the class 12 students successfully graduated with their Steiner School Certificates and took their first steps into the world, many of them with University places.
My professional journey to date has left me with significant organisational knowledge and experience, as well as with a bag full of practical tools and skills. I am totally committed to Steiner education. I see the essence of my current role as helping the South Devon Steiner School manifest its vision.
Education Manager
I was born in Cape Town and spent my childhood and school going years in a variety of South African towns, cities and settings. A lasting memory is asking my parents to please send me to the Constantia Waldorf School, where a friend of mine was a student, and being told that our family couldn’t afford it. I 'survived' school, and entered the world full of idealism and passion, but not really knowing anything at all.
My working life began in commercial organisations. During this 'chapter' I learned and practiced organisational and operational skills, as well as business administration. I became outwardly successful and operated at an executive management level, with responsibility for significant projects, budgets and teams. It all changed when I met and married my wife, Eve.
It was through my wife and her family that I first engaged with Rudolf Steiner’s work. My mother in-law had been diagnosed with cancer and was working with Anthroposophical doctors in Munich and Switzerland. I was both intrigued and inspired. I joined a study group and began to explore Steiner's lectures and works. I have never stopped. My wife and I decided to send our children to our local Steiner School. At around this time I made contact with the Association for Social Development (ASD). The ASD is a global body of organisational consultants who draw inspiration for their practice from the works of Steiner and Bernard Lievegoed. I applied for membership in 2000 and became a full member of the ASD in 2004.
In 1998, I left the corporate world and founded the Network Consulting Group (NCG), a management consultancy that focused on organisational development and social development. The NCG allowed me to fuse my organisational experience with my developing philosophical framework. The NCG's mission was to support the effectiveness of organisations through bringing about individual, social and community development. Through the NCG, I worked with worked with many and diverse organisations, including multi-nationals, Steiner Schools, Charities and Anthroposophical organisations.
My family and I arrived in the UK in December 2008. I met an ex-Chair of the South Devon Steiner School (SDSS) through our common interest in biographical counseling. It was she who first introduced me to the SDSS, and, in 2010 I was appointed as the Education Coordinator. Over the next two years I worked at the SDSS, helping it through a complex time of needed change.
In 2013 I accepted a position as the Upper School English and Humanities teacher at the Norwich Steiner School (NSS). A critical part of my role was to help create a new, healthy and successful Upper School. The NSS had committed itself to developing an Upper School that followed the Steiner curriculum, and one that would not do any of the state qualifications (GCSE's and A-Levels). It was a challenging and entrepreneurial venture, one that needed the ongoing belief and support of the teachers, pupils and parents. This project culminated in July 2017 when the class 12 students successfully graduated with their Steiner School Certificates and took their first steps into the world, many of them with University places.
My professional journey to date has left me with significant organisational knowledge and experience, as well as with a bag full of practical tools and skills. I am totally committed to Steiner education. I see the essence of my current role as helping the South Devon Steiner School manifest its vision.
Tom Parker
Chair of the College of Management
Coming soon...
Chair of the College of Management
Coming soon...
Julie Thomas MA, BA(Hons), Assoc CIPD, NEBOSH Certificate
Business Manager
Julie's career in education started in 2011, when she joined City College Plymouth as PA to the Deputy Principal. Whilst working at City College she became aware of a new school being built in Plymouth called UTC Plymouth, a school for 14-19 year old students, with a specialist curriculum in Engineering. Intrigued with this new concept in education she applied for the position of PA to the Principal, starting in the Summer of 2013 she was involved in setting up all administrative and operational process for the school. The role very quickly developed and with previous experience of office management and a Masters Degree in Personnel and Development she moved into the role of School Business Manager. In 2017 she obtained the NEBOSH Certificate in Health and Safety and is currently awaiting the outcome of the Level 4 Certificate of School Business Management.
As a School Business Manager Julie brings experience and knowledge of working in a school academy setting that has undergone OFSTED inspections. University Technical Colleges promote applied learning through their curriculum so are fundamentally different to mainstream education, and Julie believes there are some similarities to the education provided at SDSS. Therefore can identify with the challenges SDSS will face having now been informed they will be inspected under OFSTED.
In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her husband and three dogs, taking long walks on the moors or at the beach or looking after her young grandchildren who visit often at weekends.
Business Manager
Julie's career in education started in 2011, when she joined City College Plymouth as PA to the Deputy Principal. Whilst working at City College she became aware of a new school being built in Plymouth called UTC Plymouth, a school for 14-19 year old students, with a specialist curriculum in Engineering. Intrigued with this new concept in education she applied for the position of PA to the Principal, starting in the Summer of 2013 she was involved in setting up all administrative and operational process for the school. The role very quickly developed and with previous experience of office management and a Masters Degree in Personnel and Development she moved into the role of School Business Manager. In 2017 she obtained the NEBOSH Certificate in Health and Safety and is currently awaiting the outcome of the Level 4 Certificate of School Business Management.
As a School Business Manager Julie brings experience and knowledge of working in a school academy setting that has undergone OFSTED inspections. University Technical Colleges promote applied learning through their curriculum so are fundamentally different to mainstream education, and Julie believes there are some similarities to the education provided at SDSS. Therefore can identify with the challenges SDSS will face having now been informed they will be inspected under OFSTED.
In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her husband and three dogs, taking long walks on the moors or at the beach or looking after her young grandchildren who visit often at weekends.
College of Management (College)
For a list of all College of Management members, please see our Headteacher and Management page.
