Leadership update from Oxfordshire County Council

We are delighted to share some updates to the leadership of the schools and governance service area as we welcome our new permanent service manager, Tricia Bunn, to Oxfordshire County Council. 

Tricia is the new permanent Service Manager for Schools and Governance, with responsibility for overseeing school improvement, governance and business support in service of better outcomes for children and young people across Oxfordshire. Her role centres on providing assurance, support and challenge across the school system, working closely with school leaders, governors, trusts and partners to ensure high‑quality provision, strong governance and timely intervention where needed.

Tricia joined Oxfordshire from Birmingham City Council’s School Improvement service, bringing experience from a large, complex authority supporting schools at scale. Her background also includes headship, senior leadership across local authority and academy contexts, and service as a Chair of Governors and IEB member.

She is particularly committed to building strong, trusting relationships and is looking forward to working collaboratively with schools and partners across Oxfordshire to support improvement and long‑term sustainability. 

We would like to thank Jeremy Masson who has been holding this space as the interim Service Manager for Schools & Governance since January. We are delighted to share that Jeremy will be staying with us for a longer period, moving into the role of Senior Strategic Advisor for Schools & Governance. He will work closely with Tricia to continue the work he has started on the permanent structures for this service area, leading further recruitment and induction of new colleagues alongside developing new systems and structures to ensure the new permanent model’s future success.

Jeremy will also hold some high-level casework in the schools & governance team where there are statutory interventions and complex cases, providing advice, support and leadership capacity both to the service area and more widely to the Assistant Directors.