Board of Governors

About the Board of Governors

The British Academy School Marrakesh is a privately owned, philanthropic, not-for-profit entity. The Advisory Board of Governors contribute to the school on a voluntary basis, with the exception of the Deputy Chair who occupies a Non-Executive role. The Board meets formally twice a term (three times in the first term), in addition to which there are informal meetings.

In collaboration with the school executive, The Board of Governors determine the strategic direction of BASM and ensure it meets all relevant local and international inspection obligations. Its primary objective being to ensure that the pupils are safe and to actively promote their wellbeing.

The Board does not involve itself in the day to day running of the school, but act as critical friends when holding the executive to account for the overall performance of the school, adopting an ‘eyes on, hands off’, and ‘trust but verify’ approach.

BASM is a new school, but growing rapidly. It is currently seeking to appoint a governor with a medical background, based in Marrakech, who has a particular interest in children. If you are interested in finding out more about the role, in the first instance please contact Nabeel Obaid (Bursar and Clerk to the Governors) on nobaid@basm.uk

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The British Academy School Marrakech's Board of Governors

Prof. Tariq Obaid

“It is a great honour and pleasure for me to welcome you to The British Academy School Marrakech, a British school which endeavours to deliver an educational experience which can be recognised for its sustainable excellence. We welcome students from diverse backgrounds and nationalities since we strongly believe that cultural exchange will enrich the pupil's educational experience and will add a new dimension to their acquired knowledge. The cosmopolitan environment of BASM enables the children to enlarge their perspectives and reach self-actualization within a cosy, warm, and educational-oriented atmosphere. BASM offers the English national curriculum that is an exemplar of high-quality education. “

Nigel Taylor – Non-Exec Deputy Chair (Safeguarding)

Nigel Taylor MA taught at Stowe and Cheltenham College, and in South America. He was a Head in the Independent sector in the UK for 26 years. He has an extensive background in school governance, and is currently an elected Board Member of The Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools (AGBIS), sits on the Training and Membership Committee and is an experienced auditor on school governance. He is a governor of four schools in the UK. An NSPCC Accredited Consultant, specialising in safeguarding in affluent environments. A former ISI Inspector and an experienced Henley Business School trained Executive Coach

Cecilia Hannigan-Davies

Born and educated in the Republic of Ireland, Cecilia has been an academic for over thirty years.

She holds an Honours Bachelor's Degree (Qualified Teacher Status) in Education from St Patrick's College, Dublin, a Master's Degree in Computer Science and Applications from the Queen's University of Belfast and a Doctorate in Computer Science (Multimedia Intelligent Tutoring Systems) from Ulster University.

She has published several papers in international journals and conference proceedings on the subject of technology enhanced learning and has been a speaker and best practices presenter at many international conferences and workshops in the USA, Europe and Morocco.

Cecilia is a Chartered IT Professional with the British Computer Society, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Member of the Association for Project Management.

Currently, Cecilia is Deputy Dean of the Cardiff School of Education and Social Policy at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Prior to commencing work at Cardiff Metropolitan in 2008, Cecilia spent fifteen years as an academic and e-learning consultant with Ulster University, two years as a courseware developer on the Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP) at the Queen's University of Belfast, and seven years as a primary school teacher in the Republic of Ireland.

Mike McHugo

Founder of Discover Ltd in 1978 one of the leading educational tour companies in Morocco,

in 1990 Discover bought a ruined mansion in the High Atlas Mountain village of Imlil, opening as Kasbah du Toubkal five years later and becoming one of the most award-winning hotels in the country.

Mike’s/Discover’s premise has always been ‘maximize the collective gain, not just your own’, and from the offset the Kasbah has been at the forefront of sustainable development in the Imlil Valley, much of it funded by the five-percent levy added to the bills of all guests, an initiative unique to the Kasbah du Toubkal.

With funds from this levy, in 2006 Mike founded Education For All to provide accommodation close to secondary schools for girls from rural families in remote villages of the High Atlas to continue their education. In February 2019 he was awarded the MBE for improving gender equality, presented by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.

Peter Judge

Peter Judge has 20 years of experience working full time in teaching in Greece, Morocco, Kuwait, Egypt. This included eight years in language schools from Beginners to Cambridge and Michigan Proficiency levels, and later at The British Centre in Casablanca, Morocco.

He also worked for the British Council teaching all ages from 6 to 65 year olds, all levels and all types, from general classes to (appropriately) judges! He also taught at in The Faculties of Science, Law and Letters at Caddi Ayyad University.

He ran Legal English courses at conferences in the capital cities of seven Arab countries for the European Union and the Law Society of England and Wales and the Arab Lawyers Union.

Abdelhamid Benani Dakhama

A 50 year career, Mr Bennani started his career in 1963. His banking career started in 1969 as Executive Assistant in Banque de l’Union Parisienne in Lyon, France. He later became the Regional Director of Wafa Bank and in 1979 Central Director for the BMCE Bank. Mr Bennani has consulted top business groups in Morocco since 1996.