My mother, Judy Bax, who has died aged 82, was a headteacher and Labour councillor who made lasting contributions in both education and local government.
Born to George and Betty Osborn, who were Methodist missionaries in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, central China, Judy was sent to Britain to be educated at St Felix school, Southwold, Suffolk.
She then studied maths at Oxford University, where she met Martin Bax, who became a noted paediatrician and a founding editor of the arts magazine Ambit. They married in 1956 and Judy took up a post teaching maths at Southgate County school, Enfield, north London (now Southgate school), moving on to Dame Alice Owen’s school, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. In the 1960s she eased up on her career to start a family. Then she taught at High Cross school in Tottenham, and Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ school in Barnet, before becoming headteacher of Parliament Hill school in Gospel Oak, north London, in 1987.
Judy’s early life as a head wasn’t easy – at the time teachers were involved in a national dispute and staff relations were tricky. With calm diplomacy, she forged alliances and challenged unreasonable behaviour. Within a year, Parliament Hill was improving. Judy built more bridges, chaired a consortium of local schools and helped to establish the wider Camden Secondary Heads Group.
Alongside her teaching career Judy volunteered as a marriage guidance counsellor and was a governor of many other schools.
Retiring from Parliament Hill in 1995, Judy won a seat on Haringey council, representing Archway and Hornsey. Again, it was a difficult time and the government took control of the borough’s schools in 1999 because of failures in leadership and poor relations between the council and its schools.
Judy became lead member for education, appointing new heads and working with Capita – the management company that had taken over – until the government restored control to Haringey in 2004 on the back of much-improved performance.
After leaving the council in 2006 Judy was a board member for Jacksons Lane community centre, chair of Haringey’s Mentoring Network and sat on the corporation of the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London.
She is survived by Martin, her children, Ben, Alex and me, and by seven grandchildren.
