The Trust team supporting our schools

• Jane Fletcher
  Chief Executive
  Jane Fletcher

  Jane joined Aldridge Education as Chief Executive Officer in May 2019. She has worked in education for over 20 years and held three posts as Principal and Executive Principal, the last being in London within the Harris Federation.

  Under Jane's tenure the school received an Outstanding grading from Ofsted and retained its position at the top of successive performance tables for 6 years. Since then, she has been a Regional Director with the Ark network, supporting and working with a group of 11 schools in London and the South.

  Jane has a Master's degree in Education and has completed the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH). In addition to her leadership roles within schools and multi-academy trust she also has previous experience as an Ofsted inspector.

  On joining the Trust Jane said: "I am very excited to be joining an organisation which is passionate about preparing young people, whatever their background, to succeed in education and in the world of work. The Board demonstrate a strong desire to ensure that every Aldridge student achieves academically and that strong outcomes, combined with a focus on the development of enterprising skills and an entrepreneurial mindset, equip them to be ready for next steps beyond the age of 18."

• Bryony Green
  Chief Operating Officer
  Bryony Green

  Bryony joined Aldridge Education as Chief Operating Officer in January 2023. She is an experienced executive leader in public sector organisations, over 15 years of which have been in Education.

  
  Before joining Aldridge Education, she was Director of Corporate Services for the Cabot Learning Federation (CLF), a Multi Academy Trust in South West England, where she led teams across a wide range of operational areas. Prior to that, Bryony was a project manager, managing a number of academy conversion projects on behalf of the Department for Education.

  
  Bryony spent 10 years working and training as an engineer and project manager with the Ministry of Defence before to moving into the education sector.

• Kerry Birch
  Chief People Officer
  Kerry Birch

  Kerry joined Aldridge Education as the Director of Human Resources in August 2019, and is responsible for all strategic and operational Human Resources activity across the Trust.

  Kerry gained a masters's degree in Human Resources Strategy at the London Metropolitan University and has over 20 years' commercial generalist experience of Human Resources gained through a variety of sectors, with previous senior management experience in education and the private sector.

• Stephanie Newman
  Chief Academic Officer
  Stephanie Newman

  Stephanie joined us as Trust Associate Principal in February 2020, bringing 20 years' experience of improving progress and attainment of children in local authority and academy schools. In June 2021 it as announced that  she would  take on the nearly created role of the Trust Chief Academic Officer. Â

  Stephanie had previously worked with both Harris and Ark in a range of leadership positions, helping turn under-performing schools to performance above national averages, most recently as Principal of Ark William Parker Academy in Hastings.

  Stephanie is passionate about using education to improve social mobility.

• David Webster
  Head of Finance
  David Webster

  David joined the Trust in February 2022 as Head of Finance. He has spent his career so far within the charity and not-for-profit sector. Prior to joining the Trust, he spent six years at an audit practice advising not-for-profit clients on a range of financial issues, and four years managing financial reporting matters for several large charitable organisations linked to a historic institution.

• Jose Bordetas
  Director of IT
  Jose Bordetas

  Jose joined Aldridge Education as Director of IT in November 2018. He has worked in the IT industry for over 20 years in several consultancy and key strategic roles within the private and education sector, leading technology transformation programmes, strategies and complex migration/upgrade projects.

  
  Jose has a degree in Computer Systems and holds numerous industry qualifications including Microsoft, Cisco, Apple, Citrix, CompTIA, VMware, ITIL, Prince2. He is also a certified advanced security practitioner, CCISO and a CISSP.

  Jose believes strongly in the transformational capacity of IT to enhance the education of young people.

• Will Shaw
  Director of Estates
  Will Shaw

  Will joined Aldridge Education as  Director of Estates in November 2019. He is an experienced and qualified Health and Safety Manager with extensive group managerial experience in both the education and commercial sectors spanning health and safety management, facilities management, quality control and auditing.

• Poppy Nobes
  Head of Professional Development
  Poppy Nobes

  Poppy joined Aldridge Education as the Trust Lead for English in our London and South East region in September 2019. After graduating from a BA in English Literature at Sheffield University, she trained as a secondary English teacher through the Teach First programme in Yorkshire, going on to gain her MA in Education from the University of Manchester.

  Poppy relocated to London following her training, teaching at an Ark school for five years. During this time, she fulfilled various roles including Lead Teacher for KS3 English, acting Head of Department and leading on initial teacher training within school, supporting both the Ark teacher training and Now Teach participants.

  Additionally, Poppy contributed to the achievement of well above national average results, Summer 2019 seeing 90% of pupils achieve a grade 9-4 in English Language and English Literature. The department were also a part of the English Mastery pilot, awarded the Depth before Breadth award in the first year for the best Year 7 results in the Ark network.

  Poppy further fulfilled the part-time role as Network Lead Teacher for English Mastery, supporting schools with their successful implementation of the programme over time.

  In September 2021 Poppy took on the role of  Trust Lead for Professional Development, championing the Trust's Growing Together professional development programme.

• Karen Foster
  Head of Inclusion
  Karen Foster

  Karen joined Aldridge Education as the national Trust Lead for Inclusion in September 2020. After graduating with a BA Hons in Dance and Sociology at Middlesex University, she went on to teach and perform for a number of years with various dance and performing arts companies (nationally and internationally), as well as managing performing and creative arts-based projects and productions across London.

  Karen first started working directly with young people when she was employed by a south London youth club to manage a project with a local secondary school. The aim of this project was to work with students in Years 10 and 11 who were at risk of permanent exclusion, to ensure that they were able to sit their GCSE exams. The work involved behaviour modification techniques and strategies, alongside the academic learning.

  Karen then went onto work as a pastoral lead and Head of House at a Harris school for a number of years, where she led on behaviour, attendance, safeguarding and welfare for the students within her house, and was also a Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead. During her time at Harris she also set up, managed and run an alternative provision within the school for students in all year groups who were disengaged, not accessing the curriculum, and at risk of permanent exclusion. She then worked as a Regional Trust Lead for E-Act multi-academy trust where she was responsible for the strategic development and implementation of behaviour and safeguarding across the schools in her region.

  Her  journey then took  Karen into the private sector where she worked with Reed in Partnership, a subsidiary company within the Reed recruitment family group, where she was the national Safeguarding Lead for the business, and also the Health & Safety Lead, and has obtained her NEBOSH National General Certificate qualification and the Royal Geographical Society Off Site Safety Management qualification.

  Karen is excited for the new adventure with Aldridge Education and having the opportunity to ensure that inclusion and inclusive practice are embedded within the network. She is also particularly looking forward to working with all staff in both operational and support roles to improve student outcomes via a more holistic approach to culture and ethos.

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• Hannah Watkins
  Head of Communications and Marketing
  Hannah Watkins

  Hannah joined Aldridge Education as the Head of Communications and Marketing in August 2023. She leads on the promotion and protection of the Trust and its schools across a variety of stakeholders, including regional and national media, as well local communities.

  Hannah has a BA in English Literature and Language from the University of Oxford, as well as a Masters in Broadcast Journalism. Before joining Aldridge Education, she worked in a number of dynamic and high-profile communications roles across a variety of private and public sector organisations - including Tesco PLC, the Ministry of Defence, and the Post Office. She also spent three years in Washington D.C., working at the British Embassy: firstly, as Chief Communications Officer for military and defence, and latterly as the Press Secretary to the British Ambassador. Most recently, having returned to the UK, she was the Media Relations Manager for the University of Central Lancashire, which sparked a passion for working in the world of education and showcasing its ability to change lives.

• Melinda Gooding
  Head of Compliance
  Melinda Gooding

  Melinda joined the trust in July 2022 as Head of Compliance. Â Melinda has spent her career working for public service providers including the Local Authority, Education and Primary Care. Â During her early career and whilst studying for her degree, Melinda worked for 2 Local Authority Youth Services working with young people in formal and informal settings in London delivering crime diversion programmes. Â Melinda also worked for the Local Authority as a Finance and Management Information Systems Manager before joining a large secondary school as a Business Manager, managing support services including HR, IT, Admin, Facilities and Finance. Â Melinda spent a couple of years working in Primary Care, primarily through COVID, focusing on patient care and delivery of services through the practice and the Primary Care Network and was involved in setting up the regions first COVID vaccination clinic in December 2020. Â Melinda returned into the education sector as a Federation Business Manager in 2021. Â Melinda is passionate about working for and being part of an organisation that makes a real difference to people's lives and are driven by improving life chances of the people they serve.

• Anne Silver
  Head of Local Governance
  Anne Silver

  Anne joined Aldridge in Nov 2021 as Head of Local Governance and is responsible for our Local Governance Committees across our academies and the support that they provide to the Trust Board, Central and school teams and students. Anne's career has primarily been in the Corporate sector in Real Estate management for the last 20 years. She has held global and regional senior management roles working for or on behalf of global clients who are usually headquartered in Europe. Roles have covered a variety of commercial Real Estate activities including FM Operations and Real Estate Acquisition/Disposal/ Projects and most recently she has specialised in Consultancy and Change Management programmes and Performance and Governance

• Catherine Duffin
  Head of Enterprise and Personal Development
  Catherine Duffin

  Catherine joined Aldridge Education as the Head of Enterprise & Personal Development in January 2023. She is the strategic lead for enterprise, forming part of the central education team developing provision across the trust.

  Prior to joining Aldridge Education, Catherine held a range of senior positions in the charity sector working to support young people to access high quality careers education provision, especially those at social disadvantage. During COVID, Catherine led a team to deliver over 57,000 virtual work experience placements across the UK to ensure young people had access to much needed support and has enabled small charitable organisations to scale to provide more services to young people. Catherine has also worked to support teachers' professional development, improving leadership and quality of teaching.

• Rowan Maclennan
  Head of Data and Analytics
  Rowan Maclennan

  Rowan became a Data Manager for Aldridge Education in September 2017 and has been the Data Manager at Darwen Aldridge Community Academy since 2010.

  She holds a degree in Psychology and Social Studies as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health Intelligence from John Moore's Liverpool.

  Rowan has previously held roles working as a Public Health Analyst at West Lancashire and Wirral Primary Care Trusts and later as Cancer Intelligence Analyst for Cheshire and Merseyside.

  While working at DACA, Rowan has been actively involved in the AfriDACA trips to Uganda in 2015 and 2017.

• Rosielee Linton
  Senior School Improvement Partner
  Rosielee Linton

  Rosie has worked in education for over  20 years. Before joining the Trust's Education team, where she works closely with our academy Principals and subject leads, she was a teacher and member of the Senior Leadership team at Duke's Aldridge Academy. She was seconded to the Trust leadership team as Trust Associate Principal in 2019  for two years and, at the end of that period, has taken on the role of  Trust School Improvement Partner. Â

  Rosie has a Doctorate in Educational Leadership, has completed the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) and is a Fellow with The Chartered College of Teaching. In addition to her leadership roles within schools she also has previous experience as a Reviewer for Challenge Partner.

• Dawn Barlow-Ward
  School Improvement Partner
  Dawn Barlow-Ward

  Dawn joined Aldridge Education in January, 2018 as the North West Trust Lead for English, as well as teacher of English at Darwen Aldridge Community Academy. She has taught English for over 15 years and has been a Lead Practitioner as well as leading departments and faculties. She has also been an Assistant Head supporting whole school Teaching and Learning and Literacy.

  Throughout her career Dawn has helped both English departments and other subjects secure improvement in achievement and attainment. She was the English lead at Blakewater College when it received school certification by the SSAT for being one of the top two schools in the country making the most continuous improvement in percentage of pupils achieving A* to C in English and Maths.

  She has successfully taught English and Literacy across all Key Stages throughout her career and holds a Masters degree in Teaching and Learning from Lancaster University.

• Victoria Dewhurst
  Trust Lead for Curriculum
  Victoria Dewhurst

  Victoria joined Aldridge Education in September 2021 as Mathematics Trust Lead for the North West. She is the strategic lead for mathematics across the region, forming part of the Central Education team developing provision across the Trust.

  Previously Victoria has worked in several schools across the North West, over the past 10 years, in a variety of roles including; Director of Learning -Maths& ICT, Whole school Numeracy, Whole School Teaching & Learning, NQT & RQT mentor and trainer as well as Associate Assistant Principal.

  Victoria has worked tirelessly to raise attainment and Maths provision across her schools with a strong track record of improved results at all stages. Additionally Victoria has helped run NQT conferences at Edge Hill University helping prepare the next generation of teachers.

  Victoria holds a BSc(HONs) in Psychology alongside her PGCE(Mathematics) as well as qualifications in finance and leadership.

• Susan Schofield
  Trust Lead for Curriculum
  Susan Schofield

  Susan joined Aldridge Education in September 2021 as a Trust Lead for Humanities at our North West schools.

  Susan has led pastoral, departmental and faculty teams in three schools. Her previous post was in an Aldridge school as Head of Humanities and Associate Assistant Principal with responsibility for Teaching and Learning.

  In these schools Susan has led History Departments to achieve their best recorded results. Such progress contributed to one school becoming the highest performing school in the district. Susan has had responsibility for improving outcomes and Progress 8 scores and for the implementation of positive culture and behaviour across schools.

  Susan has an honours degree in History from The University of Leeds. She holds a Postgraduate Certificate for Education and the National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership.

• Elizabeth Plunkett
  Trust Lead for Curriculum
  Elizabeth Plunkett

  Elizabeth joined Aldridge Education as the Trust Lead for English, London and South East in September 2021. During more than 20 years' experience teaching English she has had a number of roles including Head of Year, Head of Department and Assistant Head across a diverse range of schools in Bedford, Cornwall and the Middle East. Â

  As well as achieving the NPQSL, Elizabeth has been a PiXL English Associate, a primary transition literacy advisor, a school governor for a special school, directed school plays and been on the PTA as a teacher and a parent. Â

  As a department lead, Elizabeth has led various teams of English teachers to achieve the school's best ever results year on year in a variety of establishments. She recognises the gap and works with the team to close it. As an English teacher, she works with students as individuals ensuring all are making progress. As a whole school leader, she supports and guides heads of department and leads whole school initiatives to maintain within-school parity between departments. Â

  Elizabeth is excited to join Aldridge Education to work with Trust schools in developing each and every student's projected entrepreneurial aspirations alongside securing their personal best examination results.

• Ted Bunn
  Trust Lead for Professional Development
  Ted Bunn

  Ted joined Aldridge Education as Humanities Trust Lead for London and the South East in September 2020. He is the strategic lead for humanities across the region, forming part of the central Education team developing provision across the Trust.

  Â Prior to joining Aldridge Education, Ted worked for Ark as the subject lead for geography across London and the South of England. Previously, Ted has worked for Oasis Community learning and before that as a Head of Department in Northamptonshire. Â

  Ted has a Geography Degree from Newcastle University. He is a Teach First ambassador, as well as a Fellow at the Royal Geographical Society.

• Sarah Carroll
  Trust Lead for Enterprise and Personal Development
  Sarah Carroll

  Sarah joined Aldridge Education in April 2023, as the Trust Lead for Enterprise and Personal Development. Prior to taking up this role, she led Personal Development in an outstanding secondary school, alongside a secondment as an Associate School Improvement Officer for a Local Education Authority. Sarah has taught a range of subjects over the years, in schools in the North West and London, most recently focusing on PSHE and Citizenship, as well line managing humanities and social science subjects. In addition, she has been part of the DSL team, and supported staff as an NPQ mentor.

  Sarah has also worked as a freelance consultant to a range of charities and businesses, including the BBC, developing content and resources that have been shared nationally.

  She holds a Masters of Education from the University of Exeter, and has completed an NPQSL.

• Laura Needham
  PA to the CEO
  Laura Needham

  Laura joined the Trust in August 2020 as Personal Assistant to our Chief Executive, Jane Fletcher. Laura is a highly experienced and efficient PA having worked in both private and public sector organisations over 15 years. She has supported CEO's, MD's, Board Members and Local Government Officials.

  Laura is passionate about developing solid working relationships across all sectors of the Trust.

• JP Davies
  Lead Marketing Officer
  JP Davies

  JP's career with Aldridge Education exemplifies Aldridge Education's commitment to nurturing and advancing talent within the Trust. Joining the team in 2015, JP initially served as an IT and Digital Services Technician at Darwen Aldridge Community Academy. In 2020, he stepped up to the role of Digital Services Lead at Darwen Vale High School, further enhancing his experience and contributions to our community.

  In 2022, moved into the role of Lead Marketing Officer within the Trust. He is now responsible for creative graphic design, web development, desktop publishing, and developing new marketing materials, all feeding into our wider marketing strategies. JP's growth and adaptability not only reflect his dedication but also embody the ethos of Aldridge Education in fostering continuous development and excellence among our team.

• Laura Etherington
  Human Resource Manager - North West
  Laura Etherington

  Laura joined Aldridge Education as the Human Resources Manager for the North West in August 2019, and is responsible for all Human Resources activity across our schools in the region.

  Laura has previously worked across a range of sectors from engineering to education, providing a full 360 degree HR function. Laura gained her degree in Business Studies at Liverpool University and went on to study for her CIPD in Human Resource Management whilst gaining hands on experience.

• Laura Simms
  HR Partner North West
  Laura Simms

  Laura joined Aldridge Education in August 2021 as the Human Resources Partner and is responsible for all HR activities for Darwen Aldridge Community Academy and Sudell Primary School. Â

  Laura has over 18 years HR generalist experience within the retail sector as a multi-site HR Manager/Business Partner, working regionally across both Lancashire and Greater Manchester. Â In addition, Laura has for the past 3 year's worked as a HR Change Manager, leading large scale HR Change projects for both Retail & Logistics.

  Laura studied at the University of Salford and has gained her CIPD qualification in Human Resource Management whilst gaining hands on experience.

• Vicky Brown
  HR Administrator (North West)
  Vicky Brown

  Vicky joined Aldridge Education as HR Administrator (North West) in September 2021, supporting the Trust's five North West schools. Vicky has 17 years administration experience with previous employers prior to joining the Trust.

• Karen Hunt
  Training and National Administrator
  Karen Hunt

  Karen joined Aldridge Education as Training and National Administrator in October 2022, working with the Trust's Professional Development team and the Executive Assistant to the CEO. Karen has many years of administration and PA experience, 17 of those within the Education sector.

• Zoe Cottrell
  Family Support Worker
  Zoe Cottrell

  Zoe joined Aldridge Education as a Family Support Worker for a pilot study called “The Shaftsbury Project” in January 2022, working across all three secondary schools. Zoe worked with the most vulnerable families to improve students experience in school, parental relationships with school to improve behaviour, attainment and attendance. This pilot study lasted for 18 months on a temporary basis.

  After graduating with a FdA Foundation Degree in Positive Practice with Children and Young People and then a BA Honours Degree in Positive Practice with Children and Young People, Zoe went onto to complete her PGCE in Reflective Practice.

  Zoe first began working with families in a family assessment unit whereby families were being assessed around their capabilities of parenting. All families were subject to care proceedings. Zoe would work with the families showing them how to take care of their babies, bathing, feeding alongside developmental milestones. Zoe is also a qualified PAMS Assessor and would complete these assessments in house as part of the overall assessment and consideration during court proceedings. Zoe would support families to learn new skills they may have previously lacked to enable them to become confident and demonstrate their capabilities independently which was considered when decisions were made in the court proceedings.
  Zoe started as a family support worker and went onto to develop her career to Senior Support Worker and then to Deputy Manager of the assessment unit before commencing her new venture with Aldridge Education.

  Having initially starting on a temporary basis for the 18-month pilot study at Aldridge, Zoe was offered a permanent role to work with families from the four schools in Darwen, in the North West of the country as it was clear from the study that she had made a difference to the families she had supported over the 18-month period and that outcomes had improved for those involved in her work. Zoe has now been appointed on a permanent basis to undertake work across the four schools in Darwen, Lancashire and is focusing on her work around attendance and EBSA students alongside improving outcomes which include attainment and their attendance by implementing a child-centred approach for those students who find school particularly challenging. Zoe will work alongside families in a supportive approach and consideration of their specific needs and circumstances to ensure a collaborative approach with schools is undertaken. Zoe will advocate for the student and their families to ensure that every consideration is explored to achieve the best possible outcomes. Zoe will also work with the wider community agencies to help support the families she works with and other professional agencies that are involved in the families’ lives and of course the Aldridge schools that are involved.