Speakers
Mary Myatt
Education Adviser, Writer and Speaker
Mary is an education adviser, writer and speaker. She curates Myatt & Co where she works with colleagues to develop thoughtful work on the curriculum and wider school improvement. She trained as an RE teacher and is a former local authority adviser and inspector. Drawing on her work with pupils, teachers and leaders she writes and speaks about learning, leadership and the curriculum.
She has worked in small schools, for large trusts, national and international organisations. Her education philosophy is underpinned by several principles: that all children deserve rich, demanding work, that high quality talk underpins learning, that human beings are curious and that they find deep work very satisfying.
Mary has written extensively about leadership, school improvement and the curriculum: ‘High Challenge, Low Threat’, ‘Hopeful Schools’ and ‘The Curriculum: Gallimaufry to Coherence’ , ‘Back on Track’, Huh: Curriculum Conversations between subject and senior leaders and Primary Huh.
Mary has been a governor in three schools, and a trustee for a Multi Academy Trust. She co-founded the RE Quality Mark, was chair of the board for the Centre for Education and Youth and was a member of the curriculum advisory group for Oak National Academy.
Her current projects include Huh Academy, The Teachers’ Collection and Myatt & Co.
She maintains that there are no quick fixes and that great outcomes for pupils are not achieved through tick boxes.
www.marymyatt.com
Twitter: @MaryMyatt
Clare Sutherland
Head of School at Our Lady of the Rosary Primary School, Peterlee.
Clare Sutherland has substantial leadership experience as a subject/phase leader, assistant head, deputy headteacher and most recently as a head of school at Our Lady of the Rosary. She has served as a governor at a local primary school and has held numerous academic, pastoral and extra-curricular responsibilities. Clare currently has strategic responsibility for disadvantaged pupils, whole school assessment and curriculum development. Her areas of interest are staff development including that of early career teachers, RE and teaching and learning.
Marie Graham
Executive Head Teacher of Our Lady of the Rosary Primary School, St Mary’s Primary School,
Jarrow and Acting Executive Head Teacher of St. Joseph’s Primary School
Marie Graham has extensive experience of school improvement across three local authorities. She has worked in multi-academy trusts at director level, is an experienced school governor, been a Head Teacher for 12 years and an executive Head Teacher for 5 years. Marie currently leads three schools serving areas of significant deprivation and has a proven track record for rapid school improvement. Marie has particular experience and expertise in the early years foundation stage, developing effective leadership teams, teaching and learning, and professional development.
Paul Wright
Teacher of Computer Science, Ponteland High School
Paul learned the craft of teaching in the North East before being approached to lead School wide ICT development and curriculum planning at an influential Bedfordshire school. After 5 successful years in Bedfordshire Paul moved on to leadership roles in challenging settings across Warwickshire and Oxfordshire. In 2017 Paul was invited to join a team of Leaders who successfully launched a new school within a large Academy Trust in south Oxfordshire before family commitments brought him back to his native North East in 2020. Now teaching at Ponteland High School in South East Northumberland Paul helps to shape the positive experience Trainee Teachers receive at the school as well as leading colleagues through the process of Action Research, Lesson Study and other areas of Professional Development. Paul has written two books on Education for Bloomsbury Publishing and has spoken extensively across England on Educational issues. Beyond school Paul runs a North East Culture Podcast and hosts a weekly radio show with his wife (also a Teacher) on which they are frequently joined by their young son.
Jane Wood
Languages Department Lead, Cardinal Hume Catholic School
Jane joined Cardinal Hume in 2016 as Head of MFL and has been successful in 2 bids to become a Lead School for MFL. In collaboration with the NCLE (National Consortium for Language Education at UCL), Jane and her team are part of an exciting project to increase uptake and improve outcomes in MFL.
Dominic Martin
Headteacher, Benton Park Primary School
Dominic is currently Headteacher at Benton Park Primary School, Newcastle upon Tyne, having taken up the post in September 2019. Prior to that, he was Head of School at West Jesmond Primary and a Specialist Leader of Education (SLE) in curriculum design. Dominic has always had a keen interest in curriculum design and implementation; playing a pivotal role in shaping curricula in a number of very successful primary schools across Newcastle. He has supported colleagues as a Curriculum SLE to progress their own curriculum ideas; contributed to the writing of recent NPQ content; as well as speaking at various events across the North East. Most recently, since his appointment at Benton Park Primary, Dominic has reshaped a leadership team to rewrite and implement a new curriculum, despite the challenges of the pandemic. Alongside his responsibilities as Headteacher, Dominic leads Benton Park's RE curriculum; regularly teaching both Year 6 classes - a highlight of his week!
Karl McGrath
Year 5 Teacher and Task Design & Curriculum Implementation Lead, Benton Park Primary School
Karl is a passionate Year 5 teacher with 10 years of experience in education. His diverse background includes roles as a family & pastoral support worker at Hotspur Primary and Computing lead at West Jesmond Primary. He has facilitated courses and curriculum development on behalf of the National Centre for Computing Education as well as presenting nationally at the Computing at Schools conference. Now the Task Design and Curriculum Implementation lead at Benton Park Primary. Karl’s love for technology and belief in the impact of graphic organisers and encouraging deeper thinking drives him to create dynamic and engaging learning experiences for his students which he relishes in sharing widely.
Lorna McLean MA Ed. NPQEL
Principal, King Edwin School
Coming from a background in FE development and student support, Lorna has spent the last 7 years as Principal at King Edwin School, an independent SEMH school rated ‘Good’ with ‘Outstanding Personal Development’ (Dec 2021). With a love of education, Lorna also serves as Chair of Governors for a local PRU and as a Trustee for a high achieving multi academy Trust.
Lorna’s MA in Education Leadership was studied at Teesside alongside Narelle Dalton, a long-time colleague. As a childhood care experienced individual, Lorna is passionate about impacting young people who are disadvantaged, in particular those in the looked after arena.
Giles Fullard
Head of Faculty, Whickham School
Giles studied History at Goldsmiths College University of London before going on to complete a PGCE at The Institute of Education (UCL). Qualifying in 1999 he worked for a number of years at Hinchingbrooke School in Huntington becoming the Head of History. Whilst there he worked closely with the Faculty of Education (Cambridge University), helping to shape the History mentor training days. Alongside his role as Head of History, Giles was also the Professional Tutor at Hinchingbrooke and, for many years, planned and delivered training for the Princes Teaching Institute. In 2013, Giles moved to take up the role of Head of Sixth Form in Peterborough where he helped to significantly improve results. In 2019, Giles moved with his family to the North East taking up the role of Faculty Leader for Humanities at Whickham School. In the four years that he has been here, he has overseen the complete re-write of the curriculum and helped the History department to go from one of the lowest performing in the school to achieve results in the top 20% of schools nationally last year. Since September, Giles has also taken on the role of overseeing the ECT and ITT programme at the school.
Joseph Milton
Deputy Head of Faculty, Whickham School
Joseph studied Geography at St Andrews University before going on to complete a PGCE at Newcastle University. Qualifying in 2006 he worked for four years at The King Edwards VI School Morpeth as a geography teacher, assistant head of year and head of year. In 2009, Joseph then moved to Park View School in Chester-le-Street as a head of year. In 2019, Joseph took up the role of Deputy Faculty Leader at Whickham School where he has oversight of geography. In the four years he has been there he has overseen the rewriting of the key stage 3 and 4 curriculum that has resulted in significant improvements in attainment and it becoming the most popular option subject at GCSE. In the last year Joseph has contributed to two books about the teaching of geography in school, both due to be published in the Spring and Autumn of 2024.
Peter Sagar
Teacher and Secretary of A Living Tradition CIC
Peter is a teacher, historian and writer, who has written extensively on Northeast history. Peter has an M.Phil in the regional identity of Northeast England from the University of Northumbria. He has taught about the region’s history and culture in numerous Northeast schools and is passionate about pupils in our region having a curriculum, which is relevant, accessible and inspiring to them.
Kirsty Godfrey
Senior His Majesty’s Inspector for Schools and Early Education, Ofsted
Kirsty Godfrey is one of His Majesty’s Inspectors. She is a qualified teacher and has worked in senior leadership positions, including headship, in a range of schools for over twenty years. She has also worked as an educational consultant. Her last post before joining Ofsted was as the head of primary in an all-through school. This post involved setting up the primary provision from scratch and further developed her interest and expertise in early years. Kirsty’s current position is Senior His Majesty’s Inspector for Schools and Early Education. This role includes overseeing the development, quality and delivery of training for inspectors. It builds on her previous policy and curriculum roles as specialist advisor and subject lead for early reading.
Debi Bailey
CEO, NEAT
Debi's role as NEAT CEO is to be accountable to the trust's Board of Directors for all aspects of the school's performance and the trust's financial position. She believes passionately that a good education is the key to unlocking potential and is at the heart of the trust drive to provide a world class education to all young people. Debi has over 25 years’ experience of working in education in a range of different roles including Head Teacher of a very large primary school of 700 pupils, Local Authority Literacy Consultant and Additional Inspector for Ofsted. The vast majority of Debi's career has been spent in schools in areas of high deprivation. Currently, alongside her role as CEO, Debi supports individual school leaders and trusts with aspects of school improvement in her role as National Leader of Education (NLE).
Sarah Stock
Newcastle Research School Lead
Sarah Stock is currently the Director of Newcastle Research School and the primary school improvement lead with over 25 years of teaching experience.
Caroline Conlon
Director of School Partnerships and Professional Development for the National Consortium for Languages
Caroline has worked at UCL IOE since 2011. She taught in the PGCE Languages Programme and Master's of Teaching. In June 2018, Caroline became the PGCE Subject Leader, with its team of five tutors and 60-85 Student Teachers. Caroline has taught and supervised new and experienced teachers at a range of stages of their career, from Early Years through to Adult Education. In March 2023, she took on the role of Director of School Partnerships and Professional Development for the National Consortium for Languages, a DFE-funded project to reinvigorate and re-energise Languages teaching and learning across England.
Tracey Dodds
Alternative Education Coordinator, High Tunstall College of Science
Tracey joined High Tunstall College of Science in September 2019 where she has been leading the developments of Alternative Provision at the College. The AP has grown from 1 provision to 3 in the last year. Prior to leading AP Tracey was a second in science in 2 other schools.
Alex Fairlamb
Assistant Principal Teaching and Learning (T&L), Kings Priory School
Alex is an Assistant Principal of T&L and a History teacher. She is an SLE and an ELE, with her specialisms being History, T&L and Diversity within the Curriculum. She is an NPQLL Facilitator for Ambition Institute and the Three Rivers Teaching Hub. She is a Secondary Committee member of the Historical Association and co-editor of a forthcoming History curriculum book, ‘What is History teaching, now?’. Alex has presented nationally and internationally at ResearchEd Conferences and is a proud member of the Schools North East Steering Group.
Craig Steel
Head Teacher, Kibblesworth Academy
Craig is a headteacher of a small single academy trust in Gateshead which serves the small ex mining community of Kibblesworth.
Sarah Renton
Deputy Head Teacher, Kibblesworth Academy
Sarah Renton is Deputy Head Teacher and Literacy Lead at Kibblesworth Academy, Gateshead.