Past Event

Katrina Gueli

Regional Director, Ofsted

Katrina was Regional Director, East Midlands from August 2019 to May 2022. She also took on responsibility for North East, Yorkshire and Humber in April 2022.
Previously, she was a Senior HMI, assistant regional director and regional director in North East, Yorkshire and Humber. Before being appointed as one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors in 2007, Katrina worked as a senior leader in schools and as a local authority adviser.

Brendan Robson

Headteacher, Cardinal Hume Catholic School

Brendan Robson is a serving Headteacher at Cardinal Hume Catholic School. Part of the Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust, Cardinal Hume is a large secondary academy in East Gateshead. He is also a Director at Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust, Vice Chair of Governors of a primary school, and Chair of Gateshead Local Authority’s Secondary Headteacher’s Group. 

His career journey is somewhat unusual, in that he now leads the school where began his teaching career as an NQT, in 2002. After taking on early pastoral and curriculum roles, Brendan went on to become Head of English, Assistant Headteacher and Head of School, before his appointment as Headteacher in 2019. 

He is a great believer in the power of collaboration and has been involved in school-to-school support for several years, focusing on curriculum impact, disadvantaged provision, quality assurance, school leadership, behaviour culture and the development of literacy.

He is committed to Catholic education, and advocates passionately for the duty we have, as school leaders, to be truly ambitious for all young people, in particular the most vulnerable and deprived. 

Jim Balkwill

Deputy CEO, Pele Trust

Jim became Deputy CEO of Pele Trust in September 2023, having worked in
schools since 1990. He started as a languages teacher in inner-city Newcastle,
later becoming Head of Languages in one of the first five Language Colleges in
the country.

From 2000, Jim held a wide variety of roles at Assistant and Deputy Headteacher
level, including Pastoral, Sixth Form, In-school Variation and Achievement and
Standards. He is also an NPQSL facilitator and leads Trust school reviews in
Safeguarding, Behaviour and Attendance, and Quality of Education.

Mark Tilling

Headteacher at High Tunstall College of Science

Mark has been Headteacher at High Tunstall College of Science since September 2010.  Mark has overseen the development of the school where it received its first GOOD rating from Ofsted in 2016.  In 2016 the school received the STEM assured accolade, the first secondary school in England and recently was awarded Centre of Excellence by IQM at the first attempt. High Tunstall continues to thrive and is over subscribed in all year groups.

Kate Chisholm

Executive Head Teacher at Oakfield Federation

Kate has been Executive Head Teacher at Oakfield Federation of schools in Gateshead for 3 years.

Prior to moving across to Gateshead Kate was the Headteacher of Skerne Park Academy for 10 years.  Having worked  in one of the most disadvantaged wards in the country Kate’s work is passionately focussed on closing the attainment gap and ensuring SEND is catered for at the most personal level.  Kate brings her experience of working in some of the most challenging situations and her real-time knowledge of the current educational landscape to the trust board.

Kate is also Chair of Trustees for the Valour Academy Trust (Newcastle)  and has previously been the Chair of the Primary Head Teacher forum in Darlington and has sat on panels such as the SEND steering group, Educational strategy group, YOS board, DfE panels and OFSTED reference group and believes in collaboration to forge solutions to challenges.

In her spare time Kate enjoys mountain biking and playing Piano, flugel horn and singing, in addition to supporting the economy of the Newcastle restaurant circuit.

Kate is a great advocate for Schools Northeast and truly believes in its efficacy and ability to ensure the North East Educational agenda is not generalised, distorted or forgotten and that the reality of living in one of the best places in the world is realised.

Dr Paul Gosling

President, NAHT

After leaving university, Paul began his teaching career and taught in Canning Town in the
London Borough of Newham. Paul then worked for three years supporting and training
Newham’s school administration teams. In 2001, Paul relocated to Devon, where he has
taught and led various schools until the end of 2023.

Paul was the NAHT branch secretary for Devon, Torbay & Plymouth and a member of the
NAHT’s South-West Executive. Paul was NAHT’s National President from April 2022 until
August 2023. Paul now works full-time for the NAHT in the Membership Services team.
In 2019, Paul became a Doctor of Education for his thesis on children’s narrative identities.

Chris Zarraga

Director, Schools North East

Chris has been part of the Schools North East team since its inception in 2007 and in 2019 he was appointed Director.

Chris works with other leaders across the North East, the education sector and charity sector to represent the voice of North East schools, and lobby policy makers to ensure that the North East is not left behind when it comes to education policy. Chris has overseen the launch of the Ednorth evidence-based excellence programme, as well as the partnership with SHINE bringing over £500,000 worth of funding to North East schools.

Under Chris, Schools North East has moved to a greater focus on lobbying around education policy, with the launch of the Manifesto for North East Education in December 2019. As well as being a trustee of a local MAT, Chris sits on various boards including the board for Opportunity North East. Prior to joining Schools North East, Chris worked with over 165 schools in the North East and various education organisations including local authorities, Excellence Partnerships, 14-19 Groups, the Specialist Schools & Academies Trust, and School Improvement Officers. He led a large scale culture change project in education across the North East and was the development consultant for the LEGI funded Wansbeck Enterprise Education Network.