Past Event

Frank Norris MBE FCCT

Education Advisor, Northern Powerhouse Partnership

Frank was appointed HMI in 2001 and led the development of detailed grade descriptors to support more consistent judgement-making. In 2005 he was a key figure in the introduction of short inspections which included the online self-evaluation form and eventually the use of contextual value-added data.
In 2005, he was appointed as the senior Ofsted manager responsible for local authority inspections. In 2008, he was appointed assistant to Ofsted’s National Director with direct responsibility for the monitoring and evaluation of the national school inspection programme. In 2009, he was promoted to Divisional Manager for Education and Care and led the development of the two school inspection frameworks that were introduced in 2012. He was appointed senior school improvement adviser for Stockport MBC in September 2012.

After an approach from the Co-op he became their Education Director in September 2013, supporting their wide range of education programmes, including at the time, six sponsored academies in the north of England. In 2014, he was appointed Director (CEO) of the Co-op Academies Trust and oversaw the number of academies growing to twenty-three with a funding commitment from the Co-op of £3.6m. The Trust continues to be highly regarded and is one of the highest-performing for disadvantaged students.
In September 2019, Frank stood down from the CEO role and became the Co-op’s adviser on education and school matters. He was awarded an MBE in summer of 2019 for his services to education.

He was appointed the Northern Powerhouse Partnership's adviser on education and skills in 2019. He is currently a trustee and chair of finance at the Great Academies and Education Trust and was the independent chair of the Blackpool Education Improvement Board between 2020 and 2004 and continues as a member of the Liverpool Education Board. He is on the advisory Board of InnovateHer, a not-for-profit organisation committed to ensuring more women play an active and senior role in digital and tech companies. The work involves offering free development programmes for girls aged 13-18 years. He recently agreed to lead the Education Executives Network for Forum Strategy.