About Schools North East
Set up by schools for schools, we are the first and only school-led regional network in the UK.
In 2007, a group of Head Teachers came together to establish Schools North East. Their aim was to create a unique culture of collaboration and mutual support amongst North East schools to ensure the best possible outcomes for all of our region’s young people. Twelve years on, Schools North East is stronger than ever.
Over the years, we have worked to facilitate new projects and additional support, connect schools to each other and external organisations such as business, provide a strategic voice for our members and promote a wider understanding of the issues facing education in the North East.
Schools North East is governed by our 8 Trustees, 1 co-opted Trustees and 40 strong advisory board of local Head Teachers, elected by their peers in each area, who provide Schools North East with direction and support. We also have a core team of 10 based in Newcastle.
With a well-established annual calendar of events, a Weekly Update with a distribution of over 4,000 readers and over 7,000 Twitter Followers, Schools North East’s influence is growing both locally and nationally!
Mission and Vision
Schools North East is an inclusive network led by Head Teachers creating unique culture of collaboration and mutual support and bringing the expertise of our members to benefit developments within our region.
Our Vision
Our young people are confident, enterprising, skilled and aspiring; learning and developing within well-resourced, nurturing and purposeful school environments.
Our school leaders, governors and staff demonstrate exceptional professionalism enjoying the resounding confidence of students, parents, communities, employers and decision-makers.
Our Head Teachers have a powerful voice regionally and nationally. By working collaboratively and creatively with their peers and external partners, they develop expertise, shape policy and drive change. We are recognised as a centre for innovation and the bench-mark of excellence.
Our region is vibrant, self reliant and outward looking, featuring a dynamic economy, healthy environment and distinctive culture.
Manifesto for North East Education
With input from our 1,150 member schools and key stakeholders from across the education sector, we have produced a series of key recommendations for education policy which affects the North East.
The Manifesto is a statement of intent and the foundation of our ever stronger focus on influencing the development of education policy, as it impacts on our region. Our recommendations will be refined and developed with our Partner Schools and key stakeholders throughout 2020 and beyond. Make sure you engage and influence how this develops going forward.
ConnectEd, the Schools North East Online Community
ConnectEd is a dedicated online community for North East Schools to collaborate, share and engage.
As well as a general group there are dedicated groups for different roles in schools.
It is a members only platform. Please visit our page for more information.
Ednorth
Ednorth is a programme that aims to inspire change in all classrooms across the North East by promoting an educational culture led by informed debate, research, collaboration and excellence.
It will provide teachers across the region with the tools and techniques to cut through the fog of government guidance,commercial ‘silver bullets’, and poor quality research that is currently driving the zero-sum game of educational improvements focused on exam results, condemning our schools to cycles of under-performance and wasted effort.
Ednorth is not about getting ahead of the game, but changing the game completely, and how to maintain that indefinitely beyond any group of school leaders.
Schools North East is working in partnership with SHINE who are providing £500,000 of ringfenced investment for North East schools to support the following priorities:
Ready for School
Bridging the Gap
Flying High
Any school or teacher in the North East is eligible to apply for funding of between £10,000 and £100,000 for projects lasting one to three years. Applicants will receive support and guidance from the point they first get in touch to ensure the grant-making process is as simple and stress-free as possible.
Jobs in Schools | North East
Jobs in Schools is a unique jobs portal, powered by Schools North East and the schools in our region. It is not-for-profit and enables schools to benefit from huge financial savings on their national recruitment spends.
Jobs in Schools has been designed to bring all of the vacancies in schools in the North East together in one place. Candidates can find the best jobs in the North East – from this home grown jobs board, created to match local talent with the vacancies in our region.
The majority of vacancies in the North East are filled by local candidates. It makes perfect sense that there is a tailor-made solution – great news for candidates and a cost-effective tool for schools.
The future for local candidates is in Jobs in Schools | North East.
Our Board
Advisory Board Members
| Region | Name | Type | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunderland | Sara Bainbridge | Primary | Barmston Village Primary School |
| Sunderland | Sarah Dixon-Jones | Nursery / Early Years | Houghton Community Nursery School & Mill Hill Nursery School |
| Sunderland | Paula Hegarty | Secondary | Oxclose Community Academy |
| Sunderland | Claire Smith | Primary | Hill View Infant School |
| Sunderland | Craig Knowles | Secondary | Hetton School |
| Sunderland | Ailsa Taylor | Primary | Oak Learning Trust |
| Sunderland | Joanne Maw | Secondary & Sixth Form | Sandhill View Academy |
| Stockton-on-Tees | Julia Armstrong | Primary | Hartburn Primary School |
| South Tyneside | Brendan Tapping | Secondary & Sixth Form | St Wilfred’s RC College (South Shields) |
| South Tyneside | Sir Ken Gibson | Secondary & Sixth Form | Harton Academy |
| Redcar and Cleveland | Carl Faulkner | Primary | Normanby Primary |
| Northumberland | Andrew Hudson | Primary | Mickley First School |
| North Tyneside | Philip Sanderson | All | King’s Priory School |
| North East | Hugh Hegarty | All | Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | Sarah Holmes-Carne | Secondary | Kenton School |
| Middlesbrough | Phil Latham | Secondary | Macmillan Academy |
| Hartlepool | Mark Tilling | Secondary | High Tunstall College of Science |
| Gateshead | Mark Hall | Secondary | Grace College |
| Durham | David Priestley | Secondary | Greenfield Community College |
| Durham | Andy Byers | Secondary | Framwellgate School Durham |
| Durham | Annette Sowden | Primary | St Mary's RC Primary School |
| Darllington | Claire Blackett | All through (Special Education Provision) | Hurworth House School (Priory Group) |
| Darlington | Mike Butler | Secondary | Education Village |
School Business Manager Council
Our School Business Manager Council was founded in 2013 to build upon the existing local SBM networks, and provide a platform in every type and phase of school in the region.
The Council aims to:
Enable colleagues from across the region to meet and share intelligence and Best Practice with each other and their local networks;
Develop a powerful voice for the North East’s SBMs and raise their profile with Head Teachers to ensure they fully understand the contribution that SBMs make to North East schools;
Provide local and regional support, bespoke to each local area/ network.
The Council is comprised of School Business Managers from across the different sub-areas of the North East. The complete list of council members HERE
Staff
Our Team
Chris Zarraga
DIRECTOR
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.
Pauline Aitchison
DEPUTY DIRECTOR
Pauline joined Schools North East in July 2017 as Business Manager and was appointed Deputy Director in 2020. With over 20 years working in education in the North East Pauline brings a wealth of knowledge and experience of the region's schools. Pauline also brings governance experience having served as both a governor and associate governor and an academy trust member and she is currently a trustee of a special school MAT. She understands the challenges faced by schools and is committed to making a difference to the learning chances of pupils in the region.
Pauline leads the National Network of Special Schools for School Business Professionals bringing together schools from across England, and sits on the DfE Network Leaders Forum ensuring the voice of NE SBMs is heard at a national level. She has built up the online community, ConnectEd and supports SBMs, senior leaders and teachers across the region.
Pauline is currently undertaking a MBA in strategic leadership.
Sam Murray
EVENTS MANAGER
Sam joined the events team in Schools North East in March 2017 and was promoted to Events Manager in October 2017. Since joining team, Sam has grown the events programme exponentially ensuring that the region's leaders, SBMs, Teachers and Governors are well supported. Attracting key speakers such as the head of Ofsted, Secretaries of State and educationalists from the North East and beyond, Sam ensures that this region is on the map by providing top class conferences and events. Sam is also responsible for the creation and development of our online webinars and conferences, which have proved invaluable during recent times. She reacted quickly to change and supported over 7,000 delegates in the last academic year alone. Sam is also responsible for sourcing event sponsorship and creating opportunities for our Supporters and exhibitors.
Sam is also a Governor of a primary school in Newcastle and is passionate about providing a better future for children and young people in our region.
Colin Bancroft
EDNORTH PROJECT COORDINATOR
As Ednorth Project Coordinator Colin works with schools, teachers and leaders across the North East. He works closely with the ‘Ednorth Advocates’ - specialised teams of teachers from across the region who are evidence influenced and research driven practitioners - to develop evidence-based projects designed to address issues specific to their areas context.
He also works with the Ednorth Ambassadors - a selection of high profile educational specialists - to foster change and improvement across the teaching spectrum in the North East. He is currently working with a number of schools to develop bids for the ring-fenced SHINE funding - over £500k for projects based on SHINE’s priorities of Ready for School, Bridging the Gap and Flying High - and organising Ednorth TeachMeet sessions which bring together some to the best practice from the North East’s school both in physical and online events.
Harry Goodwill
POLICY OFFICER
Harry joined Schools North East in August 2019 as Policy Officer. Harry supports the chairty by ensuring that there is a command of the data, research, and policy developments in education. This allows Schools North East to have a distinctive voice on education policy, informed by a strong evidence base. A key example of this is our Manifesto for North East Education, put together in response to the 2019 general election, and following feedback from schools across the region. The manifesto contains the key recommendations from North East schools, and has shaped our policy focus since.
Before joining Schools North East Harry worked in the parliamentary office of the Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP for 3 years. Prior to that, he studied at Newcastle University for a BA in Politics and History, and then an MA in European History.
Rose Davison-Hayton
EVENTS COORDINATOR
Rose joined Schools North East in September 2018 as the Events Coordinator.
She assists the Events Manager in creating and developing the large annual events programme, ensuring that each event is planned and executed to a high standard. Through research, Rose ensures that our events are in line with the need and current demand of North East schools as well as bringing new ideas to the table.
In the two years that Rose has been with Schools North East she has successfully supported the planning and delivery of more than 50 major conferences, single-issue events and webinars with over 10,000 delegates.
Before joining the team at Schools North East, Rose worked for many years within the Hospitality Industry. Outside of Schools North East Rose likes to travel and spend time with friends and family.
Lindsay Gerencser
FINANCE OFFICER
Lindsay joined the team in March 2020 and comes from a background working in the charity sector. She supports the charity’s financial management and operation needs and is the first point of contact for schools and supporters around anything financial. Lindsay is experienced in relationships with stakeholders and supporting around events.
Lindsay brings with her a commitment to working towards the charity’s vision supporting schools in the region.
Michael Veitch
ADMIN AND COMMS ASSISTANT
Michael is on a student placement with Schools North East through his course at Northumbria University. He is a member of the Schools North East admin team and his role entails supporting in various areas of the charity, with a particular focus on supporting the blog and weekly newsletter. Over the next year his aim is to provide the best support not only to the team but to all the school professionals in our network.He is particularly excited to be supporting the National Network of Special Schools for School Business Professionals for the fantastic work they do.