I have successfully worked in the education sector throughout my career. I gained my first Headship in 2010 and successfully led one of the highest performing schools in the South East until 2014. I then led a turn around school from Special Measures to Good in 12 months before becoming an Executive Headteacher. In 2016, I became CEO of Thinking Schools Academy Trust (TSAT). TSAT is now a charity operating 26 state schools across the South of England responsible for educating 16,000 children with a budget of £150m.
Top achievements
- Turning around failing schools.
- Successfully expanding TSAT from a Trust serving 6,000 children to one serving 16,000 children over 10 years.
- Our response to Covid – we were one of the first Trusts to implement live online teaching for students and delivered over 2,000 food parcels a week.
What attracted you to the MBA programme at Kent Business School and why?
I wanted significant face to face engagement and the opportunity to work with colleagues outside my sector to broaden my horizons – Kent Business School provides both of these.
What are your motivations for undertaking an MBA
My role is now very different from the one I trained for. Therefore, I decided that I need to upskill myself to be the best leader I could be for such a large organisation. I wanted to validate decisions and approaches I have taken, learn from my mistakes and have the best possible framework for decision making and implementation going forward.
What are your future aspirations?
To continue in my role to ensure the our Trust continues to successfully deliver for the young people we serve and grows to become a significant leader in education provision in England.
What is your best advice for those wanting to progress in business?
Be brave!
“You will learn more from your failures than your successes – so embrace those mistakes, as difficult as that sounds, and grow from them” – Lynda Resnick