Meet Our Team
Mark is the lead officer in the Trust.
He works with headteachers and the central teams to make sure we are doing the right things, in the right way, to get the best educational outcomes for all pupils.
Mark has been teaching, leading and inspecting in education for 25 years.
He is a qualified teacher, holds the National Professional Qualification for Headship and a Master’s degree in leadership.
He has been a headteacher, executive leader, local authority advisor and one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors. Mark remains an Ofsted lead inspector.
Dave is joining us as Director of Education for the trust and trust Safeguarding Lead. He will have strategic oversight of school improvement across the trust, and be responsible for ensuring a high quality of education for all pupils, in line with the Rise vision.
Dave has previously worked as an executive head teacher, head teacher, and school improvement partner for a large multi academy trust. He has successfully led both schools in crisis, and those moving from good to great.
Dave has led a variety of schools, ranging from growing free schools with small pupil numbers, to large inner-city schools with over 700 pupils. He is a trained primary school teacher, but has also been a headteacher of an all-through free school.
He holds a Masters in educational leadership, and is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
Dave has also worked with the Department for Education and Standards and Testing Agency on primary assessment, and chaired a review of assessment practices for the National Association of Head Teachers.
Stephen is responsible for the financial management of the organisation.
He works closely with the central team to ensure our schools get the best value for money and create an environment which allows children in our schools to get a great education.
Stephen has been working in schools since 2012.
He qualified as an accountant in early 2000’s, has completed a Masters degree focussed on improving the quality of school leadership, and is about to start his Doctor level qualification.
Stephen has completed (and delivered training on) the National Professional Qualification for Executive Leaders in education, and works closely with colleagues at the DfE, supporting schools through financial reviews (he is an accredited School Resource Management Advisor).
He also is a Fellow of the Institute of School Business Leadership and chairs the panel which approves people to the highest level of Membership.
Talvinder works with senior leadership and central team to develop financial structures which supports best practice across all schools and the central team, which enables the schools to focus on the teaching and learning of children.
She has been working in schools since 2012 and as a Chief Financial Officer since 2016.
Talvinder previously worked as a consultant with number of Local Authorities developing and delivering Financial, Procurement, H&S, HR and Estates strategies.
Prior to that she has worked within Financial Services Industry and leading and managing the central support teams.
Talvinder is a member of the Institute of School Business Leadership and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Banking.
Ralph supports school leaders to maintain effective practice and procedures and fulfil the Trust vision: “Enabling children to flourish and succeed.”
He formerly worked for The Leicester Diocesan Board of Education, facilitating church school inspections (SIAMS) and establishing a group of Leading RE (Religious Education) Teachers.
Ralph has taught and led in schools ranging in size from 70 to 320 pupils. He has spent 14 years as a headteacher, 4 years as a deputy headteacher and 25 years as a governor.
He holds the National Professional Qualification for Headship.
Maria is the Trust Operations Lead, her role is to facilitate the best possible educational provision and outcomes by successfully removing any non- academic barriers to achieving academic goals, maximising the capacity of school leaders and their staff by ensuring they are fully supported in their work by the Trust.
She has been working in education since 1991, initially working in the Further Education sector and then moving into Primary in 1996.
Maria achieved the CSBM in 2007 and went on to achieve the DSBM in 2010.
She also achieved the TAQA in Business Administration and is about to embark on the Senior Leaders degree for school business professionals.
Mehvish reports the Management Accounts for the Trust and at school level and manages all areas relating to finance and payroll.
She works closely with schools within the Trust to offer them assistance.
Mehvish is a qualified chartered certified accountant recognised by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
She has been a Management Accountant for the Trust since 2018.
Kellie is an integral member of the central team delivering quality, effective and efficient financial services across the Trust.
She processes and maintains the GAG, DFC and CIF income for the Trust and its recharges.
She ensures that VAT returns are prepared, reconciled, approved and submitted to HMRC.
Kellie is qualified to AAT Level 4 Diploma for Accounting Technicians
Estelle is an experienced administrator with skills and knowledge gained from working in Further Education, Secondary and Primary for over 22 years.
She is the first point of contact for enquiries and communications into the central team and provides valuable support to the Trust Leaders and academies within the Trust.
She liaises with Directors, Members, Governors, external stakeholders and partners on behalf of the CEO.
Estelle is CIPD qualified with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, in addition to Administration, Business Studies and Counselling qualifications.
Sarah is the Trust Lead for Writing and is currently the Assistant Head at Christ Church and St Peter's Primary School in Mountsorrel.
She works with the central team and all staff across our schools to ensure that pupils get the best quality teaching and outcomes in writing.
Sarah is a qualified teacher- teaching full time in year 6- and has been teaching for 14 years, she has led on English for 9 of those.
She is currently a Specialist Leader in Education with a focus on English.
Fran is Trust Lead for Teaching and Learning.
She works with other teachers and leaders across the Trust to help make sure that everyone agrees on what good teaching and learning looks like in our schools.
Fran has been teaching since 2007. She has taught and led in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 and is Deputy Head teacher at Christ Church and St Peter’s Primary School.
Fran has experience of leading Maths and English and is a specialist leader of education.
Claire is the Trust Lead for Maths and headteacher at St Peter and St Paul CE Academy in Syston.
She supports maths leaders to stay at the forefront of the latest research and ensure the best possible outcomes for children in maths.
Claire has worked as a maths consultant for the last two years, working with schools across Leicestershire to deliver high-quality maths CPD through the Affinity Teaching School Alliance and Inspiring Leaders Teacher Training.
She previously led maths for 10 years in three contrasting primary schools.
Claire has supported a range of schools to look at the maths curriculum and tweets @CMulhernMaths.
Charmaine is responsible for improving the quality of teaching and learning within her specialist area of reading across our family of schools, and works closely with the central team, and the senior leadership team in order to achieve this.
She organises and delivers half termly network meetings which provide teachers from across the Trust with access to high-quality, focussed and relevant CPD, and is available to provide school-to-school support within her specialist subject.
Charmaine qualified as a teacher in 2014, having previously worked within the financial sector.
She has led English in her current school since 2015.
Charmaine has applied to undertake her Church of England Professional Qualification for Headteachers and holds professional qualifications in finance and management which she achieved in her previous job.
Nicola is a skilled clerk with over 15 years of experience working within the education sector.
Her extensive knowledge around governance brings the trust expertise with exclusions and admissions
She brings a wealth of knowledge to support the trust in governance at both school and trust level.
In addition to receiving the Accredited Clerk’s qualification she is currently undertaking the ICSA Certificate in Academy Governance.