Advisory Board
Ceri Morgan MA
Ceri has worked in education for 40 years in a wide variety of roles, including senior posts within Ofsted, the Department for Education and a Local Authority. He is also a highly respected international consultant on school improvement and evaluation. He started his career as a teacher of mathematics and has been a substantive Headteacher in two schools and supported many more. He worked at The University of Warwick as a senior lecturer in mathematics and mathematics education as well as the then newly establish Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth for six years and is a published author of both academic and curriculum materials. He joined Ofsted as one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors and became an Assistant Divisional Manager for them, working primarily in inspection research and international evaluation. He was with Ofsted for 10 years and served in their specialist ‘schools causing concern’ team for several years. Ceri was then seconded to work with The British Council and spent time working in a number of countries around the globe helping to improve education systems at scale. This included work with countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Oman as well as China, India, Sudan, and Mexico.
Ceri has also worked as a Deputy Director with the Department for Education in England for three years and as a consultant with the Welsh government. In the former role he was responsible for the improvement and accountability system for the growing academies programme in the Regional Directorate and served a further 2 years as an adviser to the then school minister. During the pandemic he became Director for Education and Skills for a large English Local Authority. He now works for a multi academy trust and the Department for Education (again) as a Strategic Director and adviser respectively.
Ceri retains a keen enthusiasm for international work and is supporting the development of national systems in several countries, including in Africa and the wider Gulf region. He is also a trustee for two successful Multi Academy Trusts as a volunteer. A recent additional role (2023) is to contribute to the work of an expert group sponsored by Microsoft looking at digital curricula and the potential and risk associated with AI in education.
Outside of work, Ceri has a keen interest in rugby, music and family activities. He is a grandfather to three little rugby players.
Margaret Mulholland
Margaret Mulholland is the advisor on SEND policy to the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), the largest professional association for school leaders in the UK and Project Director of the Whole School SEND project for the National Association of Special Needs (NASEN), a leading UK education charity. She is a leading advocate for the role SEND settings play in improving understanding of inclusive teaching and learning.
She brings over 20 years’ expertise in teaching and teacher education, including seven years as Director of Development & Research at the UK’s highest performing Special School and thirteen years at the UK’s Institute of Education.
Margaret works with the UK Government on curriculum development and works with local authorities and government departments as an external advisor for newly qualified teachers, teacher education and leadership development. She has worked with the Government of Pakistan in developing a change programme for teaching in special schools in the Punjab.
She has contributed chapters to Practical Theorising in Teacher Education (Routledge 2023), Reflective Teaching in Secondary Schools 6th Edition (Bloomsbury 2023) and Effective Practices in Continuing Professional Development (IoE 2009) and writes a monthly column for Times Educational Supplement on leadership. She is a regular commenter on Special education on the BBC.
Margaret is an executive committee member of the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET), trustee for the Centre for Education and Youth, founding fellow of the Chartered College of Teachers and an Honorary Norham Fellow at Oxford University Department of Education.
Dr Jenny Hewson
Caroline Hoddinott OBE
Caroline works as an Education Consultant in the English secondary school sector, operating in a range of settings and contexts as a School Improvement Partner and leadership coach. She is a serving Ofsted Inspector with a remit to inspect secondary, independent, SEND and alternative provision.
Caroline was the Headteacher and latterly Executive Headteacher of Haybridge High School and Sixth Form for 12 years. She oversaw the school becoming a Teaching School and National Support School in 2011 (when Caroline was designated as an NLE – National Leader in Education) and a SCITT (School Centred Initial Teacher Training) in 2015. In 2018 Haybridge formed, in partnership with King Charles I School, the Four Stones Multi Academy Trust.
Caroline has served as a representative on the Ofsted West Midlands Headteacher Reference Group and the Chair of WASH (Worcestershire Association of Secondary Headteachers). She has also worked in an advisory capacity for the Department of Education.
Currently, Caroline is the Chair of Trustees for the River CE Multi Academy Trust in Worcestershire, a MAT of sixteen schools and a school Governor for King’s School Worcester where she chairs the education Committee. For the past four years Caroline has been a Trustee of UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) where she represents schools.
In 2020 Caroline was awarded an OBE for her services to education.
Dr Paulette Osborne
Dr Paulette Osborne MBE is the Assistant Director for School Improvement for the largest education authority in Europe. She is accountable for over 450 educational settings.
Paulette has been an educator for over 25 years. She was the Executive Headteacher at St Matthew’s CofE Teaching and Research School for 10 years. During this time, her school was Judged to be ‘outstanding’, in 2015. ‘It is clear to see why the school was recognised as one of the top 100 most improved schools ,’ Ofsted 2015.
Paulette’s school was also the first school, nationally, to receive the Egmont Reading for Pleasure School of the Year Award, in 2018. The school was accredited as one of 16 national Talk for Writing Centres, after the strategy was introduced to the school in 2012. Her school’s passion for reading led to the successful roll out of a school improvement project ‘Transforming Reading ‘ to over 43 schools across the West Midlands and Norfolk.
Paulette was designated a National leader of Education in 2016 and has been selected, by the UK’s Department For Education, to sit on various Advisory Panels. She was a member of the NLE Review Panel and a member of the DFE Teaching School Hub Assessment and Advisory Panel. Paulette has also supported the DFE as School Recruitment and Retention Consultant.
Paulette is an accredited Pupil Premium Reviewer, a Leadership Coach/Facilitator and Assessor for Ambition Institute. She is also an accreditor for the RE Quality Mark. She has recently been selected to train as a SIAMS inspector.
Paulette’s work to raise school standards and impact the life chances of generations of young people has been recognised at the highest levels. She was awarded an MBE for her services to education – she took the whole school down to London to meet the Queen!
Paulette was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Degree of Letters honoris causa) from Aston University, for her ‘significant contribution to raising attainment amongst young people.
Shabana Amir-Baz
A successful inspector and leader with 21 years of experience in educational leadership and management, Shabana is a founder and director of Amir-Baz Education Consultancy Ltd. She is also the co-founder of Successful Early Educational Development (SEED), a school improvement and staff and leadership development service.
Shabana has effectively held a Principal and Executive Principal position over three schools both in the UK and the UAE. She has been a School Improvement Officer and a Director of Academic Excellence and Compliance across several schools. Shabana has led School Inspections in the Middle East and across other international countries for the MoE, SPEA, ADEK and BSO. She has inspected and reviewed British, American, MoE, IB, Indian, Pakistani, Reggio Amellia, Montessori, and Kerala curricula schools both in Lead and Team capacity.
Shabana understands the importance of developing staff to raise school standards and create a rich, productive, and successful working environment. Shabana provides bespoke coaching and mentoring programmes to middle and senior leaders to develop their capacity to successfully move schools forward. Recently she developed an Early Years scheme of work, which significantly moved T&L from 78% Weak and below teaching to 100% Acceptable and above teaching within one term. She has set up Pre KG-departments for schools in the UAE.
Shabana specialises in whole school education, (KG/FS- Grade 12/Year13). She was given the accolade of Birmingham’s best primary school with SATs results amongst the best in the country (top 0.1%) for two years running. She has supported the Minister and the officials of Caymen Islands to move education forward across the country.
Shabana has successfully led teams of reviewers, working on Improvement Review Visits for SPEA- UAE. She has led a team of evaluators, working on an Early Years pilot for the MoE- UAE, and has been part of a team responsible for English and Performance Standard 4 (curriculum) across the Northern Emirates with the MoE. She is currently writing the developmental milestones in Early Childhood Education for the ADEK and is leading a team through Early Childhood inspection pilot across the UAE. Shabana is a facilitator for the NPQ programme in the UK and an inspector for the British Schools Overseas.
Kathryn Morgan
Kathryn is the Capacity Improvement Advisor, a systems leadership role, at the Teaching School Hubs Council (TSHC) in England. Providing policy advice and insights from across the sector, the TSHC represent the 87 Teaching School Hubs (TSHs) who deliver national professional development programmes to teachers and leaders across England. Kathryn works closely with policy makers and a wide range of wider sector stakeholders, including Ofsted, and a range of sector bodies, to ensure TSHs are well placed to deliver high-quality programmes at scale. In her role, she is responsible for the design, and delivery of the TSHC Support Programme, providing the network of TSHs with the knowledge and skills required to fulfil their role as school-led centres of excellence.
Kathryn has held a variety of senior leadership positions in school which include deputy headteacher and trust leader for professional development and research. Kathryn has extensive knowledge of school improvement, providing support across multiple schools and regions in her role as maths subject specialist (MaST, Edge Hill University). She has been both a chair of Governors and a trustee of a refugee charity where she led on the organisations Theory of Change and Improvement strategy.
Kathryn has extensive knowledge of teacher and leader professional development having held senior roles at Ambition Institute and the Teacher Development Trust. With an in-depth understanding of leading research on teacher and leadership education, Kathryn has been responsible for the curriculum design of a range of national qualifications. Kathryn has contributed to a range of researched events, including researched home (2020). Kathryn has also had an article published in the Chartered College of Teaching Impact Journal, entitled Achieving a professional learning culture: Issues, improvements, impact (2020).
In addition to this, she has been a research associate at the University of Gloucester, working on the early stages of an ERASMUS+ project into how headteachers make sense of complexity when problem-solving as part of the school improvement process. Kathryn also has an MA in Educational Leadership at the University of Gloucester.
Finally, Kathryn is an accredited Fierce Conversations coach. The Fierce Conversations coaching method and tools are a powerful resource to support organisations and leaders to identify solutions, unblock challenges, and ignite purposeful and timely action.
Andrew Morrish
Andrew is founder and director of Makana Leadership Ltd, an education company that provides a range of strategic consulting services to schools and multi-academy trusts. He is also the co-founder of Headrest, a free telephone wellbeing support service for headteachers.
Andrew holds several degrees from the University of Liverpool; a first class B.Ed (Hons.) and M.Ed in educational leadership and management. Andrew has over two decades’ experience as a headteacher and CEO and has a proven track record of school transformation, including rapidly from the lowest Ofsted rating of ‘special measures’ to the highest, ‘outstanding.’ Andrew is the founder CEO of the first all-primary multi-academy trust (MAT) in the local authority.
Andrew is a former National Leader of Education (NLE) and Ofsted inspector. He has also been a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts (FRSA) and Member of the Institute of Directors (IoD). Andrew is a founding Member of the Chartered College of Teaching (MCCT). For several years Andrew was chair of governors at a primary school and has also been a trustee of a MAT.
Andrew is a sought after conference speaker and continues to deliver leadership keynotes at events throughout the UK, and as far afield as Sydney, Australia. He is the author of several books on leadership, including The Art of Standing Out (John Catt, 2016) and The Authentic Leader (Bloomsbury, 2022). His upcoming book is about intelligent accountability and is due for publication in Spring 2024.
Andrew has written for a number of publications including the Times Educational Supplement (TES) and Guardian newspaper. His paper on authentic leadership was published in Impact (Issue 17), the research journal of the Chartered College of Teaching. Andrew is a regular commentor on topical education events for national radio and TV. In 2023, Andrew joined the NEU Ofsted Inquiry Expert Panel chaired by Lord Jim Knight tasked with identifying an alternative approach to school inspection.
Twitter: @AndrewDMorrish
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/andrewdmorrish/
Evelyn Forde
Evelyn Forde MBE Evelyn Forde was Headteacher of Copthall School, a girls’ 11-18 academy with a culturally diverse intake in North West London (2016-2023). She led the school from a ‘requires improvement’ Ofsted judgment to ‘Good’ in just under two years. Evelyn won the TES Headteacher of the Year Award in November 2020, followed shortly by an MBE in the 2021 New Year’s Honours List.
Evelyn is a regular contributor to national educational debates, is a conference speaker, committee member, and writer. She is currently the National President of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), the largest membership organisation for school leaders in England. Evelyn was the inaugural Chair of ASCL’s Ethnic Diversity Network which compliments the work she does in the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) space.
Evelyn has represented the profession at both Labour and Conservative party conferences and is asked to speak on a range of media platforms discussing current educational issues. Evelyn was a member of the ‘Times Education Commission’ which published a cross-phase report on English education and she then went onto chair The Commission on Teacher Retention examining the reasons for teachers leaving the profession. Evelyn has international experience working with the British Council in Lebanon to share the good practice from her school in areas of school leadership, what it means to be a values driven school and the importance of girls’ education. In September, Evelyn will become a trustee of Education Support, an organisation that supports the well-being of staff in schools.
Carol El Hawary
Carol is a highly qualified and skilled professional with extensive experience in operational risk management, operations management, project management and HR. With a proven track record in these areas, Carol has consistently delivered exceptional results and contributed to the success of several organisations in the IT, finance and education sectors, both in the UK and internationally.
As an operational risk specialist, Carol has demonstrated a keen ability to identify potential risks and develop robust strategies to mitigate them. With a meticulous approach to analysing complex operational processes, Carol has successfully implemented risk management frameworks that ensure the smooth functioning of operations while minimising potential disruptions.
Carol’s strong background in operations management has enabled her to optimize complex processes, streamline workflows and maximise efficiency, always mindful of the risk management aspects. Her expertise in analysing data and identifying areas for improvement has consistently resulted in increased productivity, cost savings and reduced risk for the organisations she has served. In addition, Carol’s expertise in conflict resolution and her focus on employee empowerment and development fosters positive and productive work environments.
One of Carol’s standout qualities is her exceptional troubleshooting and incident management skills. Her ability to remain calm under pressure, think critically to get to the crux of the issue and make swift decisions has been invaluable in resolving complex issues and minimising the impact of incidents on business operations.
Twitter: @carolhawary
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/carol-el-hawary
Kate Brunt
Kate has over two decades’ experience as a headteacher and CEO and has pioneered structural and cultural change throughout the education sector in England. She has led both mainstream and alternative provision schools out of the lowest Ofsted rating of ‘special measures’, transformed the practice of individual teachers, schools and MATs, identified talented teachers and developed them as leaders of education through personalised mentoring, and inspired new entrants to the profession to ensure the best possible outcomes for children.
In 2014, Kate established The Rivers CofE Academy Trust, the first all-primary MAT within the English county of Worcestershire. She started with three founding schools and, during her time as CEO, she systematically bought about a culture of collaboration which orchestrated substantial growth and created a family of sixteen schools across the wider region, including the first primary free school and first primary alternative provision setting in the county.
In her drive to improve the life chances of all children, Kate has brought about a number of innovative and inspirational changes to the education sector including:
The implementation of an enhanced ethical curriculum based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This creative approach to learning is ambitious and inspires pupils to explore life’s big questions whilst reflecting the importance of sustainability and preparing them for the future. This enhanced curriculum has been well received by Ofsted and has been shared nationally through conferences and webinars with institutions such as the DfE, the Chartered College of Teaching, Confederation of Schools Trust (CST) and other MATs across the country.
The design and implementation of a new, innovative governance structure which addresses the climate of growing MATs and the realisation that governance of a MAT needs to evolve in order to remain impactful. This cutting-edge thinking has been shared with CST, Ofsted and other MATs and has helped to shape the thinking and practice of education leaders nationally.
Through the success of The Rivers, and her reputation of being a straight talking, hardworking and totally committed individual, Kate is now a highly respected and sought-after coach, mentor and speaker. Kate’s mantra of ‘What is the impact?’ champions change in a consultative manner that brings others with her on the journey and keeps everyone involved focused on the end goal.
Kate is a National Leader of Education (NLE), an Ofsted inspector and a coach/mentor on the DfE’s Trust to Trust Development programme. She has an ethos of ‘always learning’ and is a School Improvement Partner for several MATs across the Worcestershire area and beyond. Kate was also a former member of the West Midlands Advisory Board and the Department of Education’s Headteacher Reference Group as well as being a board member for several MATs and a governor of an Independent School. Kate was made an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Worcester (UoW) in the School of Education in November 2022 and has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the UoW in September 2023.