Governance Training

Susanna is a Governance Manager at Learn Sheffield, specialising in governor recruitment and retention, governor training and the development of our Governance Professional team. Susanna was a Governance Professional with Learn Sheffield for a number of years before joining the central team in 2023.

Susanna was a primary school teacher and senior leader in South Yorkshire for over 20 years and has been involved in governance since the start of her teaching career. Susanna is currently in a governor role at two schools, has been a chair of governors and has provided coaching to other chairs in Sheffield schools.

Mark is an experienced education governance specialist who works with sector organisations, teaching hubs and local authorities to support and enable good governance. He has worked on various DfE funded programmes including the leading governance development programmes for chairs, clerks and boards and the National Leader of Governance programme. He has delivered the clerk’s development programme for several teaching hubs and trusts and develops and delivers training for Learn Sheffield, the Sheffield school’s company.

He works as a governance consultant and trainer for both the National Governance Association (NGA) and the Confederation of School Trusts (CST), delivering external reviews of governance, training and consultancy.

Mark has delivered over 50 external reviews of governance and has experience providing support directly to schools and academy trusts of all sizes, phases and types.

Mark’s governance experience includes chairing multiple school boards including interim executive boards that have been engaged in taking schools from special measures to good. He has been the member of several transition boards and chaired a special school’s governing board. He is currently a trustee of a 26-school multi academy trust.

Sue is a lead Education Consultant at Learn Sheffield specialising in Online Safety and Relationships Sex and Health Education having left a similar role in Sheffield City Council in 2022 to join the learn Sheffield Team. She leads on a commission from Sheffield Safeguarding Children Partnership to support schools and settings in keeping children safe online and works closely with the Sheffield Safeguarding Education advisors.

Sue is a former physics teacher, head of department and middle leader in a secondary school. She has extensive experience in teaching and learning using learning technologies and worked for more than 20 years in the application of learning technologies in education, more recently specialising in online safeguarding.

Sue played a leading role in creating the current curriculum for Relationships, Sex & Health Education in the city. More recently she has been leading on a Developing Healthy Attitudes Project via the South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit across the county.

Sue is passionate about ensuring that children and young people have access to high quality learning and support to help them thrive in all aspects of their lives.

Sarah joined Learn Sheffield in January 2023. She was previously HMI. During her time at Ofsted, she was the Subject Lead for English, working within Ofsted’s Curriculum Unit. In this capacity she worked on the English Research Review, which is part of Ofsted’s Research Review Series. Sarah’s previous experience included school leadership, post-graduate studies including school improvement and leadership and work as a Specialist Leader in Education. Sarah has also led an English improvement group of collaborating secondary and primary schools and English training for national organisations.

Homaira is part of the Policy and Democratic Engagement team in Sheffield City Council and will be working as part of the Learn Sheffield team to support the work of the Sheffield Education Race Equality Working Group.

Homaira has a primary teaching and school leadership background and joined SCC two and a half years ago to work on equalities. Following the findings of Sheffield’s Race Equality Commission in 2022, her work plan has been mainly focussed around advancing race outcomes both internally within the council and externally across the city by working with a variety of partners and community organisations.

Helen has recently retired following ten years working for the North East, Yorkshire and Humber Region of Ofsted, most recently as Senior His Majesty’s Inspector and Assistant Regional Director. In these roles, Helen has extensive senior leadership experience in Ofsted, including inspection and monitoring of primary and secondary schools and inspection of initial teacher training providers. Her leadership experience spans all of Ofsted’s remits, schools, early years, further education and skills and social care.

Prior to that she undertook a range of school senior leadership roles, including as a headteacher. Helen has worked as a school improvement advisor and as a primary and secondary science teacher advisor. In both these roles she oversaw improvements at both school and subject level.

Malcolm’s background is in education. He was a teacher in the secondary sector for 25 years, half of that time in senior leadership roles, teaching in three different schools, two in Hertfordshire and one in North London. He then worked for 14 years within Children’s Services at Hertfordshire County Council in a variety of roles including school admissions (particularly complex cases), home to school transport and school exclusions. With reference to exclusions, he represented the Local Authority at over five hundred governor exclusion hearings and many dozens of Independent Appeal/Review Panel hearings.He led a team of specialists advising schools, governors and parents about the exclusion process.

Malcolm was also involved in securing alternative educational provision for children who had been permanently excluded and has mediated hundreds of managed moves to obviate the need for exclusion.

He now works as an education consultant, providing a number of services including a range of exclusion training packages for governors, training for senior school leaders and pastoral managers regarding the exclusion process, reviewing school behaviour policies, conducting behaviour reviews in schools and ad hoc commissions.

Bev works as an educational consultant providing advice, training and strategic leadership support to schools and other educational organisations. She has over 20 years' experience in primary headship and executive headship and as a Local Authority lead head teacher. She has a well proven record of sustainable school Improvement and leadership development based on effective collaboration. Bev has particular expertise in supporting schools in challenging circumstances towards rapid improvement in outcomes.

Sai has a wide range of experience in education and has worked in a range of different settings. He has experience of all phases of education, independent schools and free schools. Sai has been a headteacher in several secondary schools, an independent consultant, an Education Advisor for the Department for Education and served as HMI in the London region. In addition to supporting school improvement, Sai has specific interests in safeguarding and alternative provision.

Peter is an NGA consultant and undertakes external reviews of governance and delivers training, development and bespoke support for academy trust boards and maintained school governing bodies. Peter is an experienced school leader, trustee and governor who is passionate about the role governors and trustees can play in school improvement. After a career working in schools, Peter now works as a consultant supporting schools, trust boards and governing bodies in a variety of contexts, reviewing current practice and providing bespoke training. Peter is experienced in strategic leadership and school improvement, and can help organisations identify areas for development and implement plans for change. He has experience of school inspection as a school leader, governor and inspector, and is able to support governing bodies in ensuring they and their school are well prepared for their next visit. Peter is currently a trustee of a multi-academy trust and chair of governors of a Church of England secondary school.

Diane has supported school leadership in Sheffield for over 20 years, having previously been a teacher, school leader and associate headteacher in the city. Formerly a Local Authority adviser, Diane joined Learn Sheffield in 2015 and currently provides professional development and school improvement support for primary schools in Sheffield and across the region. Her areas of specialism include pre and post Ofsted support, training and development for school leaders and those involved in governance. She has a particular interest in curriculum design, primary assessment and English writing moderation.

Chasca is a consultant with the National Governance Association (NGA) undertaking external reviews of governance, delivering training for academy trusts and schools, and providing bespoke support. She also delivers governance training for Derbyshire local authority and Learn Sheffield. Chasca was a designated National Leader of Governance under the reformed programme (2012-23).

As a former university academic, with a PhD in the social sciences, Chasca’s professional experience in higher education means she has excellent strategic and analytic skills that transfer well into school governance. Her former work as a trustee in the charity sector further broadens and deepens her relevant expertise for school and trust governance.

Chasca has experience of governing in schools exploring federations, collaborations and academisation, as well as those managing expanding and contracting pupil intakes. Chasca is a trustee and vice-chair in a city-based multi academy trust with nine schools across all phases and she also chairs a large rural local authority-maintained foundation secondary school. She is a member in a multi academy trust (all phases and including Church of England voluntary controlled schools). She has also governed in a small rural Church of England voluntary aided primary school.

David has been an NGA consultant since 2015. He works for NGA Consultancy on a number of different projects including external reviews of governance of MATs, SATs and maintained schools; supporting organisations as an external adviser for the performance management of senior executive leaders and helping to develop advice alongside other members of the NGA team. He also delivers sessions for NGA Training on a variety of topics. David has over 30 years’ experience in primary education, including 12 years as headteacher and, since 2014, as a consultant, working with schools across the midlands. He was previously one of the redesignated National Leaders of Governance in September 2021. Before finding his vocation as a primary school teacher, David worked for six years as an accountant in business and industry. His professional qualifications include ACA and NPQH. David has been involved in school governance since 2011 and has experience in all phases from nursery to sixth form, in both mainstream and special education. He is currently chair of governors of an outstanding maintained primary school and is a member of a multi-academy trust. He previously served as a trustee in two multi academy trusts over eight of the last ten years.

Nick has over 30 years of teaching and leadership experience in secondary and special schools. He joined Learn Sheffield in the summer of 2021, having been an education HMI and Ofsted’s specialist adviser for SEND. Prior to joining Ofsted, he was the executive headteacher of two all-age special schools for children and young people with severe learning difficulties and complex needs. Nick also has experience as a senior local authority adviser and school improvement partner.

Andy is the Governance Lead for Learn Sheffield, which includes heading up the Governance Improvement Service and supporting and advising the Learn Sheffield Board. He also leads on Data Protection and provides Data Protection (GDPR) support to a number of schools in the city.

Andy has more than 40 years’ experience in education in the city, first as a lecturer in further & adult education, later moving into the area of IT and learning technologies in the local authority.

Andy was involved in the early stages of establishing Learn Sheffield in 2015 and joined the company in 2017, initially as Operations Director. He is a governor in a number of schools in the city and is passionate about ensuring that our schools and settings have all the support they need to help make our schools be the best they can be.