Currently, Sue is the Executive Director at Challenge Partners and has spent 40 years in education, 18 years as a Head Teacher at a secondary school.  Sue values the importance in ‘giving back’ to the system and has a record of strong governance experience. She is impressed by the responsible way in which new members are being recruited. Her values align with the Inspire Partnership, particularly the focus on curriculum provision that recognises the importance of place and community. Sue also values the generous and ethical leadership at The Inspire Partnership and the belief that it is possible to have both equity and excellence in our system.

Jo is an executive headteacher for the Compass Partnership of Schools. She taught for 17 years in both early years and primary settings before joining the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s school improvement team as a primary consultant in 2007. 

Jo has worked with a wide range of schools, supporting leadership teams to secure rapid improvement. She currently provides executive leadership to Deansfield and Alderwood Primary Schools and works with leaders and teachers across the Compass Partnership to develop outstanding teaching and learning. She is particularly interested in cultures that support deep learning, effective relationships and wellbeing in schools. 

Fitzroy’s 40-year career encompasses a diversity of roles and interests taking in CEO positions at a number of local and national charities and social enterprises; strategy and organisational development consulting;  and a wide range of people development roles working with graduate management trainees through to senior leaders in the NHS, local government,  and the third sector. He currently works as an independent career coach; as an associate director for a number of consultancy practices; and with the Office for Institutional Equity at the University of East London.

Fitzroy has a longstanding commitment to youth leadership and development, and he serves as a trustee and adviser to a couple of agencies in east London. Having worked around schools for more than twenty years, his role at Inspire is his first direct involvement in school governance, having been attracted to Inspire’s vision and mission. Fitzroy is also a non-executive director of East London Radio CIC, and hosts an occasional soul music show at the station.

Sinéad has over 20 years’ experience working as a Strategic HR professional. She is now an independent consultant and leadership coach, partnering with businesses across different sectors, to support leadership teams on both their people strategy agenda as well as the development of their leaders and their people leadership skills.

Previously, Sinéad worked at Allegis Group for five years, a staffing and services business, as their Executive Director, People.  She put in place and executed a people agenda to support the business strategy, using her broad experience on different HR subject areas.  Her passions are specifically on the topics of employee engagement; high performing teams; behaviours and culture; and leadership development.  During her time at Allegis Group she also established and chaired their Inclusion & Diversity Committee, as well as promoting activity in the community. To that end, Sinéad and her fellow executive leaders became patrons of The Prince’s Trust and undertook mentoring and support with teenagers from a school in North London. Before Allegis Group, Sinead spent over 11 years working at pwc, a professional services firm, where she ran talent acquisition teams as well as worked as an HR Business Partner supporting leaders of their Management Consulting business on their people strategy and agenda.

Jo is an executive headteacher for the Compass Partnership of Schools. She taught for 17 years in both early years and primary settings before joining the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s school improvement team as a primary consultant in 2007. 

Jo has worked with a wide range of schools, supporting leadership teams to secure rapid improvement. She currently provides executive leadership to Deansfield and Alderwood Primary Schools and works with leaders and teachers across the Compass Partnership to develop outstanding teaching and learning. She is particularly interested in cultures that support deep learning, effective relationships and wellbeing in schools. 

Darrell has over 30 years’ experience in finance, primarily focused on the development of bespoke risk management and financing solutions for multinational corporate clients. He has held senior positions at Barclays Bank, Deutsche Bank and Nomura, where he was a Managing Director within the team awarded Risk Solutions House of the Year 2018 by Risk Magazine.  In early 2022 he launched Korea Development Bank’s corporate hedging business in London.

Since 2017, Darrell has been a member of the Treasury (now Finance) Committee at Southern Housing Group, one of southern England’s largest housing associations, providing more than 30,000 homes for over 77,000 people, working with more than 80 UK local authorities.

He is also a Trustee of Key Changes Music Therapy , a registered charity that uses music therapy to support those who have social, behavioural, personal, developmental, learning or emotional issues. These are frequently children who have profound or multiple learning difficulties, adults with autism or elderly people with dementia.

Darrell has an MBA from City University Business School, is a Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers and a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.

A keen singer, he has for many years been a member of the Royal Choral Society and the St Paul's Cathedral Chorus.

Penny Rabiger is a long-serving and committed educationalist with an active and abiding interest in collaboration as a vehicle to personal, professional and organisational growth and development. Following a social anthropology degree at the University of Sussex, Penny travelled in search of collaborative communities in the Middle East and after two years living in three very different communities ended up completing her PGCE and spending ten years as an English teacher and form tutor in two primary schools and a secondary school in Jerusalem. She completed her Masters degree in Education through Leeds University while in Israel, and returned with her young family in 2007, where she took up a role of research team leader at the newly-formed government pilot of The Key for School Leaders. When the pilot funding ended in 2008, Penny took on the role of director of business development, seeing The Key develop a sister service for school governors, grow its membership to nearly 50% of schools in the country.

Penny has worked with a number of social enterprises and charities since leaving The Key, including the national school-to-school collaborative network, Challenge Partners, and the Finnish education organisation, Lyfta. She is currently studying full-time for a PhD with the Leeds Beckett University Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality. Penny is vice-chair of governors at a primary school in Tottenham and is co-founder and trustee of the BAMEed Network.

Born in Greenwich and raised in Thamesmead, Ray left Dartford Grammar School in 2016 to pursue a BA in Human Sciences at Wadham College, Oxford. As an undergraduate Ray was an outspoken campaigner and active student journalist. In 2018 he served as Co-Chair of the Oxford University Labour Club. In 2019 he was elected Vice-President (Access and Academic Affairs) of the Oxford University Student Union. As the student body’s primary representative on academic issues and educational access Ray helped introduce a landmark refugee scholarship, got the university to set targets for closing the gender attainment gap, and successfully lobbied for a final grade ‘safety net’ for students affected by the pandemic. Now that his term of office has come to an end, Ray is looking forward to making a positive contribution towards tackling educational disadvantage in his role as Trustee.

Rob is the CEO of the Inspire Partnership. He is the author of ‘A Manifesto for Excellence in Schools’ and regularly writes blogs about education and school improvement. As an NLE and a senior partner with Challenge Partners, Rob has experience of school leadership in a range of contexts, including schools in special measures and schools serving a high proportion of disadvantaged pupils. Rob is also a member of the ASCL Council as a primary representative. In 2016, Rob worked with the DfE and Teaching School Council to review primary teaching. 

Andrew is a career Insurance Broker starting his career in 1983 in the City of London.  In 2004 Andrew and a business partner acquired an established travel insurance business which they grew to £5M+ turnover in 3 years. 

In 2007 Andrew started his own business, Riverside Underwriting Limited which has grown to 20 staff transacting business from the UK and Malta where in-house designed and developed technology is the primary distribution method.

Andrew has been involved in employing young people throughout his career focusing on individuals with valuable personal attributes and providing training and encouragement to further their careers.

Andrew became a School Governor at Maundene Primary School in 2015 whilst it was still in the control of the Local Authority.  Voting to transfer Maundene to the Inspire Partnership after a period of school improvement. Andrew has been part of the Inspire journey in Medway that now includes Elaine Primary School and Delce Academy and the creation of the Medway Hub where he has been Chair of Governors, a role he will relinquish in July 2022.

Originally from south-east London, Andrew now lives in Medway with his wife Rita and three children and enjoys a regular game of golf although he admits he needs much more practice!

Lucy Ellis has more than 25 years of educational service to children and communities. Graduating from Warwick University with a degree in primary education, and from UCL with a masters in mathematics education, she has spent her whole career teaching and working within inner city London, and more recently in coastal areas of Kent and Sussex. After spending 8 years as a classroom teacher, Lucy became deputy head for inclusion for five years before becoming headteacher for a further five years. Having become a mother to two girls in this time, Lucy has spent the last 7 years as an executive leader supporting many schools at once, first as a school improvement officer for Lewisham council, next in one of the largest multi-academy trusts as a deputy director for education, and most recently as school improvement partner at a growing MAT within south east London, currently a flexible role that complements her return to the classroom as an MBA student. 

Lucy is delighted to be part of IPAT as she is, and always has been, absolutely passionate about education, believing it is the key to choice in later life. Educating some of the most disadvantaged children, creating aspiration, providing opportunity and having unwaveringly high expectations have been her entire career so far.  

Nicholas has over 20 years experience in scaling and building technology and financial services businesses. He currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer of CustomsClear, a Deloitte technology start-up. Prior to Deloitte, Nicholas was the COO of a joint venture between BCG Digital and Tata Steel Europe, leading on commercialising a new online marketplace for the buying and selling of steel across Europe. Between 2012 and 2017, as COO of The Start-Up Loans Company, he grew a public funded lender from a small start-up to supporting more than 50,000 entrepreneurs to get their businesses off the ground. He is also a company founder, having started and sold his own technology business in 2008.

Nicholas has an MBA from the Open University Business School as well as a Law degree from the Open University. Nicholas is a keen runner and a holder of a private pilots licence. 

Gustad is an independent management consultant with over fifteen years’ experience leading large scale, complex organisational transformation. Specialising in public sector strategy development and operating model design, Gustad’s clients have included the Ministry of Defence, Home Office, Metropolitan Police, and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. 

Gustad is passionate about helping organisations create diverse and inclusive working environments. He has led the development of numerous corporate D&I strategies, initiatives, and governance. 

A Croydon resident since 2018, Gustad is dedicated to making a positive impact in the surrounding communities of South London, Kent, and Surrey.

Rob is the CEO of the Inspire Partnership. He is the author of ‘A Manifesto for Excellence in Schools’ and regularly writes blogs about education and school improvement. As an NLE and a senior partner with Challenge Partners, Rob has experience of school leadership in a range of contexts, including schools in special measures and schools serving a high proportion of disadvantaged pupils. Rob is also a member of the ASCL Council as a primary representative. In 2016, Rob worked with the DfE and Teaching School Council to review primary teaching. 

Melissa started her teaching career in Newcastle, moving to London to experience greater diversity and opportunity. She has previously worked as an Executive Headteacher, Headteacher and school improvement consultant both within Inspire and within another London Academy Trust. Taking schools on a journey to improve outcomes for communities has formed much of her work, leading a number of schools from RI to Good in short time spans. Collaboration, is at the heart of Melissa’s work and, over the years, she has utilised this to bring about many significant changes within the Trust, leading on the development of our global curriculum, our assessment framework and our programme of CPD for teachers new to their careers. 

Melissa is one of our Trust Education Leaders holding responsibility for the quality of Education across the Trust with a specific focus on curriculum, teaching and learning and leadership. She has strategic oversight of school improvement, working closely with the Regional Education Leaders to ensure high quality education for all pupils in line with the Inspire vision.  

Underlying Melissa’s work, is her desire for social justice. Ensuring that all children experience the very best schooling experience and one that provides them with a fantastic springboard into life regardless of starting point ultimately means that Melissa will relentlessly pursue excellence for every child in the Trust.  

Rupinder is a Trust Education Leader for the partnership. She has worked in schools for over 22 years as a class teacher, phase leader, senior leader and headteacher in a variety of school contexts. She enjoys the school improvement journey and has a successful track record of turning schools around. She enjoys creating wonderful spaces for children to learn and for staff to work in, and always has culture and climate at the forefront of her mind. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion.

Aimi is the Regional Education Leader for the Partnership’s Greenwich Hub. Previously, she was the Headteacher of two of the schools in this hub and is passionate about leading learning for children and adults alike. Aimi believes firmly in the collaborative power of a Trust and has led working parties across the Partnership schools impacting on teaching and learning in areas of expertise such as reading and phonics.

Megan is the Co-Headteacher at Foxfield Primary School in Greenwich, previously holding a number of leadership roles both at Foxfield and within the Trust. Megan leads the curriculum group for the Trust and is committed to providing a high-quality Global Curriculum for all. Megan has a keen interest in school improvement and ensures that quality first teaching and learning leads to the best outcomes for all children. Megan is firmly committed to the collaborative approach across the Inspire partnership schools.

Tatum is the Co-Headteacher at Foxfield Primary School and prior to this she taught and held a range of leadership positions across different schools within the Royal Borough of Greenwich as well within the Inspire Partnership. Tatum is passionate about the Inspire Global Curriculum and leads the curriculum group across the Trust ensuring that the curriculum provides the highest quality learning experiences for our children. Tatum is involved in school improvement, developing teaching and learning across the Trust and teacher/leadership professional development.

Donna is Associate Headteacher of West Thornton Primary School, primarily based at the Rosecourt Road site of the school. She has worked within education for 22 years, both in London and the North East. She has a real passion for children’s literature and was able to put this to good use during her time as the Primary Literacy Advisor for North Tyneside. Donna is currently working on the development of the Design and Technology curriculum for the Croydon Hub. Her core values of kindness, excellence, empathy and tolerance sit perfectly within the values of the Inspire Partnership global curriculum. Donna believes that the partnership’s global curriculum provides learners with the skills, knowledge and understanding that they need to become responsible global citizens.

I am Headteacher at Delce Academy. I have worked in Medway for over 30 years and have loved working with diverse communities and being part of transforming children’s lives to allow them to make positive contributions to society as they grow up.  The Inspire Partnership champions the values of collaboration and partnership to achieve transformation and I value being part of the family of schools working together. I am highly committed to building strong, trusting relationships with our wider community to provide the best possible education for the children we serve.

I am the Associate Headteacher of Maundene Primary and it is an absolute privilege to work in a school that has the children at the heart of everything we do.  I have been teaching for over 20 years in Medway and enjoy working in the area where I grew up. Being part of the Inspire Partnership allows me to give back to the community and my priority is to ensure we give the best educational experience to each and every child that walks through the doors of our schools. I am fully committed to Inspire and love that our Global Curriculum focuses on preparing our children for the future world in which they will be part of – including preparing them for careers and jobs that may not even be around yet!

Owen Phillips and is the Headteacher of Woodhill Primary School. Having taught for 9 years in another Greenwich School, he moved to Woodhill where he held the roles of Assistant Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher before being appointed Headteacher in March 2022. Over his time within the Inspire Partnership, he has played an active role in the trust's Curriculum working party as well as leading on exemplifying assessment materials for English and Maths. He is now working on developing best practice in equality, diversity and inclusion across our group of schools.  His core values centre around respect, responsibility and kindness and he is dedicated to leading Woodhill with these at the centre of his leadership as well as working with others to improve outcomes and experiences for all children within our partnership of schools. 

Swabra joined Inspire Partnership in April 2022 as the Headteacher of Forest Academy. She has worked in the education sector for over 15 years, including Offender Learning and Further Education. Swabra holds a master’s degree in leadership from UCL and is a founding member of the Chartered College of Teaching. She has worked as a senior leader in primary schools in a range of contexts. She is committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. Swabra is dedicated in ensuring that a child’s socio-economic background does not predicate their educational success. She is passionate about raising children’s aspirations and providing them with the opportunities to become, life-long, agents of change.

As the Trust Inclusion Leader for the Inspire Partnership, I feel very privileged to be able to work with all of the schools within our Trust to ensure that all children have access to an excellent inclusive education.

After qualifying as a primary school teacher in 2011, I have taught at various schools within Medway where I was able to give something back to the communities in my local area. I am extremely passionate about ensuring schools are inclusive for all children by being a place where children feel safe and the education they receive prepares them for the 21^st century.

I am fully committed to the Inspire Partnership’s drive to ensure that we provide all children with a Global curriculum through engaging learning opportunities which will transform the future of our children.

Danielle is the Trust Teaching and Learning Leader for the Inspire Partnership. She is an experienced Senior Leader who has had success in a range of settings in Manchester and London. She has taught in all year groups and has effectively led curriculum design. She is passionate about improving the life chances of all children and this comes through in way she champions children and develops practitioners. Danielle is passionate about sharing good practice and is able to coach and mentor teachers and school leaders.

Danielle is always exploring ways to improve her practice. She is a Maths Mastery Specialist for the NCETM and was fortunate to go on the England-Shanghai exchange where she worked with some of the world’s leading Professors and Maths Teachers to hone her practice. She has completed the NQPSL and is an accredited Professional Development Leader.