School to School Support

With the support of our National Leader of Education, Specialist Leaders of Education and outstanding practitioners within the Alliance, we are able to offer bespoke school to school improvement work with demonstrable impact. This has included raising achievement in Maths and Science through development of non-specialist teachers of these subjects.

National Leader of Education

Simon London

The CEO of Empower Learning Academy Trust, Simon London is a National Leader of Education.  Simon, is an experienced headteacher, CEO and trainer who has worked with a number of headteachers, leadership teams and schools across different boroughs on school improvement.

Simon can facilitate bespoke training for your teams.

Specialist Leaders of Education

Nicola Afteni – Safeguarding

Nicola Afteni is an Assistant Headteacher. She has been teaching for 19 years as a science teacher. She has led department and pastoral teams and has been a Child Protection Officer since 2009 and subsequently the Designated Safeguarding Lead since 2015. She is responsible for the line management of a number of faculties and has helped develop and coach members of staff. Nicola has been the lead teacher for transition since 2004, supporting children as they move from primary school to secondary school. She has developed strong relationships with feeder schools during this period.

Nicola has attended many LSCB courses and completed safeguarding CPD training. Nicola belongs to a wide range of safeguarding forums and keeps up to date with contextual safeguarding and other safeguarding statutory guidance. In a recent Essex CLA monitoring visit in May 2019, the school was commended for its tracking, monitoring and support for CLA pupils and PLAC. Nicola has recently launched a new software system to record and track safeguarding issues within her school. Nicola was awarded a Jack Petchey outstanding leader certificate in November 2016 for encouraging and motivating young people in an exceptional way.

Nicola would be happy to support any new member of staff as a Designated Teacher for CLA pupils, Child Protection Officer, DSL for their school or a member of staff involved in primary transition.

Tiffany Bowles – History

Tiffany is currently a subject leader for History. Tiffany has completed the Outstanding Teacher Programme, and regularly leads CPD in her school on teaching and learning strategies that can be put in to place in the classroom. Tiffany mentors trainees to develop strong historical knowledge and pedagogy. She has completed her Level 1 Coaching with the Institute of Educational Coaching, and has experience with peer-to-peer coaching to help teachers outside of her department. As well as this, Tiffany has completed Middle-Leadership training with PiXL. Tiffany enjoys working collaboratively with other teachers and leaders to ensure that learners are getting access to the best education to allow them to build strong foundations for their future.

Alice Brighty-Glover – Geography

Alice is currently Head of Geography.. She is passionate about improving the quality and delivery of geography education. She has also acted as the Stretch and Challenge Coordinator across the school, focusing on the effective identification of more able students and the monitoring of successful interventions. She recently completed the NPQML programme, researching the quality of challenge in geography. She also focused on the development of a more rigorous and engaging curriculum, a heightened focus on the ‘evolution’ of a geographer in her school’s context and through effective quality assurance. She has also completed a Masters in Education at Cambridge University with a ‘Researching Practice’ angle. This involved the successful monitoring of, and interventions with, disadvantaged students having an emphasis on ensuring progress. She is also currently an exam marker for WJEC/Eduqas A (Component 2).

Alice is keen to provide subject specific CPD, aimed both at geography-trained teachers, but also to support non-specialists in the delivery of geographical knowledge. Alice is also keen to support the development of a challenging and fit-for-purpose a geography curriculum that meets the needs of a dynamic and ever-changing subject. She holds a BA(Hons)in Geography from Royal Holloway, University of London.

Joe Hales – History, Pedagogy and CPD

Joe is currently Director of Empower Teaching School.  He has been teaching history for 21 years and has led department, faculty and pastoral teams in that time.  Joe has also been a regional adviser for teaching and learning where he worked with SLT, departments and individual teachers on improving practice in north-east Essex. Feedback noted his supportive approach but one that challenged others to think big.  More recently, he has sat on the senior leadership team of his school taking on roles leading on CPD and teacher development, work related learning, disadvantaged pupils, and the line management of a variety of subjects.  Joe is keen to provide CPD, work alongside teachers and leaders as a critical friend to support development of history and wider teaching, providing strategic and practical support.  He believes strongly in the need for an ambitious, sequenced and robust history curriculum taught by subject specialists who engage with the subject communities to further best practice.  In 2018, he received an achievement award at the Havering Leadership Partnership Awards for the results of his class.   He holds a BA (Hons) in History and a Masters in Education (Distinction).

Karine Harrington – MFL

Karine Harrington is a Specialist Leader of Education for Modern Foreign Languages.  She is experienced in supporting MFL teachers and departments in improving teaching and providing CPD in areas such as pedagogy, examinations and assessments and transition.  Karine is currently a senior examiner and teacher with an Alliance school and runs our MFL Hub

Mark Herbert – Science

Mark is currently a head of science. He has overseen a steady improvement in outcomes in his school, for which he was recognised at the 2019 Havering Teaching Awards. Mark has a keen interest in evidence-based practice and the application of the principles of cognitive science to improving the quality of science education. Mark is an associate member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and a regional committee member for the Association of Science Educators (ASE) as well as being a trained facilitator for the STEM network. He is committed to using his experiences as head of department to helping out others who seek to ensure a high quality science experience for young people.

Afolabi Joseph – English, Teaching and Learning

Afolabi is currently Head of the English. He has led on rapid progress in English in three London boroughs: from schools with World Class Schools’ status, to schools moving from Special Measures to Good in 15 months. His pedagogy centres around quality questioning, feedback and pupil engagement. Feedback on his leadership has highlighted his critically reflective approach, endearing personality and his ability to influence impact. Currently his specialist areas include curriculum design, AfL, challenge and pupil progress in English. He has a passion for deconstructing exam strategies for disengaged and underachieving pupils, as well as examining the nuances between stretch and challenge. He holds a BA in English and American Literature and a Masters in English Education.

Geraldine McCoy – Music and Google Suite

Geraldine is an experienced teacher of Music in her 15th year in the profession. She has worked in three contrasting contexts, bringing about positive improvement and change in the departments she has contributed to. Geraldine took on the role of Subject leader for Music in September 2012. She believes in creating a varied and inclusive curriculum which inspires and encourages pupils to be ambitious in their music making. Significant numbers of pupils engage in the musical extra-curricular life of the school and GCSE and A Level Music continues to draw a strong cohort of pupils who achieve excellent results. In 2018, she received an achievement award at the Havering Partnership Awards for the progress of her GCSE results. Geraldine has trained and continues to support Music Teachers who have since had success in achieving Head of Department roles. Geraldine is invested in supporting the development of colleagues by sharing good practice in teaching and learning. Over the last two years, Geraldine has explored the potential and positive impact of digital learning that the Google Education suite provides. In August 2019, Geraldine achieved both Level 1 and Level 2 Google Educator status, and completed training on Google’s Applied Digital Learning course. Geraldine has instigated and led the training of effective use of Google Education Suite since June 2018. Geraldine completed the ADSLQ Leadership qualification in 2019 and holds a Music BHons degree from the University of Manchester.

Lyndsey Morgan – History, Law and Literacy

Lyndsey is an accredited SSAT Lead Practitioner in charge of Literacy. She has been teaching for over eleven years and has a proven track record of successful teaching and learning. She has held the positions of Head of History, Head of Faculty and Professional Tutor and has worked across several London boroughs in diverse school environments. Lyndsey is passionate about the transformative benefits of education and believes that poor literacy is not an insurmountable barrier. As such, she has devised action plans, delivered CPD, led working parties and trained staff, students and parents on literacy and other teaching and learning strategies. Lyndsey is motivated to share good practice because she believes that teaching is a vocation. In 2019, she received an award at the Havering Leadership Partnership Awards for her literacy work, most notably the setting up of competitive debate and public speaking events. Lyndsey holds an LLB in Law awarded by University College London and an MA in History awarded by the same institution following a full academic scholarship.

Natalie Smith – MFL and Pedagogy

Natalie Smith is a teacher of Modern Foreign Languages and a Teaching and Learning Advisor within her Multi-Academy Trust.  Natalie leads development programmes for aspirant Lead Practitioners and for recently qualified teachers.  Her interests are wider than just developing outstanding teaching within German.  She is currently supporting schools working on how to improve pupils’ memory and ensuring effective CPD and pedagogy for all staff.  She also provides one to one and department support in developing teaching and learning strategies.  She works across all departments.

Ralph Wells – Music

Ralph Wells is a Specialist Leader of Education for Music.  His outstanding results and experience in music education have resulted in a strong reputation for success.  He is also the subject link for the teacher training programme.  Ralph is able to support your music department in action planning for development, CPD and by providing teacher support.

We are recruiting SLEs in other subjects.  If you are an outstanding practitioner with strong interpersonal skills and a proved track record in supporting others, we would love to hear from you. 

If you aspire to be a Lead Practitioner and want to widen your impact across your school and the Borough, please contact us for details of our Lead Practitioner Accreditation.