LONDON GIFTED & TALENTED INTERNATIONAL - Key Persons

Adrian Hall was Programme Director for educational software at the UK's Department for Education for over 10 years. Adrian's responsibilities, within the ICT in Schools Division at the DoE included leading and developing the government's policy in relation to the educational software industry, commissioning new and innovative award winning curriculum software, including software to work on mobile devices, developing thinking on the use of games in education, teacher training materials to support the use of ICT in the curriculum and a cross Whitehall responsibility for the education and learning element of the BBC Charter Review. Since leaving the Department Adrian has worked globally with a wide range of educational organisations supporting the development of institutions ICT strategies, innovative learning products and organisations international presence, at Ministerial and school level, from both a membership and business development perspective. He has a highly respected profile in the use of mobile, game and social media technologies for learning, and is regularly invited to speak at educational conferences throughout the world. Adrian worked with London G&T as the International Director of the International Gateway for Gifted Youth (IGGY) developing a free App on Academic Literacy as well as co presenting with Ian Warwick on a number of worldwide conferences.

Charlotte is a highly experienced classroom teacher, a trained facilitator, a Specialist Leader of Education (SLE), and a local authority moderator, specialising in Key Stage 2, English and G&T education. In her most recent school role, she was Assistant Head Teacher of Lightwoods Teaching School Alliance, a primary school in Sandwell Local Authority. This role provided many diverse teaching and leadership opportunities including training, moderation, research, assessment and curriculum development. She has delivered a range of school to school support for teaching assistants, teachers, leadership teams, whole school INSET days and worked extensively with teachers in their classrooms to raise learning and teaching standards. Charlotte worked in Hong Kong, teaching critical thinking skills to gifted children through books and film. This new concept is the first of its kind in the world, with more than 450 hours of teaching materials written by Ian Warwick and Ray Speakman of London G&T. Charlotte's role was to develop and nurture the provision for giftedness and to lead and manage the teaching team. In addition she has written assessment schemes and follow on materials called Book Explorers.

Yvonne's successful career in education includes twenty years of Headship at two leading Girls' Independent Schools - St Helen's, Northwood and The City of London School for Girls. Since 2007 she has worked as an Adviser on Head appointments and has a strong track record in making appointments at senior levels in schools. She also works as a Change Management Consultant, an Appraiser of Heads, a Mentor for Heads and was an Adviser on the merger of two schools for the Girls' Day School Trust. She is a Director of Radnor House. Yvonne is currently Governor and Chair of Education at Berkhamsted and Haberdashers' Schools, a Governor of Brighton University and a Member of the Wolfson Foundation Education Panel, the body responsible for advising on grants in science and ICT in schools across the country. She was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen in 2008 for Services to Education. As well as having worked in educational publishing as a writer and commissioning editor, she is committed to diversity and equality, working to raise the aspirations and achievements of youngsters through a range of outreach and partnership activities in London Boroughs.

Graham has a proven track record as an outstanding educator and leader in a diverse range of schools, has achieved rapid successes in an executive role in an international educational charity and is a highly regarded strategic advisor to schools, charities, government departments and the private sector. He is Affiliate Director of the Institute for the Habits of Mind and Director of Tomorrow's Learning in the UK. From a strategic role at the highest achieving school in New Zealand to being selected as part of the leadership team that turned around England's lowest achieving secondary school, Graham has successfully led change, pushed boundaries, motivated teams and achieved tangible outcomes. His abilities in educational leadership has led Graham to become an international speaker on many educational matters including more able education, thinking skills, critical thinking, Habits of Mind and children's and teachers' wellbeing amongst the wider issues facing global education. This role has taken him to over 30 countries to lead professional development, advise policy makers and challenge conference audiences. Having led professional learning networks for London G&T for several years as well as speaking at many international gifted education conferences with Ian Warwick, Graham has emerged as one of the key thought leaders on how to challenge the more able in both state and independent schools. Presently, Graham is Deputy Executive Director of the Association of International Schools in Africa (AISA), responsible for their strategic partnerships.

Educated at the University of York where he studied English and Related Literatures, Ian went on to teach at Holland Park School in London. He held the posts of Head of English, Head of Film and Media and Deputy Head of Humanities Faculty. In 1986 he founded FILM EDUCATION at the instigation of David Puttnam. The organisation expanded from producing printed study materials to developing CD ROMS, running In Service training for teachers, producing television programmes for the BBC Learning Zone and Channel 4 Schools on film related topics as well as continuing to produce film related and generic print materials. Since 1995 working with the Film Education TV team Ian developed over 50 television programmes, both as producer and scriptwriter. Ian has won two BAFTA's (children's interactive learning) as well as a ‘Learning on Screen' award, all for interactive teaching resources and has written three text books for schools on Media Studies, helped to develop three examination syllabi (at both GCSE and A Level) on Media Studies and was a consultant on the development of the Moving Image Arts A level for CCEA (Northern Ireland). He has served as a jury member for the BAFTA Children's Awards and the BUFVC's Learning on Screen awards. Ian has worked closely with London G&T for more than a decade and has supported in the development of many online and DVD resources for them as well as speaking on issues relating to education and film all over the world. Their most significant collaboration was on the BAFTA and BETT nominated Thinking Film series.

Ian started by teaching in inner city comprehensives for twenty years then set up and is Senior Director of London Gifted & Talented (www.londongt.org) part of the groundbreaking London Challenge, who have tackled issues of disadvantage across the city since 2004. LG&T have directly worked with well over 3,500 schools and 11,000 teachers nationally. More than 150,000 educators worldwide have used the free e resources. Ian co-wrote ‘Educating the More Able Student' and ‘World Class' in 2016 and two new books on ‘Redefining More Able Education' written with Ray Speakman in 2018. He has recently completed a book on learning called Unfinished Perfection, which focuses on Leonardo Da Vinci and explores strategies for improving creativity and innovation. As well as writing dozens of articles and chapters in national and international journals and compendiums, he has also spoken at over 100 international conferences. He has also written award winning high challenge e-learning materials and several film screenplays. He set up the REAL Project (www.realproject.org.uk), a national programme that for five years has led the way to improve the provision of education for BME and EAL students. He has established and led several independent state school partnerships across the UK. He developed a suite of customised online learning materials for the Hong Kong Academy and for schools in Singapore and has worked directly with networks of schools in many countries across Europe and Africa, as well as in the Middle and Far East. Ian's chief areas of interest are professional development and urban gifted education, designing materials that address academic literacy for disadvantaged and underachieving students, online and independent education and ways to increase creativity and intellectual curiosity. After 18 years as a classroom teacher in inner city schools, Ian wrote the original vision document and created the consortium of local authorities, higher education institutions and the private company that became London Gifted & Talented. His key role as a Senior Director is to increase the organisation's reach and impact. He has been managing over 50 public and private organisational relationship as diverse as the British Library, the V&A, NASA, the Youth Sports Trust, Imperial College, Future Lab, QCA, Crossrail and the National Strategies. His main interest is in urban education.

Indira is a passionate and highly experienced senior leader and Headteacher. Indira has worked across a range of education settings in the state sector in a career spanning over 30 years. She has a special interest in Gifted & Talented education and has worked tirelessly to ensure that all students regardless of their background are able to access the best possible education so that they may fulfil their ambitions. Indira has devised and delivered 1:1 and small group programmes for Early Bird sixth form students enabling them to successfully gain places on competitive courses such as Medicine and Law at top Russell Group Universities including Oxbridge. Working with London G&T, Indira has delivered Gifted and Talented Masterclasses across all London Boroughs and has advised on the Science Gifted and Talented curriculum content. She has also presented to networks of teachers and subject advisors on several online platforms, as well as at the Natural History and Science Museums.

Martin Stephen was Headmaster of The Perse School, Cambridge, and High Master of The Manchester Grammar School and St Paul's School, London. He was elected Chairman of The Headmasters' and Headmistress's Conference in 2004. He is the author or editor of twenty three books, including five novels in the acclaimed ‘Henry Gresham' series of historical crime thrillers, and his first play script, a compilation of poetry and prose from World War 1, was premiered in London in May 2014. His most recent other publications, in 2014, were Scapegoat: The Death of HMS ‘Prince of Wales' and ‘Repulse' and Poetry and Myths of the Great War: How Poets Altered Our Perception of History. He is a regular broadcaster and writer for the printed media. His most recent book is ‘Educating The More Able Student. What Works and Why' and was written with co-author Ian Warwick from London G&T and published by Sage in April 2015. Grounded in the classroom, it is an unprecedented collaboration between the independent and state sectors that addresses the crisis in education for the most able. The authors draw on their own extensive first-hand experiences and International research to scrutinise techniques and practices from leading countries, exploring the more divisive issues that have damaged teaching worldwide. It has received outstanding reviews from top educators in the UK and around the world.

Ray has worked with London G&T for many years on a number of national projects. He has also worked with the West Midlands Gifted and Talented Partnership, National Strategies, the DFE, the Excellence Hub, Warwickshire LA and individual schools across the country. He taught English in Birmingham, founded the Birmingham Youth Theatre, edited and wrote plays for schools, professional theatre and television and was a deputy in a large Warwickshire comprehensive. He founded Publishing House Me, a website for young writers and coordinates book based activity days in schools and the How Can I Tell My Story and This is Our Story series of conferences to encourage writing. Recently he has published two novels for 8 - 12 year olds: How Many Times Do I Have to Tell You? and, When Are You Going to Do As You're Told? He has just finished developing and writing with Ian Warwick an out of school course for able learners from 5 to 16 based in Hong Kong including 300 hours of detailed lesson plans and teacher training materials. His publications with London G&T include G&T guidance for rural schools, on disadvantaged children as well as articles and reviews for the Optimus G&T Update. He has co-written three books with Ian Warwick on More Able education.

Verity has worked in a range of educational settings over the last 18 years. Her doctoral research investigated the mechanisms that engage and enable children's learning - with specific reference to risk taking and trust within science education. She became an Education Advisor to the National Botanic Garden of Wales and Europe's Leading Eco Centre, The Centre for Alternative Technology. During this time, she developed a range of resources for WJEC, as well as national and international organisations. More recently, while working as Deputy Head of a Community School in West Wales, Verity played a central role in the strategic development of the More Able and Talented Programme for Pembrokeshire. She delivered a range of whole-school and Family of School INSET days. She also provided individual mentoring, as well as county wide training with primary and secondary practitioners - working extensively with teachers in their classrooms to promote engagement, raise attainment and cultivate cultural capital. Over the last two years Verity has worked closely with LGT to develop a series of high challenge KS2/3 transition units of work based on Literacy and Film with Ian Warwick. These provide rich tasks covering each of the non-fiction writing purposes. In order to combat the ‘lost years' of KS3, further challenging units were developed for use during Year 6 and into Year 7. Verity also manages the content of the MATWales website (MATWales.org) that LGT set up for several Welsh regions.