RIVERSIDE TRAINING - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Alison has worked in the Early Years Education sector for over 26 years and she is very passionate about it. Indeed Alison has a wealth of experience that she brings to Riverside having worked in schools and early years settings both in the UK and abroad as a Teacher, a Manager and as a Consultant. Alison is a qualified Assessor and IQA and she enjoys sharing her knowledge with others. That said, Alison is always ready to learn new skills and to take on board fresh approaches in Education.
Away from work, Alison loves spending time with her husband going to music festivals and experiencing spa days. She enjoys travelling enormously and considers herself very fortunate to have visited many different countries around the world. Sounds wonderful Alison.
Job Titles:
- General Manager
- Learning & Development Coach and Curriculum Developer
Alix has 20 years of experience in Operations in both independent and corporate organisations. Alix has worked as a General Manager for 14 years, her previous role was working in Learning & Development covering 62 sites across the North of the UK.
Job Titles:
- Apprenticeship Engagement Advisor
Andy joined Riverside Training in June 2022 as a Apprenticeship Engagement Advisor.
With an earlier care in hospitality and retail management Andy has been in the welfare to work industry for the last 8 years and has been lucky enough to offer support to different individuals across a variety of contracts, most recently as a National Careers Service Advisor.
Andy's originally from Liverpool and was raised in Wales so have a good grasp of the language and can easily jump between accents.
Andy enjoys being active and regularly goes running, playing football, or walks in the countryside with his girlfriend.
Job Titles:
- Business Support Team Apprentice
Charlotte joined Riverside Training in March 2023.
Charlotte is undertaking the Business Administration Level 3 Apprenticeship within the Business Support Team. She left school in May 2022 and decided college wasn't for her and chose the apprenticeship route instead. Charlotte is looking forward to gaining the Business Administration qualification and is keen to progress.
Charlotte enjoys spending time with family, socialising with friends and whilst being at Riverside has taken an interest in the daily yoga sessions.
Charlotte is also a big Man United fan!
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Clair joined Riverside Training in September 2020 as a Learning and Development Coach for Leadership and Management in the Health and Social Care sector.
Clair has been working in social care since 1997 when she started work at a residential school in Herefordshire supporting young people with Learning Disabilities and complex needs, eventually ending up as Senior Shift Leader. Clair subsequently joined the team at Herefordshire Council where she delivered a bespoke induction and foundation qualification for staff working with adults with learning disabilities.
Simultaneously Clair worked for a small not-for-profit organisation as Project Manager leading on nationally-funded projects to raise the profile of adult social care across Herefordshire, Worcestershire and The Black Country.
Outside of work Clair enjoys spending her time with her husband and daughter, a very active scout and gymnast, which keeps Clair busy. She enjoys taking long walks in the countryside followed by long soaks in the hot tub. Clair's other hobbies include reading and researching new things. Music is a massive part of Clair's life and she has a song for everything.
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach and Curriculum Developer
Claire joined Riverside Training in 2019 as an; Operations Departmental, Team Leader Supervisor, Human Resources and Project Management Learning & Development Coach whilst also working on a number of Curriculum Development projects.
Claire has worked in the work-based industry for 14 years and prior to this worked in retail management for a number of national retailers.
In her free time, Claire loves spending time outdoors cycling, paddle boarding and being at the beach. Her other passion is going to music festivals and gigs.
Clare joined Riverside Training in September 2000 as Finance Manager. During her spare time Clare enjoys skiing, fitness, entertaining and socialising with friends.
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Craig is a qualified teacher and joined Riverside in March 2023 following over 20 years of experience in education. Throughout his time in this industry he held numerous leadership positions and had the opportunity to work on both curriculum and pastoral management in a school setting. His background is in Physical Education and Sport although one of his favourite roles was that of Lead Coach; where Craig was asked to lead the NQT and ITT programme, alongside coaching and mentoring colleagues. Craig is hoping that this breadth of knowledge will utilised as he strives to support learners on the Senior Leader Level 7 course.
Donna joined Riverside Training in 2015. Donna has worked within the work-based learning industry since 1996 in various roles from administration to management.
Donna leads both the Delivery and Quality teams for Riverside Training. Donna is responsible for overseeing both the Sports, Education and Coaching Department and Functional Skills Department as well as the direct Management of the Delivery teams for HR, Accountancy, Management, L&D and Adult Care.
In her spare time, Donna enjoys lots of quality family time with her 3 young daughters.
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Elliott has recently joined Riverside Training as a Learning and Development Coach focusing on two roles; Coaching Professionals Level 5 and English Functional Skills.
Elliott comes from a Hospitality background; working as a kitchen assistant whilst at university and afterwards joining a large London and Hampshire based pub and hotel company as a waiter. He had the fortune of experiencing a large amount of roles including Night Porter (where he would dance up and down the corridors to get the automatic lights back on because he was scared of the dark). Just over three years later, Elliott's eagerness to learn and progress resulted in him being appointed General Manager and he went on to manage 3 different pubs & hotels. Whilst gaining a strong operational skillset, he also developed a passion in coaching, developing and motivating others. Elliott came to realise that he thrived off focusing on the people within the business and leveraged a coaching approach to his leadership to help them explore their passions and skillsets to unlock their potential.
Here's a fascinating insight; when Elliott was first adopted he would only stop crying when he was eating. This is something he feels has stayed with him into his adulthood as he has an unwavering passion for all things food. In particular, cooking and going on wine, beer and whisky distillery tours with his wife.
Job Titles:
- Business Support Administrator
Eloise joined Riverside Training in July 2016 working on the ESF Project as a Project Coordinator. When the Project finished Eloise then joined the Business Support Team and currently works closely with her Learning and Development Coach buddies and processes personal information for our Apprentices.
Eloise also manages our Cognassist platform for our learners and Learning & Development Coaches.
In her spare time, Eloise enjoys making memories with her two sons and spending quality time with friends and family.
Job Titles:
- Enrolment Officer
- Member of a Local Pottery Studio
Freya has recently joined Riverside Training in a new position as Enrolment Officer. Previously Freya worked in hospitality and she is now looking forward to developing her administrative skills as well as using her customer service skills to interact with learners.
Outside of work, Freya is a member of a local pottery studio. She enjoys walking her 2 dogs and spending time with her family.
Helen joined Riverside Training in 2006. Helen's background is in hospitality and management and she looked after hospitality and catering learners when she first started with us and was very successful in supporting the learners to achieve. Helen then had the opportunity to undertake her V1 Award in 2017, which she achieved, and then became part of the quality assurance team where she has been ever since.
As a Quality Officer, Helen helps mentor and support Learning & Development Coaches to develop and achieve their learners.
In her spare time, Helen enjoys going out for afternoon tea with her friends and spending lots of quality time with her two sons.
Jane has worked in vocational education for 25 years, 23 of them at Riverside Training and she therefore has a wealth of knowledge and industry experience. She is passionate about developing people to their full potential and is driven to provide the highest standard of customer service across all areas of the business. She's a charismatic and energetic visionary who puts the happiness and well-being of her team above all else, believing that success will come from happy people.
Business development is her main focus & she enjoys nothing more than collaborating with like-minded organisations.
Jane has been a Magistrate since 2001, she's a keen skier and horse rides as often as she can.
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Jasmine joined Riverside Training in May 2023.
She will be working as a Business Administrator/Customer Service Learning & Development Coach.
Jasmine has spent the majority of her working life in the Hospitality industry, mainly in supervisory roles. The last 6 years she has worked in the Retail industry with the last year spent as an Area Manager for a Confectionary company overseeing 269 sites.
Jasmine has been happily married to her husband for 10 years and have three lovely children. They also have a cat called Tilly!
She's a complete book worm and loves anything to do with history. In her spare time Jasmine enjoys all things arts and crafts, she's drawn and made various pieces which are displayed around her home. She also love travelling and exploring new places and spending time with family and friends.
Job Titles:
- Curriculum Development Manager
Jason has worked at Riverside Training since 2018, starting off as a Learning & Development Coach delivering management qualifications up to level 5 and Project Management. Since working at Riverside he has completed various qualifications such as APM Level 4, ILM level 5 and also his End Point Assessment qualification.
Since 2020 Jason has been heading up the Curriculum Development Team for Riverside as the Curriculum Development Manager. He creates and manages the building of the online programmes and resources that our learners see and ensures all the programmes are kept up to date.
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Jemma joined Riverside Training in May 2023
She has been a trainer/assessor/coach for the last few years, working with learners on diplomas and apprenticeships in management, business admin and customer service. Prior to that, she worked in various operations manager and team leader roles and also had her own business.
Jemma is am a Mum of 3 and they keep her very busy! She also lives with a very cute cockapoo called Teddy the terror (due to his love of stealing things!) and a cat called Max, who is less of a handful. She has a lovely partner and her hobbies are escaping for the weekend to random Air B+B's, travelling, live music, comedy, dance music and drinking wine (all types!)
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Kelly joined Riverside Training in July 2022.
Kelly joined Riverside Training after working as a Spa Manager in the hospitality sector for a number of years. During this time she delivered a range of practical and theory-based training across the group which ranged from training in - Spa Treatments, Front Office coaching and delivery, Customer Service, Company Induction and Company Standards Delivery. This gave her a real passion for coaching and developing people and has very fortunately brought her to this new and exciting role at Riverside Training.
Previously to Kelly's role in hospitality she worked for Virgin Atlantic Airways as both an Inflight Beauty Therapist and Cabin Crew which enabled her to travel and see the world.
Other hobbies she enjoys - Walking, Running, and Yoga (It balances out the chocolate treats as she's partial to a Jaffa cake or 3 J)
Kieren joined Riverside Training in August 2015. Kieren is the marketing executive and oversees all marketing campaigns and social media activity.
During his spare time, Kieren enjoys spending quality time with his family or going to the gym.
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Kriszti joined Riverside Training in November 2020 as an AAT Learning & Development Coach having worked in various managerial positions for over 10 years.
Throughout her career, she has always enjoyed working with numbers in the financial side of businesses. Kriszti has a great interest and enthusiasm for Business, Finance and Management Accounting, where she continues developing her knowledge and skillset.
In her free time, Kriszti enjoys spending time outdoors rock climbing, fell running, mountain biking and walking with her dog in the forest.
Louise joined Riverside Training in August 2006 with extensive experience in sales and marketing.
Louise has been heavily involved with the strategic growth of the business and has a wealth of knowledge in Apprenticeship training for 16-64 year olds, Apprenticeship recruitment and commercial training.
Louise works directly with our National Key Accounts and is responsible for supporting clients with their Apprenticeship Levy funds, ensuring the business meets their training requirements.
In her spare time, Louise enjoys city breaks, yoga and collecting gym memberships (as she never actually goes).
Job Titles:
- Quality & Safeguarding Manager
Lucy has recently joined the company as the Lead IQA and will specialise in quality and leadership.
Lucy brings a wealth of experience to the role; she started as a business administration apprentice, rather appropriately, and went on to become a tutor, IQA, Ops Manager, Quality Lead, and even a Head of Apprenticeships. She's also been an Ofsted Nominee, expertise which might be useful as we await our next Ofsted inspection.
Away from work Lucy loves to explore the Cumbrian countryside during long walks with her husband and two dogs. She's also an avid reader. Welcome aboard Lucy.
Job Titles:
- Finance Apprentice
- Member of the Team
Maddie is the youngest member of the team and one of our most recent recruits having joined Riverside in September as a Finance Apprentice, after completing her A levels. Maddie has always been good with numbers so undertaking the AAT apprenticeship at Riverside will hopefully be a great first step in her career, allowing her to develop her natural skills. We are delighted to know that Maddie is thoroughly enjoying her course and working at Riverside.
Outside of work Maddie enjoys socialising with her friends and she's a mad keen animal lover with 3 dogs, 2 rabbits and a cat. Sounds like she could be learning some decent management skills too with that assortment!
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Maddy joined Riverside Training in September 2020 as a Learning & Development Coach in Adult Care and Business Administration. She has 30 years of experience in the health and social care sector, with half of those spent as a Learning & Development Coach supporting learners and apprentices to achieve their qualifications.
Maddy is at her happiest when she is with her family, picnicking by lakes, rivers, or the sea, getting lost in woods, watching sunsets from hilltops, paddling in rivers, stargazing in fields, or exploring abandoned buildings and castles. She is never without her camera to capture all those beautiful memories.
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Marlon joined Riverside Training in September 2022 as a Learning & Development Coach.
Marlon has worked in education for the past 11+ years, both in school as a teacher and Deputy Headteacher and in teacher training and consultancy for organisations like Harris, Ark and Teach First.
In his spare time, Marlon enjoys playing and watching football. He's been to Glastonbury Festival about 10 times and loves music.
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to the Directors
Megan joined Riverside Training in October 2017, with nearly 10 years of experience in customer service and building relationships with employers. Up until July 2020, Megan was responsible for finding and matching Apprentices for Levy and Non-Levy employers across the country, predominantly focusing on Herefordshire. Megan then went on Maternity Leave and returned in June 2021 as Client Accounts Administrator, helping the sales team with administrative duties. Megan went on maternity leave for the second time in 2022 and has now returned as Executive Assistant to the Directors.
Outside of work, Megan enjoys travelling, taking her two dogs for long walks in the Herefordshire countryside and spending time with her family.
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Mel joined Riverside Training in June 2022 as a Learning & Development Coach
A little about Mel, She has worked at Wye Valley NHS Trust for the last 10 years in a variety of different roles. She started at the NHS when she was 17 on a customer service apprenticeship. Mel also trained as a dental nurse.
In her spare time she enjoys walking (mostly into town for coffee and/or wine)
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Najda originally from Manchester has been in primary teaching for the past 6 years. She previously taught in the UAE and Qatar.
In a previous role, She was the team leader for Upper Key Stage two. Najda has experience with different curriculums and frameworks such as: American Common Core, International Baccalaureate and the National Curriculum in England. She has a wide range of pedagogical skills, which she utilises in order to help her learners grow.
Other hobbies she enjoys include - hiking, running, yoga, reading and baking.
Job Titles:
- Team Leader - Sport, Education and Coaching
- Team Leader for Our Sport
Nick is the Team Leader for our Sport, Education and Coaching Team, a sector which brings together many of his passions. Nick studied Sport and Physical Education at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff, where he also represented the University in BUSA basketball competitions and coached the second team. On returning to Hereford he began a 16 year career teaching Physical Education and progressed to the role of Subject Leader for PE.
Nick joined Riverside Training in June 2020 as the tutor for our PE apprenticeship programme, delivered in association with Stride Active. We quickly recognised his enthusiasm and experience in the sector and gave him the opportunity to develop a team providing apprenticeships across this sector.
Away from work Nick enjoys time with his family, his wife of 12 years Lucy and two daughters, Ella and Marnie, who have shared his passion for sport which has seen them progress in golf and gymnastics respectively. He is a member of Burghill Valley golf course, enjoys cycling and also coaches cricket during the spring/summer.
Paul is the Managing Director at Riverside Training, where he oversees the Senior Management Team covering all funding streams including Apprenticeships, AEB, ESF and Commercial qualifications. Paul's focus is to grow the portfolio of qualifications ensuring all learners have clear progression pathways and Riverside Training achieves its high quality expectations and growth targets.
Paul has worked in office products previously for 10 years as part of the UK's largest independent provider and was involved in many acquisitions during this time. Paul moved into education at the start of 2017 just in time for the changes to education over to Levy funded Apprenticeship Standards.
In his personal time Paul is a keen runner, cyclist and a well below average golfer.
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Paula joined Riverside Training as a Learning & Development Coach in May 2017 with a wealth of experience in training and Project Management in the private financial sector. Roles have included Head of Training, Curriculum Development and ELearning Management. Her most accomplished moment was when she achieved FCA regulation for a large financial company in the UK.
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Rachel joined Riverside Training in May 2023 as an Early Years Learning and Development coach.
Rachel has 13 year's experience working within the Early Years sector. She also spent 3 year's supporting social workers in a business support role attending child protection conferences within the Children's Wellbeing Directorate.
In her spare time Rachel enjoys visiting friends and family, playing netball and watching sports - especially rugby!
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Rebecca joined Riverside Training in January 2023 and will be the Learning and Development Coach for students enrolled on the Teaching Assistant qualification and also supporting students with the Functional Skills English course.
Rebecca will be bringing her breadth of knowledge to the role, after spending 7+ years in Education , working firstly as a Teaching Assistant (while gaining her Degree in English) and then progressing on with a PGCE in Education to become a teacher. Whilst in teaching, Rebecca progressed to earn the titles of Head of Computing, Head of Year 6 and Pupil Progress and Transition leader.
Rebecca plans to utilise her English Degree and teaching experience to help support students while they are striving for excellence.
In her spare time, Rebecca enjoys spending time with her family, walking her dog Maximus Prime, any education visit and travelling.
Rebecca joined Riverside Training in June 2020, having graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a First Class Honours Degree in Business and Management.
Rebecca is responsible for building relationships with employers, and for finding and matching apprentices for Levy and Non-Levy employers across the country.
In her spare time, Rebecca enjoys skiing, spending time with friends, and looking after her dog.
Rory joined Riverside Training in April 2022.
Rory's background has been primarily in the Motor Trade. Starting at Volkswagen through an Apprentice Scheme with Riverside Training!
He completed an apprenticeship and moved from vehicle administration through to Sales. Later jumped ship to Audi and then BMW finishing with Porsche for 3 years at their Tewkesbury branch as a Porsche Qualified Sales Executive.
He loves retail therapy, socialising and is utterly obsessed with Tom Ford.
Job Titles:
- Business Support Team Leader
Sarah joined Riverside Training in March 2022 as the Business Support Team Leader.
Sarah has a creative background, studied Art and Design, which then lead to a 13 year career in M&S, staring in Hereford as a visual merchandiser, dressing H.O baker street windows, working as a stylist for brochures to stores and covered the Cotswolds for VM with international work. I then worked as a Brand Assistant at Topshop Head Office for 4 years, looking after the southwest. Then returned home to take a position as manager of Monsoon in Hereford for 6 years.
After a fulltime career for 20 years, She had her only daughter, Evie, now 13.
She love's spending time with family and friends, city breaks, visiting galleries and walks with her dog.
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Sarah is a Learning & Development Coach in the accountancy sector.
Sarah has 20 years of accountancy experience, working in both financial and management accounting, within the service, manufacturing and charity sectors.
She has been involved in teaching, coaching and learning for eight years, delivering accountancy tuition and apprenticeships.
In her spare time, Sarah enjoys exploring new places and learning about them. She also likes to eat out and socialise with friends, and has recently started getting into gardening.
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Smaira joined Riverside Training in September 2022 as a Learning & Development Coach.
Smaira was originally from Yorkshire and moved to Worcestershire 3 years ago. After graduation, she joined energy giant British Gas as a Learning and Development Trainer/ Associate. She loved the job and worked on projects across the UK and even Cape Town. She then went onto working with in HR for Mitie remote/ The Shard for the past 9 months. Smaira now has a 2 year old and felt it was the perfect time to come back into training.
In her spare time, Smaira loves to travel, spend time with family, socialise with friends, go on long walks and binge on food and Netflix!
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Stacey has been working at Riverside Training since September 2020 and is our Learning & Development Coach for the dental nursing programme. She has been working in the dental nursing sector for 25 years, and has a wealth of knowledge and experience in everything dental. Stacey is a registered dental nurse and as such upholds and promotes the GDC standards expected with this responsibility. Stacey continues to learn and develop her knowledge and skills in dentistry and education to give her students the most up to date knowledge and experience.
Outside of work Stacey is a mum of 2 sports mad children, she spends large parts of her free time at the side of football pitches or dance competitions. If she ever gets a minute to herself she can be found wild swimming in rivers or lakes at any time of year. She has been known to break the ice on a lake in order to get in for a swim in the depths of winter…brrr!!
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Steve joined Riverside Training in March 2005 as a Learning & Development Coach. Steve delivers apprenticeship training in Management, Customer Service and Business Administration as well as some bespoke commercial workshops.
Outside of work, Steve enjoys walking, reading biographies and trying to keep up with his grandchildren.
Job Titles:
- Learning & Development Coach
Zoe joined Riverside Training in April 2023 as a Functional Skills Tutor. She has a wealth of experience teaching Maths, English and ICT Functional Skills. Zoe finds working in this sector very rewarding and is eager to support learners at Riverside Training to achieve their Functional Skills.
In addition, Zoe is a Qualified Teacher who has taught a wide age range of curriculums from Early Years to Post 16 education. Zoe is also an experienced Pre-school Manager.
In her spare time, Zoe loves spending time with her family. She enjoys cycling along the country lanes around home with her family and heading further afield on the bikes. She also enjoys baking with her daughter and spending time in her garden.