INCLUSION QUALITY MARK - Key Persons
Alison Merrills has extensive experience of school leadership including 13 of these as a Headteacher. She is passionate about inclusive education and, about recruiting, retaining and supporting the best teachers and associate staff into the profession. All her school experience has been gained in state comprehensive schools in areas of challenge.
Alison has excellent inter-personal skills and can quickly establish positive relationships with all stakeholders. She understands the changing educational landscape and has a successful track record.
From 2007, Alison was Principal and later Executive Principal of Sir Jonathan North Community College where over 30% of pupils are disadvantaged.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Headteacher and Special Educational Needs Co - Ordinator
- IQM Assessor
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Specialist
Amanda Love is the Assistant Headteacher and Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator at Kingsnorth CEP School in Kent.
As the Assistant Headteacher of a large two form entry Primary School, Amanda has a number of leadership responsibilities including Inclusion and Special Educational Needs. She is responsible for Assessment and Pupil Progress, leading Pupil Progress meetings, administering SATs and tracking pupil progress using the SIMs Assessment Manager system.
Amanda is a member of the Senior Leadership Team and a Co-opted Governor with the added responsibility of being Vice Chair of the Executive Steering Committee and Chair of the Learning and Development group. She is also a Trustee of the schools' After School Club.
Amanda leads meetings and training, she also mentors various members of the school team including line managing the Teaching Assistant Team. She developed and manages the School Improvement Plans and presents the school's data in a variety of forms for interested parties. She supports team members in their roles, monitoring quality of learning and teaching.
Amanda is also a specialist Reading Recovery Teacher and trained First Aider. She has attended a vast number of training and inset courses that have enhanced her leadership and teaching skills.
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- IQM Ambassador
- Senior Leader of Education
Angela Farrell is Assistant Headteacher at Barton Hill Academy in Torquay, a committed IQM Flagship school with responsibility for leading Inclusion.
Angela is passionate about ensuring every child meets their full potential and has the best opportunities they can have whilst being in school.
Angela is a Senior Leader of Education and has experience in supporting school improvement in all areas of SEND, leading peer to peer reviews and mentoring new SENCos.
Angela is also an Ambassador for the British Council and believes every pupil and teacher in education should experience working with other countries to further both experiences and practice.
Dave has more than 30 years teaching experience in mainstream and special schools across all key stages, at teacher, Headteacher and County Manager levels. Dave also headed a countywide multi-professional team supporting children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. As part of this role Dave was seconded, over a period of three years, as an Executive Headteacher into one Special, one Primary and two Secondary Schools, all of which were, at that time, in Ofsted categories. Dave has acted as editor and contributing author of ‘Teaching Expertise, Behaviour Matters# for more than six years and is currently in great demand, working nationally as a freelance consultant, Outstanding Teacher Intervention trainer and Chair/Keynote speaker on the National Education Conference circuit.
Over the past 9 years Dave has worked directly with over 25 local education authorities and 10 Academy Trusts in the UK and schools in the Cayman Islands and the Netherlands plus many individual UK schools focussing on bringing about effective changes to promote outstanding teaching and learning, developing an Emotionally Literate environment and developing, through his work as a Senior Assessor and Ambassador Manager for the Inclusion Quality Mark, an Inclusive ethos.
During a career break from education, Dave spent 6 years working on the corporate entertainment circuit throughout the UK and Europe including corporate, live, television and radio appearances.
Job Titles:
- IQM Ambassador
- Senior School Leader
Dirk Pittard is an experienced Senior School Leader, and is currently Headteacher of a large Alternative Provision Free School in Doncaster.
His school's most recent Department for Education Inspection, held under the new framework, resulted in a judgement of ‘Good' with ‘Outstanding' personal development of its students.
Dirk has a passion for working in the education sector and particularly in Alternative and Vocational Education. He has worked both across a large Academy Chain and also within a Large Local Authority on School Improvement. Dirk is always seeking challenges where he can use his diverse skills to help learners achieve the very best outcomes they deserve.
Currently Dirk's Academy is one of 20 schools chosen for the Department for Education's AP Specialist Taskforce project, a £30M transformational government pilot referenced throughout the current SEN and Alternative Provision Green Paper. He is immensely proud to lead such a dedicated team at St Wilfrid's which remains committed to inclusion and trauma informed practice.
Job Titles:
- Sales & Marketing Director
Eilish has been with IQM since 2009. Eilish's teaching career spanned secondary schools in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Hemel Hempstead before moving on to a very large college of Further Education in Wiltshire where she led a large team of professionals in the Business, Law, Economics and Accounting Faculty. She has taught at GCSE level but more extensively at A Level in both academic and vocational subjects. Eilish has delivered a variety of training courses to teachers across the UK and in the Middle East on a wide range of topics but specialising in inclusive education.
Emily Carroll has been Headteacher of Bishopton PRU since September 2017, and before that she worked as a leader in a number of other PRUs across the North East.
Before becoming Headteacher, Emily had a number of leadership roles including Deputy Head; Assistant Head; Director of Curriculum and Learning. She has also worked as a school lead for Eco Schools; Healthy Schools and has been a subject leader of ICT, Science, English and SEAL.
Due to her experience of working with disengaged and disaffected learners, and since becoming Headteacher at Bishopton, Emily has worked hard to look at ways to support children to develop academically, socially and emotionally, through developing a therapeutic intervention system as well as a curriculum which has been designed to engage vulnerable learners.
Emily is keen to support schools in developing at a strategic level, using current research and through building networks at a local and national level. She has set up a local network of PRU leaders, which has now also branched out to include some PRU subject networks. She also sits on the National PRUsAP Executive Committee.
Job Titles:
- Headteacher
- IQM Ambassador
Fiona Robinson is a Headteacher working in a large school for pupils with complex special education needs in the London borough of Croydon.
She is passionate about SEND and ensuring all pupils, regardless of their needs, have access to the same educational opportunities as everyone else.
Fiona does a lot of Outreach work within the borough of Croydon supporting Mainstream Schools to ensure they are meeting the needs of pupils with SEND.
Fiona believes sharing good practice is vital in the world of education. She contributed to the new Croydon SEND strategy and the recent successful Croydon SEND inspection.
Fiona is a trained assessor for both Investing in Children and the National Autistic Society.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Managing Director of IQM
Joe has been the Managing Director of IQM since its inception in 2004. During his teaching career Joe has worked both as a teacher and senior leader, working with high achieving schools as well as those in Special Measures. Joe has also worked as an education consultant providing bespoke courses for teachers across the UK. He has also lead a team of interim managers working in very challenging schools throughout the UK. Joe has delivered training in England, Ireland, Egypt, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Kuala Lumpur on the importance of an inclusive education.
Job Titles:
- IQM Ambassador
- Principal of St Colman 's Primary School
Kevin O'Neill is Principal of St Colman's Primary School and All Saints Nursery Unit which gained the prestigious IQM Flagship Award in 2017.
Over a 16 year career Kevin has worked in schools in Manchester, Belfast, Dubai, Auckland, Leeds and since 2013 in Annaclone, Northern Ireland.
Kevin is a current ETI Schools Associate Inspector in Northern Ireland and holds a Masters in Catholic Schools Leadership.
Kevin is an eTwinning Ambassador for the British Council and remains heavily involved in ERASMUS+ and connecting international schools through Global Learning projects.
Rekha Bhakoo has recently left Headship after 25 years and has extensive experience in leading and managing schools to achieve rapid school improvement.
She has worked as a National and Local Leader in Education and also as an Executive Headteacher.
Rekha has had experience in mentoring and supporting new Headteachers as a Professional Partner. She has particular expertise in developing senior and middle leaders, inclusion, teaching, learning and assessment.
Rekha was awarded the CBE for her services to education.
Job Titles:
- Education Consultant
- IQM Ambassador
Roger Leeke is a highly experienced Education Consultant. His career has involved working with schools in challenging circumstances and those that are highly successful.
He has delivered training to Governing Bodies, and mentored and coached Senior Leadership Teams, including the appraisal of Teachers and Headteachers.
Roger has developed and delivered a range of in-service training including Assessment for Learning, Whole School Inclusion, Multiple Intelligences, the Inspection Framework, interpretation of Raiseonline, Growth Mindset and Moving from Good to Outstanding.
He has also led courses for Governors focusing on self-evaluation and the role of the governor.
Roger has a reputation as an experienced Headteacher and Supportive School Improvement Partner.
His achievements were recognised when he attended a garden party in Buckingham Palace and one in Highgrove hosted by Prince Charles in recognition of an Outstanding Ofsted inspection.
Roger has a vision of education which provides quality and breadth to ensure balanced and outstanding learning for all children.
He has completed a MA in Education at Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford where he has achieved a distinction.
Roger is a Governor of a Chelmsford school and also lectures part-time in Primary education at Anglia Ruskin University.
He has been an IQM Assessor for eight years.
Sarah Linari is a dynamic and strategic leader with a wide expertise of inclusion, notably through her different leadership roles.As Deputy Headteacher responsible for Inclusion at a successful Secondary School in Tameside, Sarah has enjoyed many accolades, including more recently being awarded the IQM Flagship School Status.
She graduated from the University of Sheffield with a BA in Hispanic Studies and went on to complete her PGCE in 2006. She speaks Spanish, French, Italian and Catalan and taught English in a Spanish secondary school for one year.
Sarah achieved her first leadership role during her NQT year when she was successfully promoted to Head of Department. During successive leadership roles at Assistant Headteacher level, Sarah gained substantial experience of whole school leadership across all aspects of school improvement (progress and outcomes, inclusion, teaching and learning, safeguarding, behaviour and rewards, CEIAG, disadvantaged students, SEND provision, more able students, staff appraisal and CPD).
Steve Gill spent 32 years teaching in Runcorn as Assistant Headteacher. During his time there he was the Lead Behaviour Professional within the school, attended regional National Strategy Meetings representing Halton, was a member of the Halton Project Board, and oversaw the Locality Working Pilot Group which brought together external services in key areas of Halton to support vulnerable students and families.
He was a Governor at The Bridge Pupil Referral Unit for many years, and held strategic responsibility for the school SEF and SIP.
Steve was fortunate to have had the responsibility for increasingly challenging areas within school settings - this included developing strategies for and leading inclusion in different settings, developing links with external agencies and businesses that supported students in school to achieve success.
During his 36 years in education Steve believes the most challenging role he has faced is in behaviour management. This allowed him to develop a drive and enthusiasm to improve students' behaviour, attitudes to learning and hence their life chances. Part of this process was the necessity to change not only the student's attitudes, but also that of staff.
Steve has always been an enthusiastic, self-confident teacher and this has enabled a rapport to be built effectively with students and colleagues allowing them to engage effectively in their learning. This continues to be the case in his role as an IQM Assessor and Ambassador.