ALT ACADEMY - Key Persons


Angela Lant

Job Titles:
  • Trustee
Angela has spent the last 15 years in senior leadership positions in education including Headteacher, Executive Headteacher and Primary Director for five schools based in Sheffield. As a Headteacher she has worked with many Ofsted frameworks and has a good working knowledge of the latest framework and the emphasis it places on curriculum development and schools providing an education which is fit for purpose and bespoke to its community.

Anne Weinstock

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of Trustees
  • Trustee
Anne's background is in the voluntary sector. She was Chief Executive of Rathbone CI, a charity responsible for the training of disadvantaged young people. She was latterly a Director in the Department for Education where she established Millennium Volunteers, The Connexions Service and headed up the Youth Task Force. She was awarded the CBE in 1994 for services to the training of disadvantaged young people.

Anthony Hughes - CEO

Job Titles:
  • CEO
Main Contact: If you need to get in contact,you can use the details below, either Mrs Cooper, Mrs Bulmer or Mrs Bone will be happy to help.

Beenash Iqbal

Job Titles:
  • Solicitor
  • Trustee
Beenash is a Solicitor who has extensive experience in the legal sector having worked in the sector for over 10 years. Beenash trained at a firm in Oldham and has since been part of one of the UK's largest consumer law firms, namely Slater & Gordon LLP who have a national presence in the United Kingdom. Beenash specialises in diverse areas of law including civil litigation, clinical negligence and currently deals with Fast track and High value matters. Beenash is self-motivated, focused and determined to each role she undertakes.

Ben Flynn

Job Titles:
  • Trustee
Ben is a qualified Senior Finance Professional, who has worked in finance for over 20 years with the last 8 years in the Healthcare sector. He has held previous senior European roles at global corporate organisations, playing a pivotal in corporate strategy development. Ben is currently the Director of Finance & Operations at a small medical device distributor based in Cheshire. He has three children, two in primary education and one in secondary.

Emma Farmer

Job Titles:
  • Director of Business Strategy for the Five Rivers Multi Academy Trust
Emma is the Director of Business Strategy for the Five Rivers Multi Academy Trust. Emma began her employment with Tinsley Junior School in September 2011. Prior to this she worked as Head of Unplanned Care within Doncaster Primary Care Trust; overseeing the commissioning, procurement and performance management of key NHS services. Having spanned 15 years in the public sector, Emma has valuable HR, leadership, strategic finance and business skills. She is also a recognised SLE (Specialist Leader in Education) providing system leadership and consultancy across a number of schools.

Graham McGuffie

Job Titles:
  • Trustee
  • Safeguarding Trustee
Graham is an Independent Consultant. He has worked in education for over 40 years and in Oldham for 30 years as a senior leader in a secondary school and subsequently as a school adviser, trainer and governor. He brings with him experience of working closely with the higher education sector, education advisers in neighbouring authorities and teacher networks. He is a qualified School Improvement Partner.

Helen Cairns

Job Titles:
  • Solicitor
  • Trustee
Helen is a solicitor and has worked within the education sector since her qualification in 2000. She trained and spent most of her legal career with international law firm Eversheds Sutherland LLP, advising clients within the higher education, further education and academy sectors on a range of corporate, commercial, charity, regulatory and governance issues. More recently, Helen decided she wanted to concentrate on working with the academy sector as this is an area of particular interest for her, and she joined Browne Jacobson LLP as a Legal Director in order to do that.

Ian Robinson

Job Titles:
  • Trustee
A Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers with over twenty years' experience in the rail industry. Ian works for Alstom, managing a team supporting Alstom fleets across the world with safety issues, modernisation and decarbonisation. Ian has a range of professional experience including project delivery, safety management, risk assessment, asset management, due diligence, TUPE transfer and auditing. Ian is the parent of a child with special educational needs and has a keen interest in the needs of SEND pupils within the school and the wider city of Derby. Ian was a Parent Governor of Carlyle Infants school from 2017 until it joined the Harmony Trust in 2019. Ian then joined the Derby Hub Board in 2019 and became a Trustee in 2020. Ian is the SEND Trustee and Chairs the Audit and Risk Committee.

Kit Thorne

Job Titles:
  • Trustee
  • Vice Chair
Kit has been a professional educator for over 40 years. His roles have comprised those of teacher in secondary and primary; adviser and Ofsted inspector in both phases; school improvement manager and strategic lead for continuing professional development (CPD) in schools and academies.

Marian Simmons

Job Titles:
  • Staff Member
Marian's background is in educational leadership and development. She has worked as an Ofsted Registered Inspector, inspecting schools across all phases; she was an Assistant Director for Education in Manchester and then Head of Education and Skills with Redcar and Cleveland. Currently Marian is Director of Independent Coaching and Consultancy, working on school improvement and leadership development with headteachers and schools in the North-West.

Miss A Voak

Job Titles:
  • Teacher

Miss A. Sherlock

Job Titles:
  • Midday Supervisor

Miss C. Goodinson

Job Titles:
  • Support Staff Member
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Midday Supervisor

Miss E.Robinson

Job Titles:
  • Teacher

Miss H Shepherd

Job Titles:
  • EYFS Lead

Miss J. Hilton Brown

Job Titles:
  • Support Staff Member
  • Senior Teaching Assistant

Miss J. Sexton

Job Titles:
  • Support Staff Member

Miss N Ferguson

Job Titles:
  • Support Staff Member
  • Teaching Assistant

Miss S.Greenwood

Job Titles:
  • Nursery Manager

Miss T. Wood

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Principal

Mr A Hampson

Job Titles:
  • Teacher

Mr A Hughes, Chief

Job Titles:
  • Executive Officer

Mr Antony Hughes - CEO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Executive Officer
  • Member of the Leadership Team

Mr B Parkes

Job Titles:
  • Site Manager

Mr B Stuckey

Job Titles:
  • Teacher

Mr D. Crabtree

Job Titles:
  • Support Staff Member
  • Teaching Assistant

Mr J Denny

Job Titles:
  • Teacher

Mr J. Vente

Job Titles:
  • Admin
  • I.T. Manager

Mr K. Whalen

Job Titles:
  • Support Staff Member

Mrs C Wardle

Job Titles:
  • Support Staff Member
  • Teaching Assistant

Mrs C. Cooper

Job Titles:
  • Admin
  • Office Manager & Attendance Officer

Mrs C. Porter

Job Titles:
  • Support Staff Member
  • Teaching Assistant

Mrs D Bridgehouse

Job Titles:
  • Catering Manager
  • Kitchen Staff Member

Mrs D Whipp

Job Titles:
  • Kitchen Staff Member

Mrs J Marsden

Job Titles:
  • Kitchen Staff Member

Mrs J. Chadwick

Job Titles:
  • Support Staff Member
  • Senior Teaching Assistant

Mrs K Branwood

Job Titles:
  • Teacher

Mrs K. Woolham

Job Titles:
  • Teacher

Mrs L Navarro

Job Titles:
  • Teacher

Mrs L. Woolfenden

Job Titles:
  • Midday Supervisor

Mrs M. Khan

Job Titles:
  • Support Staff Member
  • Teaching Assistant

Mrs M. Smith

Job Titles:
  • Midday Supervisor

Mrs N Grady

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Principal

Mrs P. Brooks

Job Titles:
  • Support Staff Member
  • Teaching Assistant

Mrs S.Bulmer

Job Titles:
  • Admin

Mrs T Akhtar

Job Titles:
  • Midday Supervisor

Mrs T Bone

Job Titles:
  • Admin

Mrs V Mayers

Job Titles:
  • Teacher

Ms A Shad

Job Titles:
  • Support Staff Member
  • Teaching Assistant

Ms K Jordon

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Leadership Team
  • Principal

Ms L Carter

Job Titles:
  • Kitchen Staff Member

Nadia Saleh

Job Titles:
  • Programme Manager
  • Trustee
Nadia is an experienced Programme Manager with a corporate background and legal training. She has practical experience as an IT Risk Practitioner. She regularly blogs on ethical leadership and is the author of two eBooks. Nadia is a lifelong learner with a passion for effective strategy, delivery and people empowerment. She drives home the importance of a transparent feedback loop that enables a continuous improvement mindset. Nadia's emphasis on schooling is to help provide children with confidence to build their identity to embrace their own learning journey and to have new experiences. She speaks Arabic and Conversational Kurdish Sorani. She is a mother to three children and altogether she enjoys walking in nature, swimming and writing.

Norman Hole

Job Titles:
  • Staff Member
Norman worked 36 years for the Department for Education, latterly as Assistant Director leading on all aspects of the Academies programme in the Lancashire and West Yorkshire Region working closely with the Regional Schools Commissioner to deliver the government's policy for achieving sustained improvement in the region's schools. Prior to that he was Assistant Director working on the development of the government's 10 Year National Youth Strategy "Aiming High" and leading the implementation and delivery of a number of cross-government and departmental youth programmes.

Olwyn Smythe

Job Titles:
  • Trustee
Olwyn joined Yorkshire bank at the age of 19 whilst still deciding on a career and almost 40 years later is still in banking. Currently she works for HSBC looking after around 600 Premier clients with their banking, mainly their financial planning needs, pensions and investments. Olwyn has welcomed the opportunity to be involved in the Trust as her daughter, Charlotte, is a teacher at Richmond Academy and has spoken of her passion for her career and the academy.

Raz Mohammed

Job Titles:
  • Staff Member
Raz has extensive experience of successfully working in some of the most challenging wards and towns in England including Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Batley, Huddersfield, Blackburn and Oldham. More recently Raz has held various roles at Mahdlo (Oldham) Youth Zone and has recently returned from Blackburn Youth Zone as the interim CEO. During Raz's time in Oldham he has developed a new hub and bespoke service. Along the way his organisations were highly commended for Partnership Working and reducing anti-social behaviour by Greater Manchester Police. Raz represents the voice of young people and the voluntary sector on the Social Mobility Opportunity Area board for Oldham, The Arts, Culture and Mental Health Evaluation steering group and various other health and community forums and partnerships across Oldham and Greater Manchester.

Suzanne Thompson

Job Titles:
  • Governance Professional Support
Suzanne Thompson, Suzanne supports the efficient functioning of the board by providing: guidance to ensure the board works in compliance with the appropriate legal and regulatory framework, advice on procedural matters relating to the operation of the board, and administrative and organisational support.