QUEST FOR LEARNING - Key Persons
Since completing his teacher training at Westminster College (now Oxford Brookes University) Andrew has been a class teacher in Oxfordshire from 1987 until 2010.
For the last eight years he has worked both as a Numbers Count teacher and a Year 6 support teacher in two primary schools within the county. Throughout his career he has been aware that at some point most children need that extra input to develop confidence, thinking skills and strategies. He regularly uses maths games in all of his teaching sessions as children of all ages and all abilities learn well when actively engaged.
His hobbies include singing and golf both of which have a unique link with maths which he loves to integrate into his everyday life.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Fundraising Coordinator
Thanks to the support and encouragement of childhood educators Annabelle developed a passion for reading and learning that ultimately led her to realise her dream of a becoming a scientific researcher and gaining doctorate.
Since then, Annabelle has worked for both a national medical research charity and a communications agency to support hundreds of scientists and healthcare professionals realise their own goals. She is excited to now have the chance to ‘pay it forward' with Quest for Learning and ensure that today's young people have the same opportunities to maximise their own life chances as she did.
Outside of work, Annabelle is a keen photographer, vegan baker and gardener - but reading is still her first love! She is a regular library user and established a virtual book club at the start of the pandemic to maintain social connectivity. The club continues to go from strength-to-strength, though now joyfully meeting in person over a cuppa.
As Fundraising Coordinator, Annabelle is excited to help ensure that today's young people have the same opportunities to maximise their own life chances as she did.
Job Titles:
- Legal Director at BDB Pitmans
Ben is Legal Director at BDB Pitmans, where he heads up the firm's charities team. He brings his professional experience and past Trustee experience at Cancer Support UK to the Board.
Ben has extensive experience assisting charities navigate governance, constitutional, regulatory and associated commercial matters in the context of developing charity and company legislation and in the face of the increasingly tight regulation.
Ben is a Legal Director at BDB Pitmans, where he heads up the firm's charities team.
Catherine completed a PGCE at Westminster College (now Oxford Brookes) and has taught across the primary age range in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Outer London.
As both a class teacher and one to one tutor she has seen the benefits of using real books to inspire children's interest and learning across the curriculum. She is excited about sharing fantastic books and activities with the children participating in the BookQuest programme.
As well as being a BookQuest tutor, Catherine works in Museum Education and undertakes freelance educational writing.
As Executive Director, Chris is responsible for overall strategy and management of the charity. Joining in March 2024, he is delighted to be able to join the QfL executive team, to steer the charity into its next chapter.
He has a background in marketing and communications, having held senior leadership positions in healthcare and education charities. He also served as Chief Operating Officer for one of the world's largest ambient music record labels.
He was keen to join the charity when he discovered that Quest for Learning has a long and brilliant history of closing the education disadvantage gap and working in schools to boost children's confidence and skills, fundamentally improving the life chances of thousands of children. He says "It is an honour to have the opportunity to lead the charity and work with its great people to enable thousands more children to benefit from that support in years to come."
As Executive Director, Chris is responsible for overall strategy and management of the charity. Joining in March 2024, he is delighted to be able to join the QfL executive team, to steer the charity into its next chapter. Chris is also the QfL Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead.
Claire has always enjoyed maths puzzles and playing games so being a NumSkills Tutor is her perfect job.
She loves sharing her passion for numbers and patterns with children and over her career as a primary school teacher, Maths Coordinator, Leading Maths Teacher and Headteacher in Oxfordshire she has supported children, teachers and parents in their learning. Developing confidence and curiosity is key in becoming a strong mathematician and Claire aims to use games and fun activities to do this.
Dalya has worked in the education sector for the last 15 years. With a background working in inclusion, including in an autism provision, she went on to train to be a teacher at the Institute of Education in London.
She has taught in schools across Oxford and has both expertise and passion for using storytelling to develop language and literacy. She has recently worked as a session and outreach leader for the Story Museum, delivering workshops to schools which focus on oracy for writing, and inspiring children through story.
Dalya also loves art and history, working for the Ashmolean museum where she teaches curriculum-based workshops to schools across the counties. She is skilled at tailoring her teaching to the needs and varied interests of the children.
Emma graduated from Exeter University with a degree in Primary Education and started her career teaching in Key Stage Two.
She has since taught across the primary age range from Foundation Stage to Year 6. She has a particular interest in supporting those with additional needs and spent many years working as a SENDCo in a large primary school.
She has experience of supporting families as lead professional for families accessing early support. Emma has a post-graduate certificate in personal, social and health education which focused on emotional literacy and is hugely motivated by seeing children's confidence increase. She really enjoys supporting children in small groups to help them achieve.
Emma is an avid reader and enjoys the opportunity to share this passion with others.
Hannah gained her PGCE at Oxford Brookes University. She's had 10 years experience teaching in Oxford City and London primary schools; during this time she's taught across the age range, with her main focus in Key Stage One. Before teaching primary, Hannah taught ESOL to children and adults in New Zealand.
Hannah's excited about joining the Quest for Learning team as she knows first hand the impact an exciting and successful intervention makes to a child's self esteem and learning.
In her spare time, Hannah volunteers at the Oxford Story Museum. She'll also be returning to Brookes University to start a masters focusing on children with Literacy difficulties.
Hannah has been teaching in the primary sector for over 10 years and is passionate about supporting children with Literacy difficulties.
Hannah has a career working in children's charities as a practitioner and fundraiser.
Job Titles:
- Head of School
- Head of School at St Christopher 's Primary School
James Veness is Head of School at St Christopher's Primary School, Oxford, and has over 15 years of educational experience.
Jeanette is an experienced administrator having previously worked for the Oxfordshire Education Action Zone (Hamilton Oxford Schools Partnership) and The Oxfordshire Pupil Referral Unit and Integrated Support as a PA and Administrations Manager, amongst other administration roles locally.
She worked as an administrator in Brisbane, Australia for John Paul International College, providing administration support for its Foundation to University students. Most recently, she was a small business owner, running a boarding kennels in Cambridgeshire.
Jeanette has worked in a number of administration roles across the education and child support sector.
Since then she has promoted maths and games inside and outside the classroom. She loves maths and would like more people to love it too. Through tutoring in small groups Jen aims to give children the confidence to be able to play with numbers rather than being afraid of them, creating a solid foundation for an ease with numbers, maths and calculations that will serve them well all their lives, and which they may one day pass on to their own children.
Job Titles:
- Acting Vice Chair of Trustees
Kimberley is an experienced HR professional with over 15 years' experience across a range of roles, industries and countries.
She has written policies, implemented change programmes, and coached managers throughout her career.
Graduating from the University of Bath, Kimberley is interested in the people-performance link in organisations.
Liz has taught in a range educational settings including special schools, pupil referral units and higher education. She has also worked with a team devising and delivering programmes on social and health issues to primary and secondary students using the medium of drama and role play.
Her background is in Drama and Theatre Studies; before training as a primary teacher she was an educational puppeteer in the North West, delivering puppetry performances and workshops and supporting teachers wishing to use puppetry as a highly motivating tool to support many aspect of the curriculum.
She is currently a tutor for Looked After Children, working with students in the care system who need some additional individual support to help them achieve their full potential in secondary school and she has also worked in a UK closed centre, teaching English to adults from other countries. This entailed supporting them through difficult and stressful situations. It was very rewarding work and provided an opportunity to learn about many different cultures and languages.
She loves theatre, music and the visual arts. She is particularly excited about joining the Quest for Learning with Wild programme as she has always had a love of nature and the outdoors and is keen to pass this on to her learners.
Job Titles:
- Marketing Consultant
- Trustee
Ned is a marketing consultant with over 20 years' experience working for businesses and charities across the UK and Europe. Today, he helps social enterprises to build capacity through trading. He was formerly a Governor of St Mary and St John Primary School, Oxford for 8 years. He has Masters Degree from Cranfield University.
Reka trained as a primary school teacher at Oxford Brookes University and has several years of experience teaching students in KS1 and KS2. Whilst working in a special needs school she discovered the importance of fine-tuning her teaching to meet the specific needs of each learner.
She has always been an enthusiastic reader and likes to bring this enthusiasm into the classroom to engage pupils. When Reka isn't reading or teaching, she volunteers at MIND and takes Psychology courses at Abingdon and Witney College. She also has a passion for outdoor learning.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of Trustees
- Senior Management Consultant
Roger is a Senior Management Consultant with over 20 years' experience working with global Fortune 500 organisations. A qualified accountant, Roger has worked for Legal & General, KPMG and Genpact. He has an MBA from Henley Business School, Oxfordshire.
His past clients include; Elsevier, National Grid, Deutsch Telekom, CGI, Vodafone, Cisco, Mondelez and Siemens. Roger has written a number of white papers on the future of the finance and forecasting.
Roger has established a number of consulting practices and has worked extensively in India, UAE, USA and Germany. He has founded his own consultancy business which focuses on digital business transformation and complex change programmes.
His interests include (Welsh) rugby, music (especially collecting vinyl and hi-fi) and spending time with his family. Roger previously helped establish a national debating federation for children and strongly believes in the power of learning for personal advancement and social sustainability.
Samantha has been a class teacher in Oxfordshire since 1994, working mainly in KS2. She has enjoyed working with student teachers during this time alongside co-ordinating Design & Technology and organising provision for more able pupils throughout the school, as well as supporting KS1 pupils with additional needs. She has also worked as a Special Needs Co-ordinator in two schools.
She enjoys travel and has visited Australia, U.S.A. and Europe, and is interested in the way other cultures approach teaching. She loves reading and art, and is looking forward to exploring picture books with the young people that Quest for Learning supports.
After 20 years teaching in Key Stage One and Reception, Sarah has a lot of experience in making learning engaging, practical and fun ...
Saskia has worked in the field of education for more than 20 years and has gained wide experience in a number of countries.
As an early childhood teacher, she has greatly enjoyed introducing children to the wonders of the world around them through the written word. While some children can start to confidently grasp the concepts and meanings of words others find this more difficult, often leading to insecurities which can affect their wider academic and social achievements.
Saskia has particular interests and skills in working with such children and she is glad to be part of the Reading Quest and BookQuest programmes.
Sheenagh is a recently retired Headteacher at St Christopher's CE Primary School in Oxford, where she has experienced first-hand the positive benefits that ReadingQuest has on children within the school.
She has spent her working life involved with education, initially with music education for 4 to 18 year olds and then with primary education, becoming a headteacher in 2014.
Sheenagh has spent her working life involved with education.
Job Titles:
- Head of Teaching & Designated Safeguarding Lead
Tamzin heads up our teaching team, managing the QfL tutors and liaising with our partner schools, as well as overseeing the educational content of our BookQuest, ReadingQuest and NumSkills programmes. Tamzin is also the QfL Designated Safeguarding Lead.
She has worked in the primary sector for many years, following her training at Oxford Brookes University and has experience across the primary age range, predominantly working in Key Stage 1, where her passion for early literacy and numeracy development grew. During her time as a class teacher, she witnessed the profound effect specialised 1:1 and small group teaching could have on children experiencing difficulties developing their key skills.
Tamzin feels privileged to have had a lifelong love of reading instilled in her at a very early age and is excited about having the opportunity to pass this love on to others.
Job Titles:
- Accountant
- Financial Advisor
Tony is an accountant with experience in many sectors, having qualified in 1992.
In 1986, Tony joined Chapman, Robinson and Moore accountants in Oxford and is today the Managing Director. As the Managing Director, he has an overview of all activities at CRM, but has a particular interest in business development. This has evolved through a combination of working closely with clients on the financial management of their business, and background studying and courses.
Tony acts as the Financial Director for a number of clients, helping them to ‘make the numbers work' in their business.