TRANSFORMING FUTURES TRUST - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Assistant Headteachers
- Support for Schools
Helen Hawkes joined Transforming Futures Trust as the Executive Officer in May 2023 and prior to this worked for a Multi Academy Trust as the PA to CEO and Governance Professional. Helen also spent 10 years working as an Executive Assistant in the media industry and has significant finance and recruitment experience.
In her spare time she enjoys reading, films and spending time with her family and friends.
Job Titles:
- Head of Provision for Cornwall
Lise Albert is our Head of Provision for Cornwall. Lise is based at our Bodmin site and looks after our bases at Bodmin, Launceston and Redruth.
Lise is a native Cornwall returnee with many years of experience as a Deputy Head Teacher of a large multi-site Alternative Provision school in Birmingham.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- System Leader
Matt Sambrook joined Transforming Futures Trust in October 2023, having been Executive Principal/ CEO of another small multi-academy Trust for the last six years, which covered mainstream and specialist provision from 4-19. Prior to joining, Matt had been working in education for 21 years, across the breadth of primary, secondary, special, alternative provision and Trust leadership. This has included being a substantive headteacher for 12 years across three different schools and taking two of them from special measures to good. Over the last six years Matt has also been an Executive Principal/CEO where he has led the re-development of a Multi-Academy Trust, driven significant improvement and development in all the Trust schools and led the specialist provision to be identified as a centre of excellence within the local area.
During his time as a school and system leader Matt has undertaken a number of part-time secondments, which have included: Head of SEND and Inclusion for Wiltshire LA through the pandemic, work for Ofsted as an Associate Inspector and a wide range of school improvement work for Local Authorities, teaching schools and other Trusts. Matt has a passion for working with those who are most disadvantaged by the educational system and has been involved in both local area and DfE projects to look at system improvement and development issues in the areas of increasing access, behaviour, exclusion and inclusive systems. He also has a Masters and PhD in Education specialising in inclusion.
In his spare time Matt likes to spend time with his family, read, stay active and be involved in his local community.
Nilesh Jethwa joined Transforming Futures Trust in October 2023, having previously worked across a range of roles in local authority finance spanning over 12 years. Nilesh was formerly Assistant Director Finance for a London local authority and has extensive experience in Childrens Services finance, covering schools and high-needs funding as well as childrens social care. Nilesh has been a finance specialist for over 30 years, working across a range of business sectors including broadcasting and retail.
I was born in Leicestershire but my family moved every couple of years so I experienced a variety of schools in the UK and abroad. I qualified as a Systems Engineer at Warwick and worked in the food production and tyre manufacturing industries for several years working on quality assurance, process development and production planning and management. After a break I completed a PGCE in maths and taught in a range of secondary schools in the southwest before moving into alternative education. During my time at ACE I have had a variety of middle and senior leadership roles before leading the school to a Good Ofsted Judgement in February 2019 as Acting Head.
As Head Teacher of ACE Schools I am very proud of the work our staff do to support a wide range of children across the Southwest to succeed. We are a nurturing inclusive community where everyone can thrive. We have a strong safeguarding ethos and I, and many other school staff are involved in wider safeguarding work, particularly in Plymouth where I chair the Safeguarding in Education Reference Group (SERG).
Outside of school I keep busy with gardening, crafting such as silver-smithing, knitting and sewing, and looking after a range of animals, with as much reading as I can fit in between.
Sandra Harris joined Transforming Futures Trust late December 2021, initially in an interim role and since appointed to the establishment of the Trust. She is an accomplished senior executive, qualified Chartered Secretary and Administrator and governance specialist, primarily within the public sector but also within the third sector, operating within complex environments with experience of both educational and political contexts.
Previously Centre Manager for the Wales Centre for Public Policy at Cardiff University, Sandra was responsible for the smooth operation of the Centre effectively leading and managing its governance and operations. She is a former Chief of Staff of a major public sector shared business services company, prior to which she was Head of the CEO Office at a large Welsh local authority. In addition, she has delivered research, consultancy and evaluation projects specialising in the areas of governance, public policy and administration, and organisational development.
She has a PGDip in Public Leadership and Management from the University of Warwick, a PGCert in Higher Education Leadership and Management, and a BA (Hons) Business Studies. She is also a Certified Coach Mentor.
In her spare time, she plays an active community role which has included being a school Foundation Governor, holding extra responsibilities for additional learning needs, safeguarding and the Wales digital literacy framework.