Share on:
Gloucestershire Research School Director
Laura has 18 years’ experience in education, working across a range of key stages and leadership roles within London and Gloucestershire. She is currently Director of Research and Development at The GLA Trust and is part of the Senior Executive Team for the Trust. Laura’s responsibilities include leading the School Improvement Team (SIT), the BASIC coaching team and the Associate Team. As part of her GLA role, she also leads on implementing Trust wide strategies, delivering CPD and supporting external work.
As Director of the Gloucestershire Research School – the first of its kind in the county – Laura is focused on building links and connections with schools and networks to support collaborative work that raises the attainment of disadvantage pupils. She is also keen to provide plentiful CPD opportunities for school staff across all roles to explore, discuss and use evidence research with impact in their schools.
“I have always been very passionate about the use of research evidence to support teachers and leaders to deliver the best education possible: an education that allows all children to thrive, to feel successful and to be ambitious for their future, regardless of their background or postcode. The use of research evidence can be difficult to navigate and is not always easily accessible. The EEF have worked hard to mitigate these challenges. I feel very honoured to serve our schools and children by supporting and leading on this work at a local level within the county”.
Deputy Director
Jenn has 19 years’ experience in education, working across a range of key stages and leadership roles within Gloucestershire, Bristol and Worcestershire. She is currently part of the School Improvement Team for The GLA Trust. Jenn’s responsibilities also include leading Disadvantage across the trust, being a member of the BASIC coaching team and the Associate Team.
As Deputy Director of the Gloucestershire Research School, Jenn works closely with Laura and the extended team, adding capacity to our ability to build relationships with schools and networks to support collaborative work that raises the attainment of disadvantage pupils.
“For me, the EEF Mission of breaking the link between family income and educational achievement aligns with my own passion. I firmly believe that all children are fortunes of luck in terms of the circumstances they are born in to. We, as educators and members of society, have a duty to fulfil our obligation to those who trust us and need us the most to ensure all children receive the education they deserve in order to recognise and make the most of their capabilities. No child should ever be deprived of ambition, aspiration or expectation because of their ‘luck’ “.
Deputy Director
Melody has experience of leading teaching and learning, curriculum, assessment and writing across the Key Stage 1 and 2 phases. Having recently completed an MBA in Educational Leadership, her interests extended into the complexities of implementation of school-wide and Trust-wide strategies.
Melody is currently Deputy Director of the Gloucestershire Research School at The GLA Trust and is part of the Trust School Improvement Team (SIT). As part of her GLA role, she leads on implementing Writing strategies across the Trust with an aim of raising standards for all.
As Deputy Director of the Gloucestershire Research School, she works alongside the team to support the collaborative work and continued professional development of staff, which raises attainment for disadvantaged children.
“The use of research evidence can support teachers and leaders to consider the best strategies to support outcomes for all children. In doing so, we can ensure children are ambitious and feel successful. The abundance of educational research can however be challenging: the collaboration provided by being a part of the research community with the EEF, enables these challenges to be overcome.”
ELE (Metacognition and Curriculum) & PSS (Partnership Area Lead)
Jess has twenty years’ experience in education including senior leadership, headship and leading a DfE English Hub. She is a member of the school improvement team at The GLA Trust and is a BASIC coach. Jess is an experienced practitioner in curriculum development with expertise in early reading and foundation curriculum subjects.
Marketing and Projects Officer
Charlotte has a dual role as Marketing and Projects Officer for Gloucestershire Research School and The GLA Trust. Charlotte brings a balance of marketing and communications knowledge mixed with her own primary teaching assistant and teaching experience.
ELE (Professional Development)
Cariad has 17 years experience in education, working across key stages and including 9 years in senior leadership and headship. She is currently in role as Deputy Director of Odyssey Teaching School Hub, focusing on the development on the development of Schools-Based Primary Teacher Training routes and the delivery of National Professional Qualifications. She is part of the SAND Academies Trust School Improvement Team and has a passion for early years and effective professional learning. Both roles bring capacity to develop networks and partnerships across schools in Gloucestershire, supporting the EEF mission of collaborative working to raise attainment for disadvantaged pupils.
ELE (SEND and EYFS)
Tamara has worked in education for over 20 years in four trusts and five local authorities. She has substantial experience of delivering strategic leadership that has resulted in demonstrable school and trust success including achieving outstanding Ofsted inspections in multiple schools. In addition to her current role as a Trust Inclusion Safeguarding and EYFS Leader, she has been a Local Leader of Education and Headteacher Advocate for the Boolean Maths Hub and a DFE Area Lead for the EYFS Covid Recovery Programme. She is also a Visiting Fellow for five counties an Early Headship Coach and a Trustee for a large local trust. Tamara is a strong advocate for continuous school improvement and as a School Improvement Lead has joined multiple executive teams to complete internal school review visits, supporting with the identification of current strengths alongside making recommendations for improvements.
ELE (Metacognition)
Chris is the director of Odyssey Teaching School Hub and Assistant Headteacher (Teaching and Learning) at Pate‘s Grammar School. Prior to this he held a range of leadership roles including Head of Sixth form in two schools. Chris has extensive experience of delivering high-quality teaching and leading whole school CPD including the facilitation of specialist and leadership NPQ‘s . He has a particular interest in how metacognition can boost learning to support the outcomes of young people and, through his work with the extended team, looks forward to seeing how evidence-supported learning impacts schools.
ELE
Becky has 20 years of teaching and leadership experience. She is currently Director of the Gloucestershire Initial Teacher Education Partnership, a network of around fifty secondary and primary schools providing school-centred initial teacher training. Becky is also the CEO for Teach Glos, a school-led organisation providing professional development for teachers, leaders, and support staff. Prior to this, she spent many years as a history teacher, middle leader, and Specialist Leader in Education. She has particular interests, in diversity, equity and inclusion, and in the application of cognitive science research to empower teacher professional development and classroom practice.
ELE (Primary Literacy and Disadvantage)
Tony has 29 years experience in education. He has worked in East Sussex, London, Abu Dhabi and Gloucestershire. Tony has taught across key stages one and two and held a variety of leadership roles including Acting Headship, Deputy Head and range of subject leadership positions. He has held the position of English Lead in four different schools for over 20 years and is currently Deputy Head and Curriculum Lead at Swindon Village Primary School in Cheltenham.
ELE (Secondary English)
Julie has nearly 30 years of teaching and leadership experience. She believes that Continuing Professional Development should be evidenced based that it should increase teachers access to high-quality evidence and impact positively on students lives and outcomes. As well as developing a cultural shift to evidence-based practice in her current school, Julie has worked collaboratively with UWE Bristol on several research projects. After the completion of her Doctorate in Education, she has written extensively for a range of publications. Julie also facilitates the NPQLTD through Odyssey Teaching School Hub.
This website collects a number of cookies from its users for improving your overall experience of the site.Read more