Research School Network: Meet the Team Somerset Research School

Tom has been teaching for 27 years and has held various leadership roles in two large secondary schools in the South West. He facilitates a number of Research Schools Network training programmes alongside managing the work of our growing group of ELE & EA’s. Tom also delivers keynote presentations at conferences and events across the region. Tom is passionate about engaging with research evidence to improve teaching and learning and enjoys supporting other professionals to do the same.

Emily supports Tom as the Deputy Director of Somerset Research School. She is a dedicated Teaching and Learning Coach for the Blue School, committed to fostering an engaging and supportive learning environment. As the Assistant Team Leader of Maths, she works closely with colleagues to enhance teaching practices and promote a love of learning across the school. Passionate about students’ personal and academic achievement, she strives to help every learner feel confident, motivated, and proud of their progress.

Fiona works alongside Tom and Emily ensuring that Professional Development & Partnership programmes, including workshops, conferences and twilights are delivered across the south west. Fiona is also responsible for marketing, communications and project management.

Anne taught, and held leadership roles, in primary schools for over 20 years before becoming an English adviser for Somerset Local Authority. She now works as an independent consultant across the south-west of England. As well as her training and project work with Somerset Research School, Anne works within the School Literacy Network, is involved in ITT programmes and is an accredited trainer for Speech and Language UK. She works across Early Years, KS1, KS2 and KS3 in both mainstream and specialist schools.

In conversations with adults and children alike, Anne loves nothing more than discovering, sharing and discussing books that demand to be ​‘stroked’. She believes that stories, fact and fiction, written and oral, or communicated in other art forms, are at the heart of all learning and central to our understanding of ourselves and others, the world in which we live, the future. She considers it one of the great privileges of her role that she can share the evidence which can best support the developing story of each child and school.

Ro is Headteacher at St Nicholas’ Chantry Church of England and has been teaching for over 20 years holding various leadership roles. As SEMH leader and Pupil Premium reviewer Ro uses her knowledge and training to ensure best outcomes for disadvantaged pupils and to ensure adults, young people, parents & carers in school communities are better equipped for the pressures of modern life.

Clare is the Head of Service for Education partnerships for Bristol City Council, her portfolio consists of school improvement, governor service, Early years and Inclusive Learning. Having previoulsy been an Executive Headteacher across small, junior and larger schools in Bath, Somerset and North Somerset. Most of the schools Clare has worked in and with have been in areas of high dperivation with higher than average numbers of children eligible for pupil premium and those with identified SEND. She has a master’s in educational research and is a teaching and learning coach as well as for the NPQH for the Church of England. In her current role, she is developing education practice across the City through her team, supporting schools to deliver a great education.

Read Clare’s blog for the DfE here, ​‘A headteacher’s top tips to effectively manage Pupil Premium funding’.

Ali has over 25 years’ experience in the early years education sector as a teacher, EYFS Leader, Local Authority Consultant supporting schools, PVI settings and Children’s Centres. She delivers evidence informed training and has written a number of CPD programmes as part of the Bristol & Beyond Stronger Practice Hub. She is passionate about children’s early language development and inspiring environments, practitioners and practice that ignites a lifelong love of learning through play. Ali is currently supporting schools and EY settings offering intensive support, facilitating team development and delivering a research CPD project centred on EYFS Leadership.

Emma is the Head of Service, Inclusion at Bristol City Council, leading the inclusion and SEND Services for Bristol. Emma has over 22 years in education, primarily in SEND. Emma has worked in mainstream and specialist schools as SENDCo and SLT as well as leading a team of advisory teachers and specialising herself in supporting mainstream inclusion for CYPs with SEMH and Autism needs in primary and secondary schools. Emma was one of the Regional Implementation Leads for the DELTA project 2021 – 22, which worked with 80 schools across the city to implement effective TA leadership and deployment.

James is Deputy Head at the Park and Parkwall Federation in Bristol and has completed NPQs in Leading Literacy and Senior Leadership. Based at The Park Primary School, James is a member of the Federation Leadership Team with responsibilities for Assessment and Reading. He has implemented research driven practices and professional development in Early Years and Key Stage One to improve outcomes in Early Reading and Phonics with the English Hub. Working in partnership with Read Write Inc. as 1 of 4 schools to film high quality in action clips and training to improve practices across the country. Additionally, James leads reading across the Mosaic Partnership Trust, implementing evidence-based practice and professional development to improve the teaching of fluency, and comprehension outcomes in Key Stage Two, and inspire a generation of lifelong readers across all their schools. He is keen to support colleagues in connecting with research to inform and improve practices in their schools.

Executive Head St Pauls Nursery School and Childrens Centre and Lead for Bristol and Beyond EYs Regional Stronger Practice Hub

Lucy has been a leader in the Early Years Sector for over 30 years, working as an EYFS Co-ordinator in Primary Schools, Headteacher in 5 different Nursery
Schools, leader of a large integrated urban Children Centre, Early Years Consultant, National Leader of Education, Lead of Bristol EYs National Teaching
School and more recently lead of the SW Regional EYs Stronger Practice Hub ​‘Bristol and Beyond’ working across 8 LAs in the North of the SW region.

Her home base for many years is at St Pauls Nursery School in Bristol, where she is now part time Executive Headteacher. Here she has led a diverse team through 6 consecutive Outstanding Ofsted inspections for both school and day-care, and grown teams of outstanding EYs educators and leaders.

Lucy also plays a commissioned role with Bristol Early years Quality Improvement Team, contributing to strategy, leading on our dynamic systems leadership model of setting to setting support and with leadership development. Lucy is particularly experienced in supervision, mediation, quality improvement, and relationship-based practice and leadership. Her particular interest has always been in creating the right emotionally containing environment in which children, families, teams and leadership can thrive within a robust model of self-evaluation.

Lucy and her team have contributed to the EEF evidence store, DfE guidance for EYs providers and she has wider national connections with regional EYs hubs. She is committed to supporting the Early Years sector to connect with research to make sustainable improvements in their practice with young children.

Mark has been involved in Secondary School Maths education for 17 years. He greatest strength is to saying, ​“Yes” to every piece of CPD offered to him, stealing as many ideas as he can, developing those ideas, and promoting them further in as many places as he can. He is a lead practitioner across his Trust and a Local Leader in Maths Education for his regional Maths Hub. He runs CPD for teachers of all subjects and thoroughly enjoys taking ideas that work in PE, or MFL, or History and considering, ​“What would that look like in DT? In English? In maths? How can that work for all of us”.

Ashley is a primary teacher, PE Lead and Phase Leader at St Mary’s CEVC Primary School in Bridgwater. He is a member of the Senior Leadership team, promoting evidence-informed practice across the school. Ashley holds a Master’s in Educational Leadership and has worked with Teach First as a subject specialist in computing, co-leading national online teacher training sessions. In January 2026, Ashley will be starting his Professional Doctorate in Education at the University of Plymouth, focusing on teacher education and reflective practice.

Sally Franklin is an Associate Researcher at the Centre for Inclusive Education, within the Institute of Education (IOE) at University College London. She has lectured across all aspects of SEND, including the National Award for Special Educational Needs Coordination (NaSENCo), High Quality Teaching and Provision Mapping.

Sally also works as an independent SEND consultant, supporting schools both in the UK and internationally to improve their inclusive practice. She leads on the Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants (MITA) course and trains extensively in TA deployment and practice, working with hundreds of schools across LAs and MATs to support the strategic deployment of TAs. She worked as a Regional Implementation Lead for the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), supporting effective change management in schools.

More recently, she has co-founded Research Box www.myresearchbox.com, a school development platform aimed at improving teacher research literacy and encouraging teacher-led action research in schools.

Head of English at Broadoak Academy, Will is also part of the Somerset Research School team delivering ​‘Making sense of Metacognition’ and ​‘Effective Learning Behaviours’ programmes. Will also contributes to many other programmes and projects sharing his invaluable knowledge, expertise and subject-specific recommendations with colleagues.

Domini has over 17 years of senior leadership experience as a Deputy Headteacher and Assistant Headteacher across several schools and a multi-academy trust in Bristol, and a further 6 years previously as an education advisor for a local authority, a Literacy Lead and a Head of English in London. She has led multiple schools in her various leadership roles to achieve excellent Ofsted and exam outcomes. She has decades of experience in providing support to leaders in a range of educational institutions covering all areas of school improvement. Domini also has extensive experience of providing staff training and leadership support, specifically around developing an inclusive organisational culture, to schools and local authorities around the country, as well as contributing to policy resources and training for the Department of Education for organisations such as the Chartered College of Teaching, The National College and the Anna Freud Centre. She has a passion for developing excellent practice around SEND, safeguarding and equalities, particularly anti-racist practice. Domini also has years of volunteering experience with addressing equalities issues as a former school governor, a representative of the Race Equality Steering Group for Bristol City Council and as a current trustee of The BAMEed Network.