Research School Network: Introducing our 4 new Evidence Leads We are excited to introduce our 4 new Evidence Leads

We are delighted to introduce our four new Evidence Leads, who have a range of skills and expertise. We are so pleased that they have joined the Staffordshire Research School team to support schools in the local area to use evidence to support their developments. They will be carrying out a range of activities including: delivering training, writing blogs and providing follow on support for school within our partnerships.

Karen is the Vice Principal Teaching and Learning at Pegasus Academy.

Experience and Specialism
Karen has worked in secondary education for over 20 years, teaching across all year groups and having responsibility for examination groups. She is the Vice Principal for teaching and learning at Pegasus Academy and has been part of a senior leadership team for the last 13 years. She has responsibility for ensuring that standards of teaching and learning are high across the school, and development needs are responsive to both learners and staff. Her passion is to provide the best provision they can for the learners in their care. To ensure that whatever the starting points of those learners, they provide high quality teaching and wider opportunities to improve their life chances

Outlook on Evidence-Informed Practice
Continued professional development is key to school improvement. The link between research and educational practice are the best way to improve classroom practice, increase learner progress and empower teachers through their own professional development. To achieve this, training that focuses on the highest leverage action for our learners, evidence informed and relevant to their contexts will make the biggest impact. Her areas of research specialism are; making the difference for disadvantage learners, SEND, effective assessment and feedback and effective implementation.

Working Collaboratively
Working as both an AST and SLE (advanced skills teacher, senior leader of education) has given her the opportunity to work across many educational settings offering school to school support to raise standards in teaching and learning. She believes that coaching and mentoring is powerful tool in empowering teachers to develop professionally and increase leadership capacity in their areas and beyond. She has been involved in guiding, coaching, and advising newly appointed teachers, middle leadership and senior leaders to develop their leadership skills through the input of my experience and critical challenge. She is a course leader for the NPQSL which brings together a range of teachers from both primary and secondary schools, working collaboratively to make sustainable changes to their own practices.

She is dedicated to supporting all colleagues and this is an aspect of her role she most thrives in. She is excited about undertaking her ELE role, to share her experience with educators to maximise the impact we all have on the learners we teach.

Will is Director of Blue Sky and Strategic Lead for School Improvement at The Romero Academy.

Experience and Specialism
Will’s driving passions are Pupil Premium provision, curriculum design and teacher development. His current role focuses on designing and delivering CPD and co-ordinating and leading school-to-school support within the Romero Academy and with schools and Trusts across Coventry and Warwickshire. His track record as a teacher across a number of schools, Trusts and Authorities is very strong and as part of the Senior Leadership team at Good Shepherd, he was an integral part of their journey from Requires Improvement to Good (with two elements of Outstanding). He currently facilitates regionally and nationally on the NPQLTD.

Outlook on Evidence-Informed Practice
Research and case studies are more prevalent now than ever which is a positive and we as a profession have made huge strides in appreciating the need to incorporate this into our practice. Organisations such as the EEF have been instrumental in this. However, there is often still something of a lag in terms of implementation and putting this into practice to make sure that the evidence drives actions. Working with teachers and leaders to see how research can provoke new thoughts, challenge assumptions and open up new understanding of contexts is the key to improve development of professionals and the furthering the provision children receive.

Working Collaboratively
Will is passionate about the power that collaborative working has on all parties involved. This is a key and common part of his current role, working with a range of teachers and leaders to ensure high outcomes and sustainable development. He is passionate about creating synergy through cultures of continuous and collaborative improvement underpinned by the notion ‘’A rising tides lifts all boats.”

Mat is the Deputy Headteacher at Aldersley High School, Wolverhampton.

Experience and Specialism
As Deputy Head, Mat oversees the Pastoral, SEND and Personal Development provision at Aldersley High School. Having worked for 15 years with highly disadvantaged cohorts in Wolverhampton Mat is passionate about removing barriers to success and not allowing generational under achievement and lowering of aspirations to be the limiting factor in the potential success and futures of the young people he works with. Mat is passionate about staff development, leadership development and the development of positive cultures to enable success for all. Mats specialisms are Physical Education, Whole school culture and Student Conduct.

Outlook on Evidence-Informed Practice
At a time where school resources are stretched further than they ever have previously the need to ensure we operate in an effective, efficient manner is paramount. It is imperative schools utilise the vast amount of research available to inform decision making to ensure we best support our young people in being successful in an evidence informed manner. Without utilising the research available to us to make evidence informed decisions we run the risk of adding to an already tense work load issues the profession is currently facing

Working Collaboratively
Mat is looking forward to continuing to work collaboratively in both sharing his own experience and the recommendations from the various EEF reports to support the ongoing drive for school improvement across the West Midlands.

Debbie is an Assistant Headteacher at John Taylor High School.


Experience and Specialism
Debbie has twenty years’ experience in education, enjoying a variety of roles from Head of English, Assistant Headteacher and Trust Lead for English and Literacy. Debbie is an SLE for English and currently partaking in an NPQLTD. Debbie is also a certified life coach and a regional advocate for LitDrive. Debbie is passionate about teacher development, literacy and pedagogy. She has worked as an ELE for Derby Research School previously and is excited to now transfer her skills and experience to Staffordshire.


Outlook on Evidence-Informed Practice
Debbie has first hand experience of the impact of evidence informed practice, having utilised it in both her Trust lead role and as an Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning, CPD and curriculum. The EEF is always her first port of call when approaching school improvement, alongside other trusted sources of evidence-based research such as the Chartered College of Teaching. For Debbie, evidence-based research takes the guess work out of driving school development. Debbie is active in developing her own knowledge and research, aiming to develop her understanding through partaking in educational reading regularly.

Working Collaboratively
Debbie thoroughly enjoys working collaboratively; working with others to use evidence informed practice to drive school development and improve student outcomes. Debbie has much experience of collaborative work throughout her career, building trust and relationships with colleagues and leaders.