Experience
For more than 10 years I have provided training and school improvement support for primary schools as an independent consultant in Yorkshire. You will typically find me designing and delivering training courses, working directly with schools on improvement goals, and providing leadership coaching. In my previous LA roles, I was responsible for strategic leadership of school improvement traded services across Leeds and line management of primary consultants. This involved co-ordinating support for schools, organising large scale events, leading on city-wide initiatives, tracking finance, and creating school improvement programmes. Having trained and managed ASTs, SLEs and local authority consultants, and having extensive experience of supporting schools myself, I can provide training and development for a range of different school personnel who are tasked with improving standards.
I also have experience of being a Chair of Governors for a large primary school. It was rewarding to support a new Headteacher and brilliant to see how much a school can improve when everyone works as a team. During this time we were able to move from an Ofsted judgement of requires improvement to good and grow the expertise and capacity of the governing body, enabling a parent governor to take on the role of Chair of Governors after 12 months. The role enabled me to experience school life from a different perspective.
I am particularly passionate about improving the academic performance of disadvantaged pupils with specialisms in metacognition, oracy, thinking, reading comprehension and writing. Having worked in the field of school improvement for more than 20 years, I fully understand the challenges. Headteachers value my wide range of expertise and the understanding I bring to professional conversations.
"Truly exceptional in tailoring to our school, my vision and also the staff rather than just being generic.” Headteacher.
“Vicky’s level of expertise, her level of reality, and her level of practicality sets her apart from other school improvement professionals.” Headteacher.
As my top 5 Clifton Strengths are Learner, Achiever, Restorative, Futuristic and Strategic, I am a great partner for headteachers wishing to hone in on organisational improvement. Headteachers feel able to speak freely and honestly to me, and know they have found someone who genuinely wants to support them and their staff. The majority of my work takes place at a leadership level, e.g. supporting headteachers with performance management; delivering training for DHTs; working with phase leaders to develop leadership capacity; supporting leaders to develop and implement whole school solutions to challenging issues.
"Thank you for being so generous in your support. I have been inspired and energised to keep going. Truly a well-timed and informative session that I can practically put into practice for IMPACT.” Deputy Headteacher.
I have extensive experience of designing and delivering training, from single day courses to developing year-long programmes, and everything from large scale conference events to 1:1 training and development. As a consultant, I spend a great deal of my time studying and researching key educational issues to a level and depth that enables me to support schools effectively on the issues they face. The schools I work with trust my advice because they know it is based on a solid foundation. Helping schools leverage research and turn theory into practice enables them to create lasting improvements. The courses I design are built on a firm and board base of research and good practice.
“The training was brilliantly constructed. One of the best courses I have attended in years. I wanted to be challenged and provoked, but also given some new ideas to work with and the day achieved all of this.” Headteacher.
I have also had the privilege of observing hundreds of lessons and have worked alongside some excellent senior and middle leaders in assessing practice. Every classroom I visit deepens my appreciation for the complexities of learning and helps me to join the dots between educational research, strategic leadership and classroom practice. The leaders I work with appreciate being able to engage in professional dialogue with someone who has seen practice across a wide range of schools. They know I can help them not only assess where they are now, but importantly that I am a partner who can help bring about tangible improvements.
One of my strengths is having both primary and secondary experience, which has shaped my views on teaching and learning and resulted in a deep fascination of how we support children to become successful life long learners who love challenge, respond to feedback, are resilient and take ownership of their learning. I have supported city-wide networks for Secondary colleagues (Drama, Science, RE, Computing, Music) and have written materials on primary curriculum development for The Key. I have also developed packages of support materials for primary and secondary colleagues for a large local authority on metacognition and oracy.
I continue to gain enormously from every colleague I work with. I feel privileged to support teachers and leaders in schools across the Yorkshire region.
