Trust Central Team

Abu has worked in finance for education for more than 10 years and as CFO his role involves a combination of financial stewardship, an emphasis in compliance, supporting the Trust in strategic decision-making, and ensuring the effective use of its resources.

Abu plays a pivotal role in ensuring financial sustainability, transparency, and accountability while supporting the educational vision of the Trust.

Louisa is an experienced operations and business support professional with over 15 years’ experience in the media and fashion sector before transitioning 5 years ago into the education sector. Having worked directly within both secondary and primary schools operations she is well versed on the administrative functions within schools to provide strategic direction on the day to day admin provision within the SET schools and provide guidance and support to the Office Managers across the Trust. Louisa oversees monitoring and supports on key operational systems, procedures, protocols, contracts and arrangements such as operational software, GDPR, catering, school uniform and more, to ensure that each schools’ needs are met and the admin provision works effectively and efficiently.

Ollie has a significant understanding of the challenges and demands of IT systems in schools.  He oversees the strategic direction of our IT provision across the Trust, working with the Headteachers at each school to use the knowledge and skills of the IT teams to support and enhance both teaching and learning and the administration of the school, ensuring accessibility to service and the IT provision is exactly what the schools require.  Ollie has a high level knowledge of the Apple iPads (both management and educationally), internet and cloud solutions (such as office 365 and iCloud).

DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF IT - Tom Rivers

Tom has many years’ experience of working within IT in education and uses this expertise to support the Director of IT and the Headteachers and schools that he looks after.  Tom has significant expertise in windows management, scripting, coding and the networking side of IT. 

Tom’s approach supports the ethos of the Trust that IT support is only “one click away”; whether that’s a personal visit or remote access to support each of the schools onsite provision.

DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF IT - Hayley Chalmers

To follow

Ladan is a Chemist and has been teaching for 26 years, holding senior leadership positions in all key stages.  She has extensive knowledge and understanding of both primary and secondary phases of education and has been Head of Inclusion, SENDCo, DSL and has recently led the primary phase of Samuel Ryder Academy.

Ladan holds Post Graduate qualifications in Science, Special Educational Needs and Education studies and is a member of the British Psychological Society as a specialist assessor.

Ladan will be working very closely with all SET Headteachers, SENDCos, Designated Senior Leads and Governors to ensure that the provision for all our SET learners is of the highest quality and they receive the best quality of education, care and support.

Heather manages attendance across the Trust Schools to ensure all schools have excellent levels of attendance and students maximise their full potential.

Heather and her team support families in ensuring the regular and punctual attendance of students and work proactively to remove barriers of poor attendance.  The robust attendance procedures and strategies in place, ensure safeguarding, improve outcomes for our students and support staff in managing persistent absence.

Responsible for Scholars' Education Trust estate management across all its schools including, management of the site teams, planned preventative & reactive maintenance, health and safety compliance, management of capital projects, asset management and finance.

Ian has 6 Years’ experience managing the health, safety & emergency planning for a local authority including; clienting and auditing of the councils housing maintenance, gas and water hygiene contracts, waste refuse contract, leisure services, playgrounds, grounds and cemetery maintenance along with coordinating of the councils response to borough wide emergencies.

15 years leisure management experience including; finance, company lead for technical services and health & safety, asset management, project managing & quality auditing.

Marta joined the Trust having worked in the HR field for 10+ years. Her most recent role was a HR Manager in a standalone academy. Marta is very passionate about embedding HR best practices through clear policies and suitable procedures in place to enhance performance of our staff. Together with her team, she oversees many functions including recruitment, onboarding, absence and record management, as well as employee’s wellbeing.

Most importantly, Marta and her team are available to provide confidential, relevant and timely support for all teaching and support staff in the Trust.

Rebecca is responsible for the payroll processes and procedures across all schools within the Trust and the central team. This includes the preparation and submission of all statutory returns to HMRC and pension schemes.  Rebecca has 14 years’ experience in the education sector, providing payroll, finance and business management support to schools and academies.  Prior to this, Rebecca was in banking for 17 years, covering various management roles, and latterly leading a team of specialist tax and pension advisers.

Rebecca and her team pride themselves in providing an expert payroll service.