What our people say

From newly qualified teacher to CEO

As I started out in my career, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher.  We all remember the great teachers that we’ve had: that one special person who inspired us to go on to strive for our best, or the one who pushed us beyond the limits of what we thought we could achieve. For me, maths was always my favourite subject, and my maths teacher was my inspiration.  So, as a NQT (newly qualified teacher), I joined Tuxford Academy with the intention to inspire young people in the way that my own teachers had inspired me.

As my career progressed, I became head of maths, then joined the senior leadership team firstly as deputy headteacher and, subsequently, as headteacher.  During this time, I took on wider leadership responsibilities with the local authority before becoming an executive principal. I then became a senior executive leader at Diverse Academies Trust and am now proud to be the chief executive officer.

What makes Diverse Academies a great organisation to work for is the high priority we place on our people – we genuinely care about our employees. That is why we invest in professional learning, CPD and career opportunities as an entitlement for all staff – we place a lot of emphasis on this area and give our people ownership over their own professional learning opportunities.

This approach is also having a positive impact on how we collaborate and work with partners outside of our organisation too, and the growing reputation we have for professionalism and nurturing talent.

What truly sets us apart though is our ongoing investment in our students and pupils, our collaborative approach to always have those young people at the heart of all we do, and the support and care we have for each other. It is no coincidence that this is summed up in our core values: we empower, we respect, we care.

Volunteering in the education sector – where children are at the core – gives me hope. If we, as a Trust board working with our senior leaders, make a little progress each day, it adds up to big results. For me, the ‘big result’ is the vision of every child been given the opportunity to flourish within the educational environment.

I’ve worked for Diverse Academies for over 30 years as a midday supervisor. When I was asked if I’d like to take part in a coaching CPD programme, I was nervous at first, but I loved it and it made me feel empowered. I’ve now booked onto another course and it’s great that I have these opportunities.

I joined in 2004 as a teacher because I wanted to do something that mattered to the world. Coming from a senior role in a private design business, I didn’t think I wanted to progress to a leadership role, but opportunities came up and people saw something in me that I didn’t.

I trained as a teacher in 2018, following working in the design industry for several years. I decided to become a teacher as I wanted a fulfilling and impactful career, and the opportunity to inspire and engage pupils about the world of design and engineering. I am proud to work at Diverse Academies and find my teaching role varied and enjoyable. Working at Diverse Academies Trust provides lots of benefits, such as frequent opportunities for meaningful and high quality CPD.  Throughout my four years at Diverse Academies, I have made the most of these opportunities, including participating in several training programmes which have been invaluable to growing my professional practice.

I started working for Diverse Academies Trust in 2012 as a finance officer in one of our academies (East Leake Academy), the same year the academy joined the trust. During this time there were only three academies forming part of the trust, including Retford Oaks Academy and Tuxford Academy. Each academy had their own finance team who worked in silos. As the Trust grew and developed its processes, I also developed and progressed my career. After working as a finance officer for two years, I was promoted to the role of finance manager. During this time, the Trust had also grown and acquired a further two academies, Tuxford Primary Academy and The Holgate Academy. Between 2015 and 2018, a further eight academies joined the trust – this was a critical time for the organisation and the finance team. We had gone through a process to centralise and streamline the finance function to ensure that we provided a high-quality service whilst ensuring that value for money was central. I became the financial controller for the organisation and supported in various key financial procedures, policies and processes. I feel I have been a part of the Trust’s growth journey, as my career has also developed alongside this.

After attending one of Diverse Academies secondaries as a student and then coming back to do my Initial Teacher Training (ITT), it was a little strange. I knew straight away that I was going to settle in quickly, because I knew that staff and the school very well. I would definitely say that this has helped with my ITT year. I have really enjoyed my placement here, although at times it has been challenging to balance everything – I have learnt so much from my experiences. I look forward to applying everything I have learnt when I start as a qualified teacher in September.