The Aldridge team supporting our schools

• Jane Fletcher
  Chief Executive
  Jane Fletcher

  Jane joined Aldridge Education as Chief Executive Officer in May 2019. She has worked in education for over 20 years and held three posts as Principal and Executive Principal, the last being in London within the Harris Federation.

  Under Jane's tenure the school received an Outstanding grading from Ofsted and retained its position at the top of successive performance tables for 6 years. Since then, she has been a Regional Director with the Ark network, supporting and working with a group of 11 schools in London and the South.

  Jane has a Master's degree in Education and has completed the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH). In addition to her leadership roles within schools and multi-academy trust she also has previous experience as an Ofsted inspector.

  On joining the Trust Jane said: "I am very excited to be joining an organisation which is passionate about preparing young people, whatever their background, to succeed in education and in the world of work. The Board demonstrate a strong desire to ensure that every Aldridge student achieves academically and that strong outcomes, combined with a focus on the development of enterprising skills and an entrepreneurial mindset, equip them to be ready for next steps beyond the age of 18."

• Bryony Green
  Chief Operating Officer
  Bryony Green

  Bryony joined Aldridge Education as Chief Operating Officer in January 2023. She is an experienced executive leader in public sector organisations, over 15 years of which have been in Education.

  
  Before joining Aldridge Education, she was Director of Corporate Services for the Cabot Learning Federation (CLF), a Multi Academy Trust in South West England, where she led teams across a wide range of operational areas. Prior to that, Bryony was a project manager, managing a number of academy conversion projects on behalf of the Department for Education.

  
  Bryony spent 10 years working and training as an engineer and project manager with the Ministry of Defence before to moving into the education sector.

• Stephanie Newman
  Chief Academic Officer & Executive Principal (South)
  Stephanie Newman

  Stephanie joined us as Trust Associate Principal in February 2020, bringing 20 years' experience of improving progress and attainment of children in local authority and academy schools. In June 2021 it as announced that she would take on the newly created role of the Trust Chief Academic Officer.

  Stephanie had previously worked with both Harris and Ark in a range of leadership positions, helping turn under-performing schools to performance above national averages, most recently as Principal of Ark William Parker Academy in Hastings.

  Stephanie is passionate about using education to improve social mobility.

• Kerry Birch
  Chief People Officer
  Kerry Birch

  Kerry joined Aldridge Education as the Director of Human Resources in August 2019, and is responsible for all strategic and operational Human Resources activity across the Trust.

  Kerry gained a masters's degree in Human Resources Strategy at the London Metropolitan University and has over 20 years' commercial generalist experience of Human Resources gained through a variety of sectors, with previous senior management experience in education and the private sector.

• David Webster
  Chief Financial Officer
  David Webster

  David joined the Trust in February 2022 as Head of Finance. He has spent his career so far within the charity and not-for-profit sector. Prior to joining the Trust, he spent six years at an audit practice advising not-for-profit clients on a range of financial issues, and four years managing financial reporting matters for several large charitable organisations linked to a historic institution.

• Jose Bordetas
  Director of IT
  Jose Bordetas

  Jose joined Aldridge Education as Director of IT in November 2018. He has worked in the IT industry for over 20 years in several consultancy and key strategic roles within the private and education sector, leading technology transformation programmes, strategies and complex migration/upgrade projects.

  
  Jose has a degree in Computer Systems and holds numerous industry qualifications including Microsoft, Cisco, Apple, Citrix, CompTIA, VMware, ITIL, Prince2. He is also a certified advanced security practitioner, CCISO and a CISSP.

  Jose believes strongly in the transformational capacity of IT to enhance the education of young people.

• Will Shaw
  Director of Estates
  Will Shaw

  Will joined Aldridge Education as Director of Estates in November 2019. He is an experienced and qualified Health and Safety Manager with extensive group managerial experience in both the education and commercial sectors spanning health and safety management, facilities management, quality control and auditing.

• Poppy Nobes
  Head of Professional Development
  Poppy Nobes

  Poppy joined Aldridge Education as the Trust Lead for English in our London and South East region in September 2019. After graduating from a BA in English Literature at Sheffield University, she trained as a secondary English teacher through the Teach First programme in Yorkshire, going on to gain her MA in Education from the University of Manchester.

  Poppy relocated to London following her training, teaching at an Ark school for five years. During this time, she fulfilled various roles including Lead Teacher for KS3 English, acting Head of Department and leading on initial teacher training within school, supporting both the Ark teacher training and Now Teach participants.

  Additionally, Poppy contributed to the achievement of well above national average results, Summer 2019 seeing 90% of pupils achieve a grade 9-4 in English Language and English Literature. The department were also a part of the English Mastery pilot, awarded the Depth before Breadth award in the first year for the best Year 7 results in the Ark network.

  Poppy further fulfilled the part-time role as Network Lead Teacher for English Mastery, supporting schools with their successful implementation of the programme over time.

  In September 2021 Poppy took on the role of Trust Lead for Professional Development, championing the Trust's Growing Together professional development programme.

• Karen Foster
  Head of Inclusion
  Karen Foster

  Karen joined Aldridge Education as the national Trust Lead for Inclusion in September 2020. After graduating with a BA Hons in Dance and Sociology at Middlesex University, she went on to teach and perform for a number of years with various dance and performing arts companies (nationally and internationally), as well as managing performing and creative arts-based projects and productions across London.

  Karen first started working directly with young people when she was employed by a south London youth club to manage a project with a local secondary school. The aim of this project was to work with students in Years 10 and 11 who were at risk of permanent exclusion, to ensure that they were able to sit their GCSE exams. The work involved behaviour modification techniques and strategies, alongside the academic learning.

  Karen then went onto work as a pastoral lead and Head of House at a Harris school for a number of years, where she led on behaviour, attendance, safeguarding and welfare for the students within her house, and was also a Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead. During her time at Harris she also set up, managed and run an alternative provision within the school for students in all year groups who were disengaged, not accessing the curriculum, and at risk of permanent exclusion. She then worked as a Regional Trust Lead for E-Act multi-academy trust where she was responsible for the strategic development and implementation of behaviour and safeguarding across the schools in her region.

  Her journey then took Karen into the private sector where she worked with Reed in Partnership, a subsidiary company within the Reed recruitment family group, where she was the national Safeguarding Lead for the business, and also the Health & Safety Lead, and has obtained her NEBOSH National General Certificate qualification and the Royal Geographical Society Off Site Safety Management qualification.

  Karen is excited for the new adventure with Aldridge Education and having the opportunity to ensure that inclusion and inclusive practice are embedded within the network. She is also particularly looking forward to working with all staff in both operational and support roles to improve student outcomes via a more holistic approach to culture and ethos.

• Hannah Watkins
  Head of Marketing and Communications
  Hannah Watkins

  Hannah joined Aldridge Education as the Head of Communications and Marketing in August 2023. She leads on the promotion and protection of the Trust and its schools across a variety of stakeholders, including regional and national media, as well local communities.

  Hannah has a BA in English Literature and Language from the University of Oxford, as well as a Masters in Broadcast Journalism. Before joining Aldridge Education, she worked in a number of dynamic and high-profile communications roles across a variety of private and public sector organisations - including Tesco PLC, the Ministry of Defence, and the Post Office. She also spent three years in Washington D.C., working at the British Embassy: firstly, as Chief Communications Officer for military and defence, and latterly as the Press Secretary to the British Ambassador. Most recently, having returned to the UK, she was the Media Relations Manager for the University of Central Lancashire, which sparked a passion for working in the world of education and showcasing its ability to change lives.

• Anne Silver
  Head of Local Governance
  Anne Silver

  Anne joined Aldridge in Nov 2021 as Head of Local Governance and is responsible for our Local Governance Committees across our academies and the support that they provide to the Trust Board, Central and school teams and students. Anne's career has primarily been in the Corporate sector in Real Estate management for the last 20 years. She has held global and regional senior management roles working for or on behalf of global clients who are usually headquartered in Europe. Roles have covered a variety of commercial Real Estate activities including FM Operations and Real Estate Acquisition/Disposal/ Projects and most recently she has specialised in Consultancy and Change Management programmes and Performance and Governance

• Rowan Maclennan
  Head of Data and Analytics
  Rowan Maclennan

  Rowan became a Data Manager for Aldridge Education in September 2017 and has been the Data Manager at Darwen Aldridge Community Academy since 2010.

  She holds a degree in Psychology and Social Studies as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health Intelligence from John Moore's Liverpool.

  Rowan has previously held roles working as a Public Health Analyst at West Lancashire and Wirral Primary Care Trusts and later as Cancer Intelligence Analyst for Cheshire and Merseyside.

  While working at DACA, Rowan has been actively involved in the AfriDACA trips to Uganda in 2015 and 2017.

• Laura Needham
  PA to the CEO
  Laura Needham

  Laura joined the Trust in August 2020 as Personal Assistant to our Chief Executive, Jane Fletcher. Laura is a highly experienced and efficient PA having worked in both private and public sector organisations over 15 years. She has supported CEO's, MD's, Board Members and Local Government Officials.

  Laura is passionate about developing solid working relationships across all sectors of the Trust.

• Colin Grand
  Executive Principal (Atypical)
  Colin Grand

  Colin joined the Aldridge Trust at its inception in 2008, working at Darwen Aldridge Community Academy's predecessor school as an Advanced Skills Teacher. A teacher of Art, Design and Photography by specialism, he has always championed creativity as a driving force for engagement, aspiration and achievement in education.

  In 2013, Colin was a senior leader who designed and opened Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio School, establishing a distinctive, industry-facing model that has grown into a thriving and successful Studio School. His commitment to an innovative, creative and technical curriculum led to the development of an A-typical education model focused on real-world learning and strong employer partnerships.

  In 2020, Colin extended this approach through his executive leadership of UTC MediaCity, further strengthening Aldridge Education's specialist technical provision. Specialising in University Technical Colleges, he has recently overseen the induction of UTC Warrington into the Trust and now has oversight of all A-typical settings in his role as Executive Principal for Aldridge Education.

  Colin is passionate about raising aspirations for young people and designing specialist technical curriculum that open doors to vital and emerging job roles, ensuring students are equipped with both the qualifications and the cultural capital to succeed.

• Jessica Giraud
  Executive Principal (North)
  Jessica Giraud

  Jessica Giraud joined Aldridge Education in 2025 as Executive Principal (North).

  Prior to joining Aldidge, Jessica worked for nine years at Oldham Academy North in various leadership roles, leading the Academy as Head Teacher between 2022 and 2025. Under her leadership, the school recieved its most successful Ofsted report ever; became a Silver award winner for Pearson; and had a track record of continually improving exam results year on year. Jessica was also awarded E-ACT Trust's Head Teacher of the Year in 2024.

  Jessica has been teaching since 2005, starting her career in inner city Leeds as an English teacher, where she built a reputation of consistently improving English results and reading ages.

  Jessica has a daughter, a dog called Toby, and is passionate about music.

• Catherine Barnard
  Financial Controller
  Catherine Barnard

  Catherine joined the Trust in August 2023 as Financial Controller. She has spent most of her career as a Chartered Accountant in both the private and public sector. She also has a teaching qualification and has taught mathematics at KS3/KS4 and accountancy in the adult education sector.