Sarah was appointed CEO of Elements Diocesan Learning Trust in January 2023 and has recently completed the NPQEL. Prior to this she was the executive headteacher of Christ Church CofE Primary and St Mary’s CofE Primary schools, both within Elements trust. Sarah has over twenty-five years of school leadership experience, including ten years as headteacher. During her time at Christ Church Primary, she was instrumental in implementing a number of new initiatives which significantly impacted upon the school, ensuring that school’s strengths continued to be built upon; this has been recognised through Ofsted and SIAMS inspections which all yielded “Good” ratings. As deputy head, she worked for the Local Authority to support schools in challenging circumstance, building leadership capacity and supporting school improvement. Christ Church CofE Primary School was awarded Teaching school status and Sarah led on The Outstanding Teaching and The Improving Teaching programmes for staff across Sandwell and Dudley Local Authorities.

James is a Church of England vicar who leads a Resourcing Church in Dudley Town centre. The Resourcing Church is a £2.5m project, initiated two years ago by the Bishops of Worcester & Dudley. The vision of Top Church is to enable people across Dudley to experience life in all its fullness.

His relevant previous posts / experience includes:

CofE Primary School Foundation Governor

Aspiration, opportunity and learning are just some of his passions being based on his deep faith and belief that everyone is made the image of God.

His leadership experience spans 20 years, during which time he has seen three churches thrive numerically as well as in community and mission.

James enjoys working in an urban context. His previous experience as a case worker for Sir Simon Hughes MP resolving local issues around housing, immigration and benefits, was put to good use in the first church he led in Tooting, London, which particularly served the needs of the displaced, vulnerable and disadvantaged.

In 2004, he cofounded a charity called For Life, which supports disabled children in Thailand. As well as being a board member for this charity, James has stood on a number of charitable boards. He has championed initiatives such as a Debt Centres, Street pastors and Foodbanks and also giving a voice to the LGBT+ community in Dudley Borough and building bridges with the Muslim community. James is experienced in collaborative and strategic leadership, leading and developing teams of staff and clergy, recruiting and appointing staff, partnering with other agencies and overseeing budgets. His latest venture working with National Heritage Lottery Fund seeks to preserve and improve the historic and iconic St Thomas and St Luke’s Church building ensuring it retains its place of identity, learning, worship and community for the generations to come.

Skills Include:

• Strategic & collaborative leadership
• Recruitment
• Finance
• Charity Founder and Trustee
• Bid writing

Viv was the founder and CEO of The Black Pear Trust. She was also the Executive Headteacher of Trust schools until her retirement in September 2020. She supports other schools in her role as a National Leader in Education (NLE).

Skills Include:

• School and MAT governance, leadership & accountability
• Performance management
• Teaching and Learning
• Finance

Peter retired from Hewlett Packard (HP) in 2014 having been Director of their Technology Architect and Chief Technology Capabilities across Europe, Middle East and Africa, and having also been Chief Technologist for their Financial Services business. He was an Open Group accredited Distinguished Architect and sat on their accreditation Board for a number of years.

He previously worked in a major financial organisation where he became an Associate of the Chartered institute of Bankers and is well versed in the establishment, management, governance and financial control of large corporate organisations.

Career highlights:

• The Audit Commission for England & Wales, focusing on improving value for money in local authorities, police forces and the NHS
• The intermediate tier of the NHS in the West Midlands where I was Assistant Chief Executive with responsibility for various geographical ‘patches’
• KPMG, as a Director in its Public Sector Advisory practice. I worked across all sectors of government from Whitehall to local bodies

Relevant areas of experience in the education field include:

• Pioneering work in the late 1980s on using ‘value added’ performance measures for educational attainment
• Directing ‘intervention’ teams in eight local authorities in which children’s social care was judged by Ofsted to be failing
• Developing business cases for shared services between local authorities, and for establishing partnerships between the public sector and the private sector
• The design and implementation of performance management systems in the FE sector in both England and Scotland
• Leading a national review of education and training for offenders in prison and ex-offenders in the community
• Various assignments for the Department for Education (and its predecessors) including aspects of implementing the Leitch Report on Skills for Life, and social worker accreditation
• Church school Governor.
• Co-opted for four years (2016 to 2020 as a Governor of the Birmingham Virtual School for Looked After Children and Chair of its Safeguarding Committee.

• In December 2020 I entered into semi retirement to follow my calling. This has enabled me to take on the lead for the Cradley Heath Community Link.
• My business and finance experience covers a vast array of companies both large and small.
• I have been a member of the Institute of Directors for 20 years.
• I purchased my first company aged 26 and I currently own and direct some 6 companies ranging from Health and Safety training, consultancy, insurance, import export, plant hire and property investment.
• I have been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health for 20 years, a Fellow of the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management, Technical Member for the Institute of Engineering and Technology, a member of the Institute of Swimming Pool Engineers, a graduate member of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and a Registered Safety Practitioner OSHCR registered.
• I have also been a governor for both primary and secondary schools as well as sitting on the central health and safety committee for Sandwell schools.

Tim has been the Director of Education for the Diocese of Worcester since September 2021, previously being the Deputy Director Education. As Deputy Director he created, developed and built up the DBE’s successful School Effectiveness work.

Tim continues to manage, alongside the Deputy Director, the DBE’s team of School Effectiveness Advisers, providing varying levels of bespoke support for around 40 Church of England and Community schools in Worcestershire and Dudley. He works closely with Worcestershire Children First and Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council and continues to review the Quality of Teaching and Learning alongside LA colleagues in many maintained schools. He is a member of both Dudley and Worcestershire Schools Forum and the National SIAMS Advisory Group.

Before taking up the role of Deputy DDE, Tim was headteacher of a Church of England Primary School and an independent School Improvement consultant, owning his own consultancy service.

Gilly has worked for the Diocesan Education Team for 9 years and is currently the Executive Officer for Education leading on all aspects of Church School Governance.

Experience

Gilly has been a governor in a Church of England School during a time when the school moved from Requires Improvement to Good and a Trustee in a Church of England Academy that moved from Special Measures to Good.
Gilly has extensive knowledge regarding school academisation processes, and advises schools and Trusts including areas regarding Articles of Association and Schemes of Delegated Responsibility.
Gilly trains trustees, governors, chairs and governance professionals on all areas of their roles and responsibilities.
Gilly advises on school and trust admissions and appeals
Gilly has a Masters degree in Theology and Leadership, and is currently training for Ordination.

Skills include

Strategic and Collaborative Leadership

Training in areas of school and Trust governance

Policy review