MAT Leadership Team
SARAH bAGSHAW
C.E.O
Worked within the Education sector nationally and within St Bede at a strategic level for over 15 years. Upholds the Christian ethos of the MAT and ensure Christianity underpins the MAT Mission. Manages the overall operations of the organisation, including development of the Trust, educational excellence, marketing, communications, and financial sustainability. Develops and approves strategies to meet Members, parents, children, educational agencies and employee needs. Communicates with people inside and outside the organisation to discover what policies, operational and marketing strategies will help the Trust move forward. Created project teams to lead the development of the MAT, from St Bede Academy conversion through to the first sponsorship from initial due diligence, to completion of a second Academy. Network nationally to benefit the Trust and educational sector as a whole. Including advising the House of Commons Select Committee for childcare affordability, being part of the NAHT SBL Committee to challenge the Government on their National Funding Formula, and attending select round table talks with Education Ministers. Advises nationally and locally others looking at converting to Academies, including questions to ask, due diligence process and implications. Underpinned by a background as a Chartered Accountant with over 13 years’ experience driving successful business operations in a variety of sectors including a £350m turnover FMCG business, dealing with growth and change management at a strategic and operational level.
SARAH Rostron
C.O.O
Sarah has over 19 years’ experience in Primary School education. In her role as Chief Operating Officer, Sarah works alongside Headteachers on strategy and improvement to ensure that children have access to an education package that prepares them for the future. She creates working groups across the Trust to develop new policy, practice and educational approaches to improve outcomes for both staff and pupils. Sarah is a Specialist Leader of Education with specialisms in Teaching and Learning, Curriculum Leadership and Quality Standards. She has successfully led initiatives at St. Bede and other schools to raise standards in Maths and English; to improve the quality of teaching and to improve data reporting and analysis. She has also played a leading role in a number of “Deep Dive” diagnostics which have led to whole school improvements in the Trust and beyond. Previously Head of School at St. Bede, a three form entry primary school in Bolton. In 2021, she received TES Headteacher of the Year award, after being nominated by staff, Governors and parents, for her dedication and hard work during the pandemic.
Carol Mee
Finance Director
Carol has over 30 years’ experience of working within a finance and payroll environment both within the public and private sectors. Carol has extensive experience in financial and payroll administration, process control and multi-site operations. She has the responsibility for managing the Central Services team of 6 Finance/Payroll members.
Emma Pendlebury
HR Director
Emma has experience of working in the Public Sector, Further Education Sector and the Not for Profit Sectors and has tangible experience in leading and managing HR services delivering on a number of key organisational objectives. She is currently responsible for Human Resources across the Multi Academy Trust and St Bede Childcare Ltd and leads on supporting the senior management team on all aspects of Human Resources. Emma has designed a quality improvement plan and works closely with Finance and IT teams to deliver a positive customer – led service. Emma is responsible for a HR Team consisting of a HR Attendance Officer and a HR Assistant.
Karl Denton
Operations Director
Karl has over 15 years of experience of working in ICT within the education sector. He is currently responsible for ICT across the whole of the Trust and St Bede’s Childcare Limited. Karl continually strives to ensure the ICT services are working effectively, while constantly reviewing the efficiency of organisational systems and comparing performance/costs to new emerging systems within the IT sector. Karl manages a small ICT team whom ensure that network resources on and off site for all end users including children and staff are working effectively, to ensure a high level of security and keep up to date with the changing demands of the organisations.
Anna Black
HeadTeacher
As both a long serving staff member of St. Bede CE Primary and a parent of two pupils who currently attend, I am incredibly proud to be part of the Local Governing Body in my role as Head of School. In my twenty years in education, I have been a class teacher, curriculum leader, Assistant Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher. All of these roles, including my current role as Head, have been to ensure all our children make excellent progress, regardless of their starting points. We pride ourselves on our safe, caring and engaging learning environment with high standards and expectations. Everyone at St. Bede is passionate about our vision ‘Learning, Caring, Growing Together’. The vision, our core values and the Parable of the Good Samaritan underpin all of our learning experiences. Our links to St. Bede Church and local Pastors further supports our strong Christian ethos. We are committed to ensure that all our children leave St. Bede having developed the lifelong skills of positivity, resilience and independence. We foster a love of learning and a determination to succeed.
Nicola Whittaker
Headteacher
Nicola has been a Headteacher since September 2019. Having worked at St Bede Primary Academy for fourteen years she first became professionally involved with Tonge Moor Primary School in March 2017, supporting school improvement. After sponsor lead acdemisation in 2018, she became Deputy headteacher. Within three years of headship, including during the global pandemic, she has ensure sustainable whole school improvement at Tonge Moor Primary Academy from an OFSTED judgement of inadequate to good. As a former pupil of the school, improving outcomes for the most disadvantaged pupils is a passion, ensuring that all children get an equal chance at achieving their potential regardless of backgrounds or postcodes. The vision is that everyone feels inspired to work towards their lifelong aspirations through a love of learning. She has almost twenty-seven years’ experience in five primary schools and senior leadership experience in four schools. During her career, she has held a variety of leadership roles including whole school responsibility for Special Educational Needs, Safeguarding, Teaching and Learning and Assessment. As a senior leader, she has been responsible for ensuring the highest standards of teaching and learning, developing positive school and pupil culture as well as the strategic planning and monitoring of continual school improvement. In addition, she has supported the St Bede Primary Academy teaching school, working with Altrincham Girls Grammar school as a Quality Assurance mentor for School Centred Initial Teaching Training. She considers it a privilege to have the opportunity to contribute to the career development of both experienced teachers, trainees and support staff, as this always has the best impact on learners.