Nick Bent Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Expand Nick has been involved with a number of educational and youth work charities for twenty years. He is a Director of the academies charity Oasis Community Learning and was previously Chair of Governors at the Oasis Academy MediaCityUK in Salford. During 2017, Nick was a Clore Social Leadership Fellow. An Associate of the think tank Demos, Nick spent seven years working in Westminster and Whitehall, including four years as a Special Adviser to Rt Hon Dame Tessa Jowell MP during the last Labour Government. He has also served as Director of the think tank Policy Network. From September 1st 2014, Nick has been appointed to serve a second three-year term as a lay member of the General Assembly of the University of Manchester. Nick is a graduate of the universities of Oxford (law) and Harvard (public policy).
Abigail Shapiro Co-Founder and Executive Director Expand Abigail has been involved with youth work and charities for many years. Her numerous roles in public affairs and media relations includes extensive experience of the education sector, through spending time working at both the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and the Pre-School Learning Alliance. Abigail's previous role as a freelance communications consultant has included work for GMPTE and Manchester City Council. An alumni of The University of Leeds, Abigail is a graduate of the prestigious Politics and Parliamentary Studies course. Abigail has also worked in Westminster and Washington DC. Abigail is a lay member of the General Assembly of the University of Manchester and a Governor at King David Primary School. Abigail has recently been appointed as a Trustee of Smart Works Greater Manchester.
Jason Heaford Chief Operating Officer Expand Jason has joined the Tutor Trust with many years’ experience of leading high quality early years provision. His most recent being a Social Enterprise based in Stockport. The setting received an ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted Inspection late in 2013. In addition to his work as a Director there he also helped to create and develop the charity ‘ACCES’. In his role as CEO, Jason has helped ACCES in supporting disadvantaged families and children across the Stockport area. During this period Jason was invited to become one of the founding Trustees’ of Anchorpoint Stockport of which he served as a Trustee for 2 years. Anchorpoint followed Stockport’s CVS in providing a voice and support for ‘Third Sector ’organisations. Jason began his working life as a professional footballer most notably with Derby County FC, but had to retire through injury. He went on to work within the Transport Industry becoming the UK operations Manager for the large French company GCA. Providing new learning opportunities for children who could not afford tuition attracted Jason to The Tutor Trust and he hopes to continue and expand on the amazing work that has already taken place.
Mark Wyss School Partnerships Manager Expand Mark joined Tutor Trust in January 2019 as School Partnerships Manager. Mark has worked in secondary education for over 20 years, teaching Modern Foreign Languages, as well as spells of English, PE and ICT. He is an alumni of the Future Leaders Accelerate to Headship programme and has been a Senior Leader in the North West for nearly a decade. This includes leading Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy in Runcorn as Principal. Mark is now a North West Area Leader and Associate for the Partners in Excellence (PiXL) school improvement organisation, working with Headteachers and Senior Leadership Teams in over forty schools to raise aspirations and improve outcomes. Mark is deeply committed to enhancing the life chances of all young people, irrespective of circumstance or postcode. In his other role, he works part time as Vice Principal at The Albion Academy in Salford, where he has collaborated to great effect with The Tutor Trust. Mark is delighted and honoured to join The Tutor Trust Team and looks forward to driving their impact on the next leg of their amazing journey.
Jo Meredith Quality Manager - Alternative Provision Expand Jo joined Tutor Trust in January 2019 as Quality Manager, responsible for our work in Alternative Provision. Jo is an experienced senior leader with wide-ranging involvement in both mainstream and Alternative Provision settings. After graduating from the University of North Wales (Bangor), Jo began her career as a teacher of chemistry in Tameside, moved to Head of Science in Bolton and then returned to Tameside as an Assistant Headteacher. Jo then took up a post at a large high school in Lancashire as a Deputy Headteacher and Acting Headteacher before becoming the Headteacher of a high school in Stockport. Following a fulfilling career in Mainstream Jo then moved to work with young people in Manchester, leading science education for students in Alternative Provision settings across the city. Having worked in senior positions in both mainstream and Alternative Provision settings across Greater Manchester, Jo is well placed to lead and drive the quality of teaching and learning in the Department for Education funded project in Alternative Provision, ‘The Right Angle’, in collaboration with TLC; Talk, Listen Change.
Matt Wallis Quality and Impact Manager (Primary) Expand Matt joined The Tutor Trust in summer 2016 with over 14 years of experience working in primary schools and teaching across the primary range. He has always worked in inner city areas in a range of roles, supporting the children and families who live there. He started teaching in Sheffield and spent two years there before moving to London and working in Hackney for two years. He then spent five years in East London working as an Assistant Headteacher responsible for supporting children with Special Educational Needs. This gave him the experience of supporting children and families to overcome barriers for learning which has remained a firm foundation for his ethos to learning and education. Relocating to Manchester in 2011, Matt started as a supply teacher in a large primary school in Moss Side and quickly moved to support the school’s senior leadership team as Assistant Headteacher for over 4 years. He was responsible for various areas such as English, KS2 and Inclusion and was proud to teach in a school that won the DfE’s Pupil Premium Award for the North West region for their work supporting disadvantaged pupils to achieve their potential. Matt is now the Quality Assurance Manager for The Tutor Trust, overseeing the training and continual development of our tutors and the service they provide.
Jenny Muter Quality Manager (Secondary) Expand An experienced secondary teacher and middle leader, Jenny joined the Tutor Trust in September 2017 in the new Quality Manager (Secondary) role, working alongside Matt to ensure that all tuition sessions are of the highest quality. After graduating from the University of Oxford, Jenny went into teaching through the TeachFirst programme, which fit with her commitment to improving educational opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. She stayed in her initial placement school for five years, and undertook a variety of leadership roles, including Assistant Head of English, Head of Humanities, and leader of Key Stage 3 Assessment. She successfully completed the Teaching Leaders fellows programme for high potential educational leaders. Jenny is a keen traveler and has also previously taught in China, as well as having volunteered on educational projects in Belize, Kenya and Sri Lanka.
Lewis Howell Leeds Tuition Manager Expand Lewis joined The Tutor Trust in March 2014, having spent the previous 2 and a half years working in South Africa’s Kalahari Desert. Lewis was the Field Project Manager at the Kalahari Meerkat Project for 18 months, a behavioural research project run by the University of Cambridge looking at the evolution of cooperative breeding in meerkats. He was responsible for managing both the day to day research of the project and the team of international volunteers who collected the data. Prior to this, Lewis was one of the research volunteers for 12 months. Lewis graduated from Nottingham Trent University in 2010, having studied Wildlife Conservation.
Beth Farrell Alternative Provision Coordinator Expand Beth joined The Tutor Trust in February 2014 as a tutor, training in Secondary English and Science, and in Primary tutoring. Alongside her role as a tutor, Beth also assisted the charity by managing the Tutor Trust’s online blog and writing newsletters on behalf of the charity, as well as being on the committee for the University of Manchester’s ‘Tutor Trust Society’. Beth graduated from the University of Manchester in 2016 with a degree in English Literature, with a special acknowledgment for her voluntary work. In her time at University, Beth was the Marketing and Publicity officer for RAG, the University’s fundraising organisation, and was Secretary and scriptwriter for the University of Manchester Pantomime Society, as well as contributing to the University’s newsletter and working at the Student’s Union bar. Beth is driven towards aiding the lives of children, and worked at an adventure playground for children in disadvantaged areas in London over the summer of 2015. It was The Tutor Trust’s key aim of closing the education gap that drew Beth to working as a tutor for them, and so she is delighted that she has now taken on a full time position with the charity.
Rob Paterson Manchester Secondary Coordinator Expand Rob joined The Tutor Trust in 2016, training in Secondary English, Maths and Primary tutoring. He was one of the first tutors on the EEF program and completed over 100 hours of tuition in just over 6 months. Having graduated with a degree in PPE from The University Of Manchester, Rob has worked extensively with children and young people in running a York based children’s theatre company called Snickelway between 2013 and 2016. Rob found great fulfilment in being able to make a tangible, positive difference in the lives of children through tutoring and looks forward to continuing this in his new role of Secondary Coordinator.
Deborah Reid Executive Assistant Expand Deborah joined the Tutor Trust team in January 2017. She has always lived and worked in Greater Manchester, knowing many of the schools we work with. Previously, she has worked in finance administration roles for over twenty years with her last position being Credit Premium Unit Manager in the Manchester branch of an insurance company for thirteen years. Her role involved dealing with and developing all aspects of their direct debit collections. Moving away from the corporate insurance field, Deborah still wanted a role where could utilise her expertise in financial administration. She is very much enjoying assisting The Tutor Trust in its work with young people throughout Greater Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool.
Rachel Bray Primary Schools Coordinator Expand Rachel was born and bred in Stockport and graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2016 with a degree in Education Studies. During her time studying, Rachel worked in a lot of schools in the area. She has always had a keen interest in education and working with children, and has completed over 10 years volunteering for Girl Guiding and Scouts. Having worked in schools throughout Manchester and seen the work that tutors do first hand, Rachel is passionate about The Tutor Trust ethos, and knew that it was something she would love to be a part of. She was delighted to join the team as Primary Schools Coordinator in February 2018.
Will Baldwin-Pask Manchester Tutor Coordinator Expand Will became part of the Tutor Trust team in Summer of 2018. He worked as an English tutor for us whilst studying at the University of Manchester doing an American Studies. The time he spent working around the city as a tutor helped him decide to stay in Manchester after graduating with a First Class Honours and work for us as Tutor coordinator. Teaching people new skills and taking leadership roles was something Will did a lot as a teenager, regularly coaching young people in the sports of rugby and Taekwondo. He’s looking forward to being the Tutor coordinator, especially when it comes to recruiting a new wave of quality young tutors and organising social events for them to enjoy.
Alice Taylor Leeds Coordinator Expand Alice joined The Tutor Trust in 2016 as a tutor, working throughout Greater Manchester for two years with multiple tuition assignments and a particularly keen interest in LAC assignments. As a recent graduate from the University of Manchester she has joined the charity in a new role, Leeds Coordinator. Alice has always been interested in the education sector and The Tutor Trust marries her interest with social welfare and teaching.
Mhairi Drysdale Recruitment and Impact Coordinator Expand Mhairi joined The Tutor Trust in July 2018 after graduating from The University of Leeds, where she studied Human Physiology. Throughout her time at university, she worked for Teach First. Here she learnt more about education inequality in the UK, and the difference that charities, such as Teach First and The Tutor Trust are making to children's lives. She worked to recruit students passionate about ending educational inequality. After graduating, Mhairi was keen to continue working for an educational charity, and so was excited to join The Tutor Trust team.
Steffani Wardell Liverpool Coordinator Expand Steff became a tutor in Leeds in 2017 while studying for her MA in Race and Resistance. Her interest in the work of The Tutor Trust came from her own experience of school and how she thought tuition from students in HE could have benefited her and her peers at school. Drawn to the charity’s desire to end educational inequality, the position of Liverpool Coordinator seemed perfect as she was hoping to return to her hometown after university and work in education.
Cara Simm Projects Coordinator Expand I became a primary tutor for The Tutor Trust in 2016 and have recently joined the team full-time as Project Coordinator. I have recently graduated from The University of Manchester in English Language for Education and have always had a keen interest in education. I love The Tutor Trusts ethos and I am very excited to be working for an organisation that makes such a difference to the lives of young people.
Aimee Dag Alternative Provision Tutor Expand Aimee became a tutor in 2015 while studying for a BA in Education Studies with TESOL. She has worked on various assignments ranging from Primary Schools to LAC assignments and was one of the first tutors to work on the Teenage Cancer Trust project – a project that she is very passionate about. In 2018, she graduated from her MA in Education Studies which opened her eyes to the inequality in education. Working for The Tutor Trust, she can use the skills and knowledge gained from her studies to support the charity’s ambitions to democratise education and close the attainment gap.
Francis Emmott Alternative Provision Tutor Expand Francis became a tutor in January 2017 and has delivered hundreds of hours of tuition across Greater Manchester. He previously taught English as a Foreign Language in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and has travelled across Russia, Europe, and the United States. Having been through the care system himself, the opportunity to work with Looked After Children was what first attracted him to The Tutor Trust, and the experience has proven to be highly rewarding. Francis is now looking forward to working with children in Alternative Provision, helping them on their path back towards mainstream education.
Sarah Smith Administration Accounts Assistant Expand Sarah originally joined the Tutor Trust team in around October 2016, as a temporary staff but was officially welcomed to the Tutor Trust in September 2018. She has lived and worked all around the UK, but was born in Kent. She has a Foundation Degree in Business Management (Manchester Metropolitan University, 2011) and after returning to education after taking a career break to pursue other interests she gained a 2:1 in Archaeology from The University of Manchester in 2016. She has over 10 years of varying administration experience, primarily in project co-ordination/planning, recruitment and resourcing. With her most recent role as a commercial support coordinator. Sarah is passionate about the core Tutor Trust values and hopes her experience will assist in the amazing work that the Tutor Trust does and our ever expanding opportunities to help those children that require it most, and really close that attainment gap.