Matt Wallis Director of Training and Quality Assurance 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 Director of Training and Quality Assurance for The Tutor Trust, overseeing training, tutors’ continued professional development and monitoring the quality of tuition.
Jo Meredith Director of Alternative Provision Expand Jo joined Tutor Trust in January 2019 as Quality Manager, responsible for our work in Alternative Provision. After graduating from Bangor University Jo began her career as a teacher of Chemistry. Jo has over 20 years’ experience in senior leadership including Headship, with wide-ranging involvement in both mainstream and Alternative Provision settings. 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. Jo has now taken on the role of Director of Alternative Provision and will oversee this rapidly expanding area of the work of The Tutor Trust across all three cities.
Trixie Whittell Quality Manager - Secondary Expand Trixie joined us in January 2021 and brings with her 10 years of experience as a Secondary Maths Teacher. Whilst studying Economics at the University of Cambridge, and on placement with WaterAid India, Trixie conducted research into the links between education and economic inequality. This experience deepened her passion for tackling educational inequality and led her to pursue a career in teaching. Trixie has worked as an Associate Lecturer and Tutor for the Open University and as a Maths Teacher in Secondary schools in Newcastle and currently in Liverpool. As a Secondary Quality Manager (Maths) with the Tutor Trust, Trixie is excited to help tutors develop their practice and deliver high-quality tuition which truly benefits those who need it.
Vicky Sadler Quality Manager - Primary Expand Vicky has over 18 years of experience in education. She has worked in a variety of schools, mainly in the Greater Manchester area. She began her career in KS2, with a number of years spent teaching Y6 in a large, inner-city Primary School. She joined the senior leadership team and came out of class to lead the Diversity and Inclusion Team and train as a SENCO where she was able to support and develop the provision for disadvantaged, SEND and EAL learners. Vicky's experience has also included leading on Literacy, Art and Design, PE, Assessment and Data, and coaching and mentoring students and Newly Qualified Teachers. When her own children were very young, Vicky set up her own Ofsted rated 'Outstanding' Childcare business where she provided exceptional care with a Forest School ethos to young children and their families. She worked as a Network Childminder for Stockport and ran a sensory playgroup at a Stockport Surestart Centre. Vicky's passion for the Early Years led her to take up a post as Early Years Leader in a Stockport Primary School where she worked up until 2018 when she and her family went to live abroad for 2 years. Since retuning home to Stockport, Vicky has been tutoring online during the pandemic. Vicky is passionate about working with local communities to tackle inequalities in education and was delighted to join The Tutor Trust Team as a Primary Quality Manager in January 2021. She is excited about using her skills and knowledge to help tutors to develop their practice and deliver high-quality tuition that really makes a difference.
Lucy Farnan-Stone Quality Manager - Secondary (Mat Leave) Expand Lucy joined us in January 2020. She has worked in several secondary schools across Merseyside, where she undertook numerous leadership roles including, Head of House, Mastery Coordinator and Lead Practitioner in Mathematics. During her time studying in Scotland, she joined the Saltire foundation where she had the opportunity to work for GE Oil and Gas. It was during her project teaching new recruits, that she realised her passion for teaching and leadership and later joined the Teach First programme working towards the mission of providing exceptional education for young students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Mike Fitzpatrick Trainer Expand Mike Fitzpatrick currently works in Initial Teacher Training at the University of Manchester on the PGCE Secondary Course. Liaising with partner schools and colleges, he oversees recruitment and selection and delivers sessions in classroom skills, behaviour management and voice coaching. He writes and researches in the areas of spiritual, moral, social and cultural judgements (Ofsted) and the Arts in Education. A graduate of the University of Manchester, he gained an M.A. from Loughborough University specialising in curriculum innovation, leadership and management of schools and drama in education. With extensive teaching experience, Mike worked in three high schools in two local authorities in Lancashire and Manchester. He held posts as subject leader, head of faculty, senior teacher and most recently deputy head in a large high school with responsibility for staff development, teaching and learning, NQT induction and middle management coaching. As a member of the Drama Board (A.D.B.) and visiting examiner, he contributed to the development of assessment and testing at GCSE and A level Theatre Studies. Mike is passionate about the Tutor Trust, ‘It fulfils a number of key issues in education; to facilitate intervention, boost progress, alleviate disadvantage and expand aspirations. It helps realise a key objective of The University; to promote social responsibility, delivered by our own undergraduates to the pupils of our partner schools.’ Tutors themselves will discover skills and abilities which may well lead to a future career in education.
Carmel Kellett Secondary English Trainer Expand Carmel has recently joined the Tutor Trust as an English trainer. She taught English for 17 years in a variety of schools in Essex, London and Derbyshire. She currently works at the University of Manchester as a PGCE English Secondary tutor and is also involved with training on the Teach First programme. Carmel works for a leading exam board in a variety of roles. She is a senior examiner for GCSE English Literature. She is a CPD trainer which involves delivering a range of English based courses nationally and more bespoke training to individual schools. She also works closely with schools in Sheffield and Derby on behalf of the exam board in supporting them with teaching and learning for GCSE and GCE. Carmel has written articles that are focused on practical strategies to support trainee teachers in the English classroom. She has also designed some teachers’ resources for Cambridge University Press to support the new GCSE specifications for English Literature.