Partnership Leader of Education

Ally, a music specialist, lived and taught in Devon prior to joining Compton as Headteacher in January 2009. During her teaching career, she taught all primary ages but predominantly Years 5 and 6 and had experience of leading a range of subject areas including Music, Science, English and PE. As a practitioner in small rural primary schools, she gained much experience of teaching mixed age groups and collaborated with Devon education services to develop a primary PE curriculum specifically for schools with mixed-age classes.

Since joining Compton Ally, has focused on creating an ethos that nurtures and develops both children and adults in equal measure, and a curriculum that allows every child to shine. She has forged strong links within and beyond the local community through various projects including organising the music programme for a Christmas concert in Winchester Cathedral. Professional development through reflection and collaboration is a high priority and Ally has welcomed the opportunity to be involved with Winchester Teaching School Alliance. She has worked closely with other heads in the Alliance in the preparation of the Primary School Direct programme and is enthusiastic about supporting all those involved in education, at any stage of their career.

Sarah joined St Bede in 2010 as assistant headteacher, where she helped the school move from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding’ in their most recent Ofsted and SIAMS inspections. She became head teacher in January 2015. Sarah has worked in a number of schools across the county with different profiles from large city to small rural primary. During her time as a teacher, she has taught in all year groups across the primary phase.

Sarah came to teaching with a degree in History and applied this interest working with the County History Team as a founding member of the Primary Hampshire Steering Group. She worked as a Leading Teacher for History, planning and delivering training across the county, supporting schools and developing resources for use in the classroom. She has written for publication, including articles about primary practice for educational magazines and Collective Worship resources for RE Websites.

Sarah is committed to enquiry based learning, creating and developing engaging and purposeful learning opportunities for all. She enjoys seeking opportunities to develop herself and others and has recently led the development of the Primary School Direct Programme in the Winchester Teaching School Alliance, building on previous experience of mentoring those on a range of ITT routes and those in their NQT year.