MAT Regional Network: North West - Speakers

Sarah North, CEO, The Oak Trust (Chair)

Sarah North is CEO of the Oak Trust and Executive Headteacher of North Chadderton School, Oldham. Sarah has worked in secondary education since first qualifying as a science teacher in 1993. She has extensive teaching and leadership experience in a diverse range of contexts across the country and has taught and held middle and senior leadership positions in a range of secondary schools, including in Romford, Bristol, Huddersfield and Barnsley. Sarah started working at North Chadderton School in Oldham in 2012, when she was appointed as deputy headteacher with responsibility for raising achievement, and then as headteacher in 2019. Throughout her career Sarah has had significant involvement in improving outcomes for students, developing the curriculum and growing professional expertise. She has been involved in developing and strengthening leadership through school to school support work, delivery of NPQ courses and her work as an SLE. Sarah is a strong advocate for collaborative, system led leadership, research led best practice and a coaching culture that enables staff to reach their full potential. As CEO, Sarah is thoroughly committed to ensuring that every pupil across the Trust experiences education of the highest standard and one that is underpinned with a high quality academic and pastoral offer, supporting the Oak Trust philosophy to ensure every child is ‘school ready, work ready, life ready’.

Karen Burns, CEO, Victorious Academies Trust

Karen has been working in education for over 25 years, and was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Carillion Academies Trust in 2016. She subsequently decoupled sponsorship from Carillion and created a new entity, Victorious Academies Trust, which is now a medium sized Trust currently consisting of a group of 13 primary schools in Tameside and Derbyshire and with further schools under application to join. She works across the wider regional and national system, supporting and facilitating training and also attending round table discussions for educational organisations. She supports other Trusts regionally and nationally and has a mentoring role for newly appointed CEOs on behalf of the DFE. At a local level, Karen is the school improvement partner for several schools outside of the Trust. She facilitates training across the UK delivering NPQH and NPQEL programmes and has been a keynote speaker and/or Chair at several national conferences. Karen is the Chair of the Tameside Schools’ Forum Committee and is a Trustee at White Rose Academies Trust and a member of the Achievement and Improvement Committee for the Challenge Academy Trust. She also sits on the North West Regions' DFE Advisory Board.