Engage and Support the Progress of Boys - Speakers

Will Millard, Head of Policy Advocacy at the education and youth thinktank LKMco - Chair

Recently, Will has been working with the GLA to develop its strategy for supporting boys’ academic achievement across London, Founders4Schools, evaluating how careers interventions can best support pupils as they progress through school, and Pearson, exploring how innovations around the world can help improve the quality of classroom assessment.

Steve Baker, Behaviour and Attendance Consultant, Ofsted

Steve was a teacher in Sheffield for 17 years. He then worked as a behaviour and attendance consultant for Wakefield Local Authority before joining the National Strategies as a regional advisor for behaviour and attendance. After a 30 year career in Yorkshire, Steve now resides in Anglesey and makes his living as a freelance trainer.

Jimmy Cartledge, Senior Teacher and Pupil Premium Coordinator, Woodchurch High School 

A Curriculum Leader at Woodchurch High School, Jimmy has worked as part of a team coordinating provision for disadvantaged students since 2013 with a focus on identifying and tracking ‘priority groups’ within the school. He is responsible for promoting engagement, particularly working with parents and enabling them to be involved in the progress and education of their child. 

Bob Cox, Independent Consultant

Bob is an independent educational consultant. His work regularly takes him into schools where he is lucky enough to see some of the fantastic stretch and challenge provision being developed around the country. Bob’s Opening Doors series received the ERA educational book award 2017.

Jo Hockton, Data Strategy Manager, Tove Learning Trust

Jo has worked in school data management for 11 years, developing systems, embedding good practice and ensuring that data supports every student in reaching their full potential, at school and Trust level. She works with schools training on the use of data to set targets, identify issues and gaps, support intervention, and engage all stakeholders.  

Diane Leedham, Independent English, Literacy and EAL teacher and advisor 

Diane is an experienced teacher and school leader/consultant with more than thirty years of expertise developed in a variety of school contexts/phases and locations and in a range of education roles including mainstream English teacher and Head of English; whole school Literacy leader; Local Authority English adviser and EAL Team Leader and English GCSE Examiner (AQA).

Jim Sells, Programme Manager, Sport and Literacy

Jim has 20 years' experience designing, writing and delivering literacy programmes which use sport to motivate and inspire children. This includes working with the Premier League to create the high-profile Premier League Reading Stars programme which, since 2002, has helped over 1 million children to become better readers. 

Mick Simpson, Headteacher, Kilgarth School

An award winning science teacher with 30 years of experience in challenging settings, Mick is Headteacher at Kilgarth School. Kilgarth is a special secondary SEMH school for boys with two successive ‘Outstanding’ judgements where staff use a non-confrontational approach to tackle and modify extremely challenging behaviour on a daily basis. Currently seconded to support a Pupil Referral Unit in special measures, Mick has worked with a number of prisons, the Ministry of Justice and the national Rehabilitative Culture Working Party in the modification of behaviour and the leadership of change. He has provided behaviour modification training to thousands of people who work with young people including educators, emergency service personnel, probation officers and social workers.

Matt Pinkett, Head of English, Kings College Guilford

Matt Pinkett is a Head of English in Surrey with a personal and professional interest in gender in schools. Matt has written for a number of publications on this topic - and others - and also writes a blog in which he discusses teaching and masculinity. He is also co-author of, ‘Boys Don’t Try? Rethinking Masculinity in Schools,’ published by Routledge in April 2019. 

Jason Rhodes, DEEP Learning Lead, Outwood Academy Bishopsgarth

Until recently Jason was a secondary teaching and learning lead with County Durham's school improvement service, leading initiatives on improving outcomes for boys in the classroom. Working at scale, senior and subject leaders - as well as classroom practitioners - have benefited from Jason’s application of the diverse research into boys’ attainment to the creation of improvement tools in the classroom. Jason is now responsible for DEEP learning at Outwood Academy Bishopsgarth, focusing on developing metacognitive approaches in the classroom.