CAT SLEs
CAT Specialist Leaders of Education
Our SLEs are outstanding middle and senior leaders who have the skills to support individuals or teams in other schools.
They understand what outstanding leadership practice in their area of expertise looks like and are skilled in helping other leaders to achieve it in their own context.
SLE’s will develop the leadership capacity of individuals and teams in other schools, using coaching or facilitation support that draws on their knowledge and expertise in their specialist area. Their work will contribute to improving outcomes for children. Their areas of interest are outlined below.
Katie Hetherington - Literacy Specialist
Katie is an experienced teacher having worked in multiple schools throughout her career, teaching EYFS through to Year 6. She has been a subject leader across foundation and core subjects, showing specialisms in English and Curriculum Development. She has a passion for supporting subject leaders to drive change and accelerate achievement within their subject areas, enabling them to identify the priorities of development needed within their curriculum and implement these with accountability and structure. The systems she has used to do this have been proven across a number of subject areas. Through her work as an English Specialist teacher and as an SLE for over 5 years, she has shown an infectious enthusiasm for improving standards and an ability to empower subject leaders with the skills and focus needed to drive change.
Sally Sumnall- Mastery Maths Specialist (Wirral Maths Hub)
Sally has worked at Boughton Heath Academy since 2001. During this time, she has taught across both key stages.
She currently leads the Infant team and teaches in Year One. In 2019, Sally successfully completed her NPQSL and put the knowledge and skills into practise as a Senior Leader and most recently as Assistant Head teacher.
Sally is passionate about Mathematics and has trained as a Mastery Specialist with the Maths Hub. She currently supports schools to adopt the Maths Mastery approach. Sally also leads history and phonics in her school. She has recently implemented Floppy’s Phonics successfully across the infant classes.
Emma Hutcheson- English and Phonics Specialist
Emma started her time working within Cheshire Academies Trust in 2020, after teaching in several different authorities over the previous 9 years.
In 2014, Emma worked as part of a Senior Leadership team tasked with the challenge of setting up a brand new British School in the UEA, utilising her
English specialism and enthusiasm for change. On her return to the UK, Emma worked as a phonics Specialist in Halton undertaking audits and supporting schools in implementing new schemes of work. At Mill View Primary school, Emma is currently the Year 3 class teacher, Computing lead, English Lead and Online Learning platform lead (Seesaw).
Emma has a huge passion for English and has worked as a specialist across several authorities. Emma has vast experience as a KS1 moderator and was recently appointed as an SSL (Specialist Subject Leader) for Cheshire West. She has supported several schools in enhancing their English provision and improving outcomes for pupils and schools.
Jess Thomson- English Specialist
Jess joined Cheshire Academies Trust in 2019 after teaching on the Wirral for 9 years. Across her career, Jess has worked in both Key Stage1 and 2 as a Progress Leader and has expertise in data analysis. She has vast experience in raising standards and driving positive change.
She is currently the Subject Lead for Science, D&T and English lead at Mill View, with specialist knowledge in early reading and phonics and wide experience in the moderation of writing. Her enthusiasm and passion for enhancing the teaching and learning of English has led her to be appointed as a Subject Specialist Leader (SSL) of English for Cheshire West and Chester (CWaC). She also works with CWaC as a Key Stage 1 Moderator and has recently, successfully completed her NPQSL.
Lauren Gordon English Specialist
Lauren joined Manor Park in 2015 after completing her Primary Education BA Hons at Edge Hill University. During her time at Manor
Park, Lauren has taught all year groups from Year 1- Year 5 and she is currently teaching full time in Year 5. Lauren was the Humanities Lead until 2018 when she became English Subject Lead. She has successfully led a number of whole school initiatives, introducing a range of strategies all aiming to help continually improve standards in Reading, Writing, Spelling and Handwriting. Lauren completed her NPQML in 2021 where she undertook a project to improve progress in Reading. She is involved with the Lacey Green English Hub and has just enrolled on to a Reading For Pleasure programme in order to help further support students and parents at Manor Park with their reading. Lauren helps to support, guide and advise staff throughout the school and leads a number of Staff Meetings. Lauren is currently completing her NPQSL.
Lynette Thorley-Hackett- Maths Specialist
Lynette has worked at Manor Park Primary School and Nursery since 2016. During this time, she has taught across KS2 and is currently teaching in Year 6. As Maths lead, she works across the school supporting teachers and teaching assistants in EYFS, KS1 and KS2 with their subject knowledge and development of Mastery Maths. In 2019, the school successfully implemented Power Maths as our main teaching resource for Maths.
As a result, we have seen a significant improvement in our children's understanding of Maths, especially in reasoning skills. As a program, it has also provided continuous professional development for staff and helped with a reduction of teachers' workload. Through her involvement with the NCETM Maths Hubs the school were part of the pilot program for Mastering Number last year, which was launched across our KS1 and Reception class. They have found this to be an invaluable resource in improving our children's number sense. In early 2021 she successfully completed my NPQML qualification, and is currently completing the NPQSL.
Suzanne Devenport –Phonics Specialist
Susanne is the EYFS Phase Leader and member of the SLT at Manor Park School and has a total of thirty years teaching experience.
She has been the Manor Park Phonics Leader for the last 4 years, successfully driving the change of the Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) Programme from Jolly Phonics to Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI). This resulted in the school’s Y1 Phonics Screening Check increasing from 70% in 2018 to 93% in 2022.
In addition to my role at Manor Park she is also a Literacy Specialist for the Lacey Green English Hub. For the last 3 years she has been responsible for supporting a number of Partner Schools (typically 5-7 schools each year) where she coached staff and supported their Reading Leaders to deliver RWI Phonics. This involved practicing the RWI teaching steps and supporting the Reading Leader with data, groupings and Fast Track Tutoring.
Caroline Butler – Mathematics Specialist
Caroline has worked in primary education since 2002 and has a wide range of experience working across key stage one and two.
She is an Assistant Head at Bexton Primary and leads on the maths curriculum across the school, ensuring consistency of approach and providing focused support and challenge where needed. She also leads the key stage two team and is a valued member of Bexton’s senior leadership.
Caroline’s overall aim is to inspire teachers and children to fall in love with maths and not be scared of it. She has successfully implemented the NCETM scheme of work alongside the White Rose and Deepening Understanding as resources to support the curriculum at Bexton. This has made a significant impact on standards across the maths curriculum (KS2 progress of 3.8+ and 57% GDS in 2022) and Caroline has supported a number of other teachers and schools with the Mastery of Maths approach as well as using effective, in-class intervention to ensure no children are left behind. Caroline leads on maths training across the school and has a wealth of knowledge and resources to draw upon to improve the teaching and learning of maths from EYFS to KS2.
Katie Parker – EYFS and Phonics
Katie has been teaching since 2005 and has worked in three very different schools. She is a much valued Assistant Head at Bexton
Primary School where she leads an Outstanding Early Years with Nursery provision from two years old. Katie has worked with a number of schools to support them in developing their Early Years. She has expertise in delivering phonics and supporting staff with the implementation of new curriculum expectation and varying programs across the Early Years and Key Stage 1.
Katie co-facilitates the NPQEYL Programme on behalf of the Cheshire Teaching School Hub and Best Practice.
Sarah White – Behaviour
Sarah is Vice Principal at Kelsall Primary School. She joined the school in 2018, bringing her experience class teacher, Learning Mentor and Family Intervention Worker for the local authority.
She believes strongly in the school's role in promoting the emotional wellbeing of children and that this is fundamental to their academic success. Sarah has led on the whole school approach to behaviour with all stake holders and developed Learning Mentor provision considerably over the past three years. As SENCO, Sarah has redeveloped the identification and monitoring systems to ensure that children received the right support at the right time.
Hayley Nixon – EYFS Specialist
Hayley is the EYFS lead at Kelsall Primary & Nursery School. She was integral in the merging of Pre-School with Kelsall in 2019 to establish an outstanding linked Nursery.
Hayley has a wealth of early years’ knowledge and continually assesses the quality of provision in Kelsall’s early years’ classes, leading many changes and developments.