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• Kat Howard
  Director of Teaching School Hub
  Kat Howard

  Kat is Director of DRET Teaching School Hub. Joining as Head of Professional Learning for the Teaching School Hub in 2021, prior to this, Kat was a senior leader within an all-through school, overseeing staff professional development, coaching, ITT and strategic leadership of English teaching across the Trust. Over the course of her career to date, she has held a range of leadership roles within secondary schools, including the oversight of whole school teaching and learning, subject leadership, raising academic attainment, whole-school literacy and subject level professional development. Prior to working in the education sector, Kat worked strategically at a leading High Street Bank, overseeing the provision and implementation of recruitment policy, retention initiative, staff development and monitoring of standards for the region. Kat is currently undertaking a Masters in Expert Teaching with Ambition Institute.    

   Kat is Founder of the registered charity Litdrive, providing subject-level professional development to English teachers within the UK. She currently holds the position of Expert Advisor for the national charity Teacher Development Trust, contributing to the design and development of the reformed NPQ Leadership suite. Kat serves as a Regional Ambassador for the Maternity Teacher Paternity Teacher Project and currently holds the position of school governor for an Alternative Provision in Lincolnshire. She is author of two best-selling educational books and speaks and writes regularly for the education sector on the subject of effective professional development, meaningful curriculum development and sensible teacher workload.  

• Alia Waters
  Teaching School Hub Coordinator
  Alia Waters

  Alia joined DRET Teaching School Hub in May 2021 as Teaching School Hub Coordinator.   Alia previously worked for a local Teaching School where she developed a passion for working in the Education sector. In the role she would collaborate and work closely with Teaching School Alliance partner schools and universities' to provide support to aspiring and trainee teachers.   Alia also has a background in finance, school administration processes and providing Personal Assistance to Senior Leaders.

• Catherine Thompson
  Teaching School Hub Coordinator
  Catherine Thompson

  Catherine joined DRET TSH in May 2021 as a Teaching School Hub Coordinator. Catherine joined us having previously worked across two Teaching Schools in North and North East Lincolnshire. Catherine has an extensive knowledge of supporting the NPQ suite of programmes and a passion, more broadly, for working in roles that support teachers' and school leaders' professional development. In her previous role she was accountable for the day-to-day running of a Teaching School office including finance, data and event management.

• Grace Healy
  Chair of Strategic Board
  Grace Healy

  Grace is Education Director (Secondary) at David Ross Education Trust. In this role, Grace leads a curriculum team of Trust-wide subject leaders in Trust-wide curriculum and teacher development and works closely with Principals to sustain a model for continuously renewing all aspects of curriculum intent, to build capacity in senior curriculum leadership, and to ensure a culture of subject-sensitivity and disciplinary rigour pervades all work on teacher development. Grace was the founding Director of DRET Teaching School  Hub (TSH), serving in that role until April 2022; Grace now how holds strategic oversight of DRET TSH for the Trust, as Chair of the TSH's Strategic Board.

   

  She has previously led the geography subject community across a multi-academy trust of 13 primary and secondary schools and contributed to the leadership of a SCITT.  She has held academic and pastoral leadership roles, served as a primary and secondary school governor, and holds a Masters of Education from the University of Cambridge. Grace is currently undertaking a PhD at the UCL Institute of Education.  Grace chairs the Teacher Education Phase Committee of the Geographical Association and has been elected on to the Council of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) as Honorary Secretary (Education). She is Treasurer for GEReCo and the RGS's Geography and Education Research Group. She also serves on British Educational Research Association's (BERA) Publication Committee and on the editorial boards of  The Curriculum Journal  and the  London Review of Education.  

• Helena Brothwell
  Chair of Partnership Board
  Helena Brothwell

• Michael Trussell
  School Direct Partnerships Lead
  Michael Trussell

  Michael started his career as an NQT in the David Ross Education Trust at Havelock Academy in 2009, initially as a Teacher of ICT and then taking up the post of Assistant Principal in May 2015. During his time at Havelock Academy, Michael has held various leadership positions including Head of Key Stage 3, Subject Leader of ICT and Director of IT.

   

  In his current role as Assistant Principal, Michael has overseen the implementation of successful early careers teacher CPD programmes, established strong partnerships with a variety of ITE partners across Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire and implemented at Havelock the early rollout of the ECF Framework. He has also been a part of the University of Hull's PGCE Secondary Standing Committee. Since 2018, Michael has led on the Trust's Northern SchoolDirect Partnerships.

   

  In 2005, Michael was recognised by the British Computer Society for his performance in A-level ICT, collecting an award at a special event held in London for achieving the top mark for the qualification across all candidate entries. Michael was also nominated for the award of 'Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School' as part of the Pearson Teaching Awards in 2018.