SEEAT Staff (ID 1038)

• Lily Andrews
  Finance Apprentice
  Lily Andrews

  ‘Lily joined us in September 2023 and is at the end of her Level 2 AAT apprenticeship and is looking forward to starting her Level 3.

• Emma Breeze
  Education Officer
  Emma Breeze

  Emma has been teaching for 16 years as an AST, SLE and senior leader. She has experience across both Primary and Secondary settings and provides support to both through her SEEAT role.

  Emma is passionate about teacher development, from ITT to senior leadership and is working to develop subject leadership and ITT/ECT provision within the trust.

• Louise Butson
  Finance Manager
  Louise Butson

  Louise previously worked for Prince Avenue Academy as their School Bursar for nearly 10 years before joining the SEEAT central team supporting Holt Farm Junior, Prince Avenue, Rochford and Westborough schools with their finances.

• Diane Cotgrove
  HR & Payroll Manager
  Diane Cotgrove

  Diane has been working in the Trust for a number of years after joining as HR Manager at Westcliff High School for Girls in 2006 . Diane supports the Director of People by coordinating HR and payroll across the Trust and helps schools with HR issues. Diane is a member of The Chartered Institute of Personal Development (Level 5) and has a Certificate in School Business Management.

• Sue Cox
  School Improvement Advisor
  Sue Cox

  Sue was a qualified assistant headteacher for inclusion in secondary school, special education needs coordinator in secondary and primary schools and worked in a pupil referral unit. She currently works as an education consultant. Sue is also an Ofsted Inspector. Her particular areas of expertise are in special educational needs and behaviour and safety.

• Chris Dawson
  Head of Estates
  Chris Dawson

  Chris joined us in August 2025, with a career rooted in the social housing and residential care sectors, Chris is a highly experienced senior Estates and Facilities Management professional. He has over 20 years of multi-site FM & Estates experience, managing diverse and complex portfolios.

  Chris is focused on providing safe and compliant and inspiring spaces dedicated to enhancing the experience of students, staff, and parents by ensuring the school's estates directly reflect its core values.

• Dr Kirsty Ekers
  Educational Psychologist
  Dr Kirsty Ekers

  Kirsty is an experienced Educational and Child Psychologist registered with the Health & Care Professionals Council (HCPC), she has many years of experience working with children and vulnerable young people across primary, secondary, and adolescent mental health inpatient settings.

• Sarah Fowler
  Trust SEND Lead
  Sarah Fowler

  Sarah has 17 years' experience as a SENDCo in primary and secondary schools, including leading a specialist unit. She has an Advanced Diploma in Special Educational Needs. She has held positions of senior leadership within schools for over 20 years. She holds the NPQH. She previously worked as a Trust SEND Lead for a multi-academy trust of over 30 schools, including primary and secondary schools, specialist units, special and grammar schools. She is a practicing Ofsted Inspector, with enhanced SEND inspection training.

• Maisy Higginson
  HR Apprentice
  Maisy Higginson

  Maisy joined us in September 2024. She has always had an interest in HR, and is looking forward to gaining her Level 3 CIPD qualification with the support from the SEEAT team.

• Sultana Khatun
  HR Manager
  Sultana Khatun

  Sultana joined SEEAT in September 2025 as HR Manager. Sultana has worked in the education sector for several years, with relevant experience in various industries including manufacturing and the NHS. She is an Associate member of the CIPD and holds an MSc in Human Resources Management.

• Adrian Lyons
  School Improvement Advisor
  Adrian Lyons

  Until September 2021, Adrian was one of the most experienced of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Education, and Ofsted's national lead for economics, business and enterprise. Adrian provides the Executive Team with expert counsel on school improvement.

  As well as his knowledge of school improvement gained through regularly leading the inspections of secondary and primary schools, he has also led major national surveys such as ‘Getting Ready for Work' in 2016.

• Darren Sanders
  IT Manager
  Darren Sanders

  Darren has extensive experience as a Network Manager and is responsible for leading the central IT function across the Trust. Darren supports the schools across the Trust with their technology operations and manages the core infrastructure to ensure efficiency and compatibility in the systems.

• Gerrard Shaw
  Deputy IT Manager
  Gerrard Shaw

  Gerrard joined SEEAT in August 2024 and has extensive experience providing IT engineering & support in the education sector. As Deputy IT Manager, he works closely with Darren Sanders to align infrastructure and systems across our schools.

• Caroline Thornton
  Head of Safeguarding, Attendance & Behaviour
  Caroline Thornton

  Caroline is an experienced leader who works across all of the SEEAT schools developing and implementing effective practices that support vulnerable pupils and families. This includes children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), Looked After Children (LAC), English as an Additional Language (EAL) and children entitled to Pupil Premium (PP). Caroline is also responsible for overseeing safeguarding and attendance across the trust.

• Sarah White
  SEEAT Institute Administrator
  Sarah White

  Sarah is responsible for the organisation of the SEEAT Institute events. This includes the planning of conferences, managing bookings and liaising with teaching staff for community meetings and any other mid term meetings that take place through out the school year. Sarah prepares reports/evaluations and presentations for each of the events.

  Sarah also co-ordinates the SEEAT Institute programmes and works closely with the Director of Education to provide support where required.

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