The Chairman, Chris Woodhead is responsible for education policy. The executive Educational Management Team is lead by Jim Hudson.
Jim Hudson - Chief Education Officer
Jim Hudson OBE graduated from Lancaster University and went on to complete further advanced studies at Oxford University. Until his appointment at Cognita, Jim was the Head of Two Mile Ash Middle School in Milton Keynes. There, he built the school roll from 380 to 780 places. As a Foundation school the school funded its own facilities and infrastructure development. The school was classified as 'outstanding' by OFSTED, and was designated as the Lead School in a national consortium of outstanding primary schools delivering school-based initial teacher training. He had formerly been headmaster at two other schools. He is an associate lecturer at both Nottingham and Buckingham Universities and a chairman and adviser on many national education bodies. He was awarded an OBE for services to Education in 1998.
The CEdO is backed up by an Education Support Team, consisting of independent consultants and Head teachers
The Educational Management team works alongside the Heads of each school.
The main responsibilities of the team include:
- Reviewing the performance of schools, the development of its organisation, its teachers and the deployment of resources
- Co-ordinating the development of the curriculum
- Providing support, through the development of training programmes and the syndication of best practice.
- Supporting the recruitment process
- Strategy and development planning
The consultant with particular responsibility for Head teacher recruitment is Roger Trafford.
Roger Trafford
Roger graduated from Hertford College, Oxford, and taught for three years in Boston, Massachusetts, before spending nine years at St Paul's Prep School in London where he was a Housemaster, Head of English and a games coach. In 1973 he was appointed Head of King's College, Taunton, Prep school and nine years later became Head of Clifton College Prep School in Bristol. In 1993 he moved to Oxford as Head of the Dragon School, a boarding and day school of over 850 boys and girls.
He is a former Chairman of IAPS and ISIS and was for four years Deputy Chairman of ISC, the coordinating Council of all independent schools. He has been a member of other prominent educational associations and agencies, has spoken and written articles on education and acts as an outside assessor for schools seeking a new Head. He is a trained Inspector and a Governor of a number of schools, including Millfield, Gordonstoun, the Perse, Clifton, the Old Malthouse, Port Regis, Beaudesert, of which he is Chairman, and St Christopher's Primary School, Langford.
Gary Avery
Gary is the ICT coordinator for Cognita reporting to Jim Hudson (Chief Education Officer). His degree is in Computer Engineering and he is a qualifed teacher. His main responsibility is to ensure that ICT is taught effectively and used constructively as a teaching and learning tool throughout all Cognita Schools. Where necessary he works with Headteachers to support, advise or develop their plans for ICT within schools, providing where required, training to ensure staff are ready to meet the challenges of this rapidly changing area of teaching.
His past is full and varied. His most recent teaching post was at Two Mile Ash School which has been accredited as 'outstanding' nationally by Ofsted since 2000. It is also an accredited teacher training institution.
During his four years at TMA he helped the school develop its ICT and as such was asked to accommodate visiting heads as part of the SLICT (Strategic Leadership in ICT) programme offered in partnership by NCSL, Becta and SSAT. The programme helped Headteachers develop an overall vision for ICT that was not just limited to teaching but also in applying the technologies to help the running of the school.
Before embarking on his teaching career he was an Oracle Database Administrator and Technical Analyst for a global Pharmaceutical company and as such this gives him the opportunity to understand both the teaching, administration and technical challenges of ICT in school.
Alan Noble
Alan Noble MBE entered the teaching profession after his Higher Education studies in Sussex. During his early years in teaching he developed a passionate conviction that learning should be a continuum throughout life with access opportunities at all stages. Whilst working in Devon he had the opportunity to develop this concept creating a campus where educational activities for all ages were the norm. Until 2005 he was the Head of Adult Learning at Buckinghamshire County Council with a responsibility for 25,000 students, 3,000 on line students and 1000 staff - in 150 locations. He has held a number of public and voluntary appointments in FE, HE, ACL and the primary sector. Amongst these he was chair of NLN ICT infrastructure group, Chair of Wellsmead Primary School Governors, SEEDA committee member, LSC board member, member of DFES working groups and a chair/member of various HEFC committees. He also worked for the ODPM as a specialist assessor and panel member for the selection of Beacon Council awards. As a consultant he was engaged on many educational projects including the assessment of Belfast and Blackpool in their endeavours to be recognised as Learning Cities. Alan was much in demand as a key note speaker at UK and international conferences on the utilisation of ICT as a tool for teachers. In 2003 he received his MBE for services to Adult Learning.
Alan's responsibilities within the CEdO's School Support Team centre upon ensuring that all Cognita Schools are fully compliant with Ofsted Standards 4 - 7, thereby assuring that all our schools are safe and secure environments for all pupils, parents and staff.
Wendy Holland
Wendy studied at the Royal College of Music and started her career as a Music Studio Manager with the BBC. In 1972 she qualified as a teacher. She has been in teaching for over 35 years and has taught in state primary, secondary and independent preparatory and senior schools. In 1990 she became Head of an IAPS Prep school in Suffolk having previously been the Director of Music in an ILEA comprehensive school in south London for ten years and head of the Junior House at Roedean School in Brighton.
In 1995 she was awarded an ESU (English Speaking Union) scholarship to travel to the USA to study Early Years' Learning. She has opened and developed three Nursery departments in different schools and has been to Italy on four occasions to study the Reggio Emilia Early Year's Programme.
She was invited to become an ISI Team Inspector in 1996 and subsequently became a Reporting Inspector in 2000.
Wendy became Principal of St Felix Schools in 2002 when she successfully amalgamated the preparatory and senior schools and introduced co-education into the senior school.
She took on the headship of Long Close School in Slough in 2005 which was highly acclaimed in the ISI Inspection Report in January 2007 having been awarded Ôoutstanding' status in several areas of the school including Leadership and Management.
Wendy's key role is in supporting schools in delivering to OFSTED Standards 1-3, and directing the Standards Improvement Programme across the group. Wendy is also responsible for Early Years Provision.
