Our team

Andy Spens is the Head of Professional Learning and is Programme Lead for NPQEL and NPQH. Prior to joining the team, Andy has been a Primary Headteacher and Executive Headteacher in South Gloucestershire, near Bristol. He is passionate about working with and developing leaders and excited to be facilitating the national Activate element of NPQH.

Jo Lomax is a Leadership Development Programme Lead for the Church of England’s Foundation for Educational Leadership (CEFEL). Jo’s key responsibilities include overseeing the curriculum design, development and delivery of the specialist National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) for current and aspirant leaders in schools. This includes NPQ Leading Teaching, NPQ Leading Behaviour and Culture and NPQ Leading Teacher Development.

Jo is passionate about the power of transformational professional development, believing that all teachers and school leaders are entitled to high-quality developmental opportunities that enables them to thrive and flourish in their role. She value’s the role that high-quality mentoring and coaching brings to shaping practice. Jo is also passionate about delivering on CEFEL’s Vision for Education which places teacher excellence firmly at the heart of school leadership.

Jo holds a first class degree in Theology, Religious Studies and Education. Alongside this she holds a Master of Education (Med) in Leading Learning and Professional Development. Before joining the Church of England in September, Jo worked as a Secondary School RE teacher and held leadership responsibilities including leading Initial Teacher Training, the Early Career Framework and supported the design and implementation of an evidence-focused whole-school professional development programme. Jo loves to spend time with family friends, weekends away and staying healthy by going to the gym.

Aleishia Lewis is a Leadership Development Programme Lead. She is responsible for the design, development and delivery of the NPQ Senior Leadership and NPQ Leading Teaching .  Aleishia has a passion for developing leaders at all levels and has enjoyed meeting and working with the facilitators and participants from our first two NPQ cohorts.

As a serving deputy headteacher, Aleishia brings authenticity, honesty and experience to the team as she understands the challenges that schools currently face.  She also holds a strong belief in the power of excellent teaching and leadership culture to improve the outcomes of all pupils at the same time as enabling staff to thrive.

Aleishia is also one of the leaders of BAMEed East and she has worked with schools and school leaders on a national scale to develop their understanding of identity and belonging.  This work has filtered in to her other role with CEFEL as a co-facilitator of our UK/US Inclusion and Diversity Network.  Aleishia believes that every child should see themselves represented in the curriculum and this also drives her work with school leadership which also needs to see greater representation.

Aleishia enjoys reading, cooking, eating and dancing.  She is always up for a spontaneous adventure and loves musicals and all things Disney!

Yolanda Morley-McKay, is a Leadership Development Programme Lead, responsible for the curriculum design and development of NPQLTD in particular and supporting across other NPQs generally.

Yolanda is a highly skilled facilitator and coach, and is passionate about the power of dialogic approaches to adult learning. She coaches on NPQH and is involved in bespoke leadership development projects for different organisations.

Prior to joining CEFEL Yolanda was Assistant Director for Education at Leicester DBE where she supported the 97 church school by providing CPD around church school distinctiveness, collective worship, governance and leadership development. She was Chair of Leicester SACRE and Vice Chair at Leicestershire SACRE.

Yolanda’s background is in learning and development and across her career, both freelance and whilst working at a former National College programme provider (HTI) she has supported the management and delivery of a range of pre NPQ National College programmes (e.g., Leading from the Middle), TDA development work and LA projects such as extended services provision. She has supported DBE trusts with academy conversions, managedthe initial development of a Teaching School and in 2016-2017 she led on the pilot CofEPQH Programme.

Yolanda has a degree in Psychology, a post graduate diploma in Human Resource Management and is currently studying for the Masters in People and Organisation Development with the Roffey Park Institute.

Yolanda is an avid Leicester Tigers fan, a keen gardener and Chair of Governors at a Church of England Secondary School in her home town of Rugby. 

Matthew has twenty years’ experience working in primary school education. During this time Matthew has been the subject lead for Science, and the RE and collective worship lead in school, successfully leading two outstanding church school inspections. Matthew has also served as a head teacher for over a decade in a three form entry, inner city school of over 46 different languages. During this time he has had the pleasure of leading three good Ofsted inspections, as well as a school building project. Matthew is currently underway with his SIAMS inspector training, which he hopes to complete later this year.

Liz Barratt is a Coaching Lead here at CEFEL.  “Learning is my passion. The enablement of others through coaching and the design and delivery of learning experiences is what I love to do.”

As a teacher and leader for over 20 years and a coach and coaching trainer for over 12, Liz focuses on growing confidence, building expertise and developing effective professional behaviours. She partners with individuals and teams at all levels from ITT through to Executive Leadership.

She brings the same energy and commitment to everything she does; be it in the secondary or primary classroom or in adult learning spaces. She balances the role of Lead Associate Head Teacher at the Transform Trust with her Coaching Lead role with CEFEL. She is a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching, an experienced facilitator of NPQs and the co-creator of www.transformapplied.co.uk which works alongside leaders, schools and trusts to build capacity in leadership, T&L and adult learning. (Twitter: @lizbarratt) 

Luke Watkins is the Learning Specialist, working to ensure our online synchronous and asynchronous learning is interesting, engaging and research-informed. In particular, this involves working with the Blackboard LMS, though Luke also supports with a range of activities and projects across the team.

Luke is particularly passionate about dialogic and collaborative pedagogies, which comprised his master’s thesis. He is also interested in cognitive science and how such approaches can be applied in an online learning context to supplement face-to-face instruction and promote knowledge retention.

Luke has a BA in History and a PGCE from Nottingham University, where he is currently studying part-time for an EdD. He also studied an MA in Education at UCL and holds Chartered Teacher Status from the Chartered College of Teaching. He was previously a class teacher, Research Lead and Head of Behaviour, Attitudes and Attendance at a primary school in the East Midlands. Outside of work Luke enjoys walks in the Peak District and spending time with family & friends.

Hulda is the NPQ Programmes Manager responsible for overseeing the delivery of several projects and supporting the delivery team. Hulda also supported with the set up of the NPQ Learning Management System, Blackboard. Hulda is passionate about positive impact and values the contribution that partners, events and wider communications can have on the national reach that the Education Office has.

Having studied International Tourism Management / Events Management at University, Hulda is keen to use key learning and strategic approaches to contribute to the wider vision of the education office. Beyond that, Hulda is passionate about working as part of team with a shared goal and having a voice in the EDI space.

Outside of work, Hulda enjoys travelling, museums, forest adventures and chocolate cake.

Jo Palmer is Senior Leadership Development Officer/EA responsible for supporting the NPQ Executive Leadership Programme and for supporting all participants on the NPQ’s pastorally. Liaising with prospective participants and smoothing their journey. She currently has responsibility for seeing all participants through the recruiting, moderation, offer and acceptance stages. Also dealing with all Deferrals/Re-starts and Withdrawals.

Jo fully co-ordinates the ongoing CofEPQH Cohorts as they submit their final assignments and assists with any issues arising. She administrates the Diocesan Educational Leadership Programme (DELP) co-ordinating their residentials and Workshop modules. Jo has a passion for Education with an emphasis on producing wonderful teachers/leaders to enable themselves and all children in their care to flourish. Prior to joining the CofE Jo worked in the commercial world as an EA to CEO and before that extensively in recruitment and HR. She has a strong empathy with people and wanted to use her skills to make a difference to children and education. Outside of work Jo spends quality time with her grandson, scuba dives and does photography. She enjoys Archaeology, history and loves a good murder mystery.

Natalia is the Leadership Development Programme Officer responsible for providing administrative support to the NPQ Programme Delivery Team. Natalia acts as the first point of contact, managing inboxes and enquires for the NPQ programmes. As well as contributing and co-ordinating for events and providing general support for the Education Office.

Natalia is passionate about making education accessible to everyone, regardless of background, making an investment in younger generations and opening doors for future opportunities. With a first-class degree in Illustration and Visual Communication, Natalia is a creative and enthusiastic soul who loves collaborating and working with a team that shares her values.

Outside of work, Natalia loves going out with friends, baking cakes, karaoke, and mini pigs. 

Noah is a Programme Officer within the NPQ Programme Delivery Team, and responsible for providing administrative support across all our NPQs. This includes ensuring all things finance and invoicing run smoothly and partners are supported in any queries. He works closely with external organisations to deliver courses ran in partnership. Noah also responds to any queries on the NPQ programmes and supports on NPQ events.

Noah is enthusiastically committed to seeing the education of young people flourish, in every school across the country. With a first-class degree in Geography with Quantitative Research Methods, he’s knows a lot about maps. But also holds a deep passion for understanding and tackling inequalities in society, and sees education as key to this objective.

Hailing from near Manchester, but now based in Bristol, Noah loves following sport, finding new music genres, puns, and time spent exploring new places.