Meet our Team
Central Team
Yvonne Brown - Chief Executive Officer
Yvonne has worked in the education sector for over 34 years, across eight local authorities. She is passionate about improving the life chances of all children and ensures that the schools she works with share the Trust values. Yvonne firmly believes that schools should be magical places for children, where they can learn and explore in safe, creative environments. She has promoted an inclusive culture across Leading Learners and is delighted to be the CEO of such a caring organisation, that puts children first.
Before taking up the post of CEO in April 2016, Yvonne had 21 years' experience of successful headship, including executive headship across three schools. She was Headteacher at Tyldesley Primary School and led it to an outstanding Ofsted judgement in 2010. She has a proven track record of improving primary schools across the Northwest and West Yorkshire and her expertise includes: leadership development, strategic planning, curriculum design; developing teams; and coaching and mentoring.
Yvonne is committed to the professional development of the whole workforce and has successfully developed staff, leading to many being promoted within the Trust. She is keen to continue her own learning journey and has recently graduated from Buckingham University, gaining an MBA, with distinction in Educational Management.
Yvonne is extremely proud of Leading Learners and the unique family community that has grown, and is continuing to grow, across the Trust.
David Harrison - Director of Education
David is Director of Education within the Trust, playing a central role, under the guidance of the CEO, in developing Trust systems, processes and strategy. David works closely with the Trust Central Team and School Leadership Teams in supporting all of our schools to work together to ensure that children and staff get access to the opportunities, knowledge and skills to succeed. He is passionate about strategic school improvement and strongly advocates for a school improvement approach that places excellent outcomes alongside inclusivity.
David has been with the organisation since 2015 and has extensive experience as a headteacher, executive headteacher and school improvement partner for schools across Yorkshire and the North West. He has completed the NPQEL.
Liam Knowles FCCA - Chief Finance and Operations Officer
Liam joined the Trust in June 2020 following eleven years working within complex social, charitable and commercial organisations. He has been integral in improving and modernising workflows and reporting processes across the Trust, developing existing systems and implementing new ones where required. Liam is also responsible for overseeing strategic works on the Trusts estate- making improvements, ensuring its safety, and moving towards net zero carbon emissions.
Liam is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and has a diverse range of skills acquired in roles within accounting, finance business partnering, internal audit and project management before taking on his first Finance Director role in 2019. He is an advocate of continual professional development and producing high-performing teams through his commitment to coaching others to realise their potential.
Sonia Green - Head of Finance and Operations
Sonia has worked at Worth Valley Primary School since September 2008 and has been with Leading Learners since the start of their journey as a Multi Academy Trust. She has recently taken on a new role within the organisation as Head of Finance and Operations. With the qualifications, training and knowledge Sonia has gained over the past 12 years, she is looking forward to using this to help develop staff across the Trust School’s.
Nicky Kilvington - Director of School Improvement - Yorkshire Hub
Nicky joined Leading Learners in July 2023 when Carrwood Primary School, where she was Executive Head, joined the trust. She has worked within the education sector for 27 years and has 15 years of headship experience, the last six years have been within a Primary Federation. Prior to becoming a Head Nicky was a Primary Strategy Literacy Consultant and Deputy Head in a large three form entry school.
Throughout her headships Nicky has supported other schools across the district through her role as Area Headteacher Lead for the Bradford Primary and Improvement Partnership supporting schools across Bradford South and also as an Assessment lead within the same partnership, developing assessment materials for all schools to use data effectively.
Nicky has a proven track record of school improvement taking a previous school from satisfactory to good and in her most recent role taking the most deprived school in the district which had three RI judgements to good. She has experience of developing a positive school culture, working with schools in challenging situations and areas of deprivation, engaging with the community and developing strong parental relationships. She is committed to ensuring that each and every child gets the best education possible within a positive school experience.
Emma Greenwood - Trust Lead for Inclusion and Safeguarding
Emma initially joined Woodside Academy, part of Leading Learners, in 2010. She has worked in multiple teaching and leadership roles, gaining considerable experience and strength in the fields of SEND and Safeguarding.
As an experienced SENDCO and DSL, Emma’s driving motivation is to ensure that the most vulnerable children in our schools get the very best that Leading Learners has to offer. Whilst being the designated teacher for Children Looked After, Emma oversaw the largest number of CLA’s of any primary school in Bradford. She is passionate about Attachment Awareness and Trauma Informed practice and is accredited as a national lead in this field. Emma works closely with external professionals and families and is committed to the development of SENDCO's, inclusion leads, safeguarding leads and wider staff teams, to ensure that the most vulnerable children in schools get the support, opportunity and best practice that they deserve.
Sarah Keinhorst - Trust Lead for Teaching and Learning
Sarah joined Woodside Academy, part of Leading Learners, in 2014 when she completed the Teach First training programme. Sarah is an experienced teacher who has taught across the primary age range in a number of schools, consistently demonstrating high expectations and outstanding practice. Sarah is passionate about tackling educational and social inequality and engages regularly with the Teach First ambassador community in order to share innovative and exciting education initiatives. Sarah is committed to supporting new teachers to raise the quality of teaching and learning so that all children can benefit from a high-quality education.
Schools Team
Ceinwen Lodge - Headteacher, Worth Valley Primary School
Ceinwen joined Woodside Academy, part of Leading Learners, in 2007. She taught and led across the school, specialising in Key Stage 2 before becoming Assistant Principal. The Trust promoted Ceinwen to become Headteacher of Worth Valley Primary School in September 2018 and she successfully navigated the school from “Requires Improvement” to “Good”.
Ceinwen has ambitious plans for the school and is determined to lead it to become the outstanding school she knows it should be. She is passionate about providing children with a rich, diverse and high-quality education, driven by excellent quality first teaching. Ceinwen believes in children as individuals and that the key to success is harnessing the individual child's interests, passions and strengths. She has transformed the community perception of Worth Valley by working together, in partnership, to ensure the importance of education is understood by the whole school community.
Gary Stott - Headteacher, Reevy Hill Primary School
Gary joined Reevy Hill, part of Leading Learners, as the Deputy Headteacher in January 2016. He initially led on teaching and learning across the school while teaching in Year 6, before taking on the strategic leadership of the school's curriculum offer and becoming the Designated Safeguarding Lead. Gary was a key part of the senior leadership team that drove the school from “Requires Improvement” to “Good” in three years.
Gary took over the Headship at Reevy Hill in June 2020. He values forming positive working relationships with Trust senior leaders and Governors, as well as the school staff team, children and parents/carers in order to improve outcomes for children. Gary is passionate about providing children with opportunities to become proud of who they are and to be the best they can be through their experiences at Reevy Hill.
Kirsty Porter - Headteacher, Woodside Academy
Kirsty joined Woodside Academy, part of Leading Learners, in 2009 and has worked across multiple teaching and leadership roles during her time with the Trust. Kirsty's expertise is most prevalent in her leadership of teaching and learning. Her proven track record of success in teaching and leadership across all phases, combined with her passion for developing highly effective staff teams, has led her to be the Headteacher of Woodside Academy as part of the Leading Learners family.
Kirsty is passionate about improving outcomes through ensuring excellence in quality first teaching, behaviours for learning and offering highly effective support for the vulnerable and those with additional needs. Kirsty is a keen advocate of the power of early reading in order to improve life chances for children during their education and beyond.
Janet Shorrock – Headteacher – Tyldesley Primary School
Janet has worked at Tyldesley Primary School, part of Leading Learners, for over 15 years. She has a long track record of school improvement and is passionate about inclusion.
Janet believes that being part of a Trust really makes the difference to school improvement, bringing more than just a partnership between schools: It means that improvements are long term and senior leaders really invest in each other and the schools they work with.
Nicola Malt – Headteacher – Carrwood Primary School
Nicola joined Carrwood Primary School, part of Leading Learners, in 2016, where she specialised in Early Years before becoming Assistant Headteacher. Nicola began her Headship in January 2023 and was a key part of the team who navigated the school from “Requires Improvement” to “Good”.
Nicola believes all children at Carrwood can ‘dream big’ and is determined all children will receive an experience rich and high-quality curriculum, linked strongly with a love of reading. Nicola has led on a number of school improvement initiatives and ensures the children are at the heart of every decision made. She is also passionate about school and families working together in partnership to ensure the best outcomes are achieved for every child, regardless of their starting points.