Vanessa joined the trust in September 2022 as Head Teacher of Birklands Primary School, and is currently Head Teacher at Forest Town Primary School. Prior to this, she worked in Essex across a range of primary schools in various Senior Leadership positions, helping to improve outcomes and secure good and outstanding Ofsted gradings.

Vanessa strongly believes in collaboration and from developing a passion for English and its effective teaching she led an English cluster of 50 schools including primaries and secondaries; based upon sharing best practice and current research into pedagogy and curriculum development.

Vanessa recognises the importance of nurturing the next generation of teachers and was asked to join the Education Development Trust (EDT) to train mentors in delivering the Early Career Framework for new teachers. This has linked closely to her work as a Senior Leader in Education (SLE) to support local schools with specific aspects of their school improvement agenda.