Meet the ITT Team

ITT Leads

Dawn Chapman - ITT Primary Programme Lead

Dawn has worked for Exeter Consortium as the Primary Programme Lead since 2018, working closely with schools across the region to develop and strengthen the partnerships that are vital to our approach. The most rewarding aspect of her role is building supportive relationships with trainees, NQTs and teachers in our partner schools. ​

​Sara Thornhill - ITT Assistant Primary Programme Lead

Sara Thornhill is our ITT Assistant Primary Programme Lead and Development Lead for the SWIFT ECT programme. Through leadership and Deputy Headship roles, Sara has strived to develop a culture of coaching to support development and improve the quality of teaching using regular incremental coaching. Sara is also a Lead Mentor for our ITT programme.

Louise Honan - ITT Administrator & Finance

Louise's role includes assisting the Programme Lead with the administration of the current programmes and provision for trainee teachers. She is usually the first point of contact for most future trainees and supports them through the process from recruitment, to DBS checks, DfE registration, bursaries and student finance.

ITT Lead Mentors

​Ceri Brooks
I have been teaching for 25 years and am passionate about the Early Years.  For the last 15 years I have been teaching Reception and Nursery and it is my favourite place to be!  I am the Early Years Lead at my school, managing a busy Foundation Stage Unit.  I am also a phonics SLE, running courses for teachers and TA’s and supporting schools with phonics and reading training.  I love working with trainee teachers at the start of their teaching career and we have trainees in our school every year.  I hope to show you the ‘magic’ of the Early Years during my sessions! In my spare time I play the guitar.  I also enjoy reading and walking on Dartmoor.

​Lucy Herring
As an Early Years Trainee from the outset of my teaching career, I have always held a passion and interest in the education and development of our youngest learners. I have 12 years of teaching experience within the Early Years, encompassing teaching within both large and small schools in the Exeter Area. I have held the position of Assistant Headteacher with responsibilities for a large preschool up to supporting teaching and learning for pupils in Year 2. I have now left the classroom and am currently working with Somerset County Council as the Advisory Teacher for Early Years Children Looked After. This role has allowed for greater opportunities for learning on my part and I am enjoying deepening my understanding of Early Brain Development, Attachment Theories as well as supporting settings develop their provision to support the needs of vulnerable children.
I have been involved with the Teacher Training programme with Exeter Consortium since its inception and have enjoyed seeing the programme for Early Years Trainees develop through the years. I always look forward to meeting trainees through-out the year and hearing first hand how their experiences in their placements start to shape and mould them as the next generation of teachers. There truly is nothing more magical about being surrounded with the Awe and Wonder of the Early Years!

​​Stephanie Hart
As a Lead mentor Stephanie triangulates the implementation of the core curriculum through to the classroom, moderating the judgments of the School-based Mentors and quality assuring school-based provision. She has significant knowledge and understanding of each Key Stage and has been a qualified Head Teacher for 12 years, both in a small (mixed cohort) rural school and at a specialist setting; the first Trauma Informed School in the UK. She is an ambassador for upholding the highest levels of safeguarding and is skilled in behaviour management through working with young people who have suffered severe adverse childhood experiences. She is a qualified and accomplished life coach and mentor, deploying her skill set to support and guide Trainee Teachers as they rapidly develop as practitioners. In addition to monitoring Trainee teachers' well being and personal development Stephanie provides valued constructive and positive feedback through the various assessment point visits.  She will also be seen running some training sessions.

ITT Trainers

​The ITT Curriculum is re-drafted annually to reflect the developments in education nationally and within our partnership. Our trainers are drawn from the SWTT and Exeter Consortium Partnership as well as more widely. The General Professional Studies calendar is subject to change, but some of our key trainers are as follows:

​Abi Raynor
Curriculum Strand – Teaching and Learning, Subject Knowledge and Curriculum Design (Foreign Languages)
After living abroad and working in international schools for over 12 years, I returned to the UK and settled in Exeter in 2012. In 2018 I decided to return to teaching and trained with Exeter Consortium to gain my PGCE. I have taught Reception at Montgomery Primary School since then, and for the last 3 years have been Subject lead for MFL. In addition, I have enjoyed working as a mentor for the Consortium, so I’m now making the leap to trainer! With a background in language teaching and learning and my experience of living overseas, I am passionate about the importance of learning a foreign language from a young age and strive to give teachers confidence in a subject that many find challenging.

​Ceri Brooks
Curriculum Strands - Teaching and Learning, Subject Knowledge and Curriculum Design (Phonics and Early Years Reading and Writing)
I have been teaching for 25 years and am passionate about the Early Years.  For the last 15 years I have been teaching Reception and Nursery and it is my favourite place to be!  I am the Early Years Lead at my school, managing a busy Foundation Stage Unit.  I am also a phonics SLE, running courses for teachers and TA’s and supporting schools with phonics and reading training.  I love working with trainee teachers at the start of their teaching career and we have trainees in our school every year.  I hope to show you the ‘magic’ of the Early Years during my sessions! In my spare time I play the guitar.  I also enjoy reading and walking on Dartmoor.

​Chris Moyse
Curriculum Strands – Teaching & Learning, Assessment and Progress
Chris is a leadership and education consultant with over 30 years of experience. He was a successful Head of Physical Education and went on to become a Teaching and Learning consultant for Somerset Local Authority. He was a senior leader at Bridgwater College Academy, Somerset’s first all-through school, for 7 years and was also the only associate teaching trainer with Ginnis Training Ltd – an education consultancy company led by the late, great Paul Ginnis, author of The Teachers’ Toolkit. Chris was Head of Staff Development for Bridgwater and Taunton College Trust, a 3-19 multi academy trust, as well as being Managing Director of TLC Education Services Ltd; an education and leadership consultancy company. In addition, he is senior SLE for North Somerset Teaching Alliance and an ambassador for Leadership Matters; a movement designed to give all schools access to the high quality leadership development that ultimately improves pupil educational outcomes. Chris has now worked in over 1000 schools across the UK and beyond. He is a passionate Bath Rugby fan, follows the fortunes of West Ham United (so clearly not a glory hunter!) and an avid collector of vinyl records.

​Claire Norman
Curriculum Strand - Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
Claire has been in the role of SENCO at Exminster Community Primary School for 9 years. She has led the school through the SEND reforms, implementing new systems and strategies to support effective SEND provision across the whole school. Part of her role involves leading the Student and Family Support Team within the school, implementing initiatives to achieve positive impact on SEND practice within the school and influencing the School Development Plan. Claire has worked with colleagues in other settings to support the development of strategies and SEND practice. Claire is also on the steering group for the Exeter Inclusion Forum, working with other SENDCOs to plan and deliver high quality CPD for colleagues.

​David Weatherly
Curriculum Strand – Teaching and Learning, Assessment and Progress, Subject Knowledge and Curriculum Design (Humanities)
David is a School Improvement Adviser who works with colleagues across the country in individual schools and MATs to enhance pupil outcomes through supporting the development of curriculum provision and its associated pedagogy. He also contributes to SCITT and Teach Direct programmes and is a consultant to a number of agencies and non-governmental organisations with an educational remit both in the United Kingdom and internationally. In addition David writes award winning curriculum programmes and books in Geography and History for several publishers and runs national training sessions attended by hundreds of colleagues a year. An accomplished practitioner with many years of experience in both strategic and operational roles in schools David ensures that his teaching of pupils in all phases of learning is integral to the development work he undertakes with colleagues in schools.

​Gary King
Curriculum Strand – Teaching and Learning, Subject Knowledge and Curriculum Design (Design & Technology)
Gary has 20 year’s teaching experience and has been a senior leader for the last 10 years. He is currently the Director of Creative Technologies at West Exe School. Gary also leads the Ted Wragg Design Technology curriculum group. He specialises in Design Technology (Resistant Materials and Graphics) but also teaches iMedia and Computer Science, delivering the teacher training for Design Technology early years and primary cohorts.

​Gemma Radford
Curriculum Strand - Physical Education
Gemma is a class teacher and PE Leader at Ide Primary School. She was appointed as an SLE in 2020. Gemma is very passionate about Physical Education and is committed to developing the PE and sports opportunities for young people in the local community. Since commencing her SLE role, Gemma has worked on a DfE PE Project which has involved mentoring PE leaders in a variety of primary schools. This work has involved working with PE Leaders that are at different stages in their career, ranging from ECTs to experienced teachers. Gemma’s role as an SLE has also involved working with the trainee teachers on the primary programme. She has planned and delivered the PE training for all of the trainee teachers each year. In addition to her PE leadership, Gemma has also enjoyed mentoring trainee teachers on the primary programme.

​Helen Day
Curriculum strand - Teaching and Learning, Subject Knowledge and Curriculum Design (English)
Helen is a teacher of over 20 years and has experience of leading English across both large and small school settings. Helen has gained a wide and varied curriculum knowledge base through action research conducted during her Master’s Degree in Education, her role as county moderator and work carried out in relation to statutory curriculum test development and administration. Through Helen’s role as English Lead and SLE, she has supported many teaching and learning support staff in a range of situations to move English teaching and learning forward to raise standards in practice, progress and attainment. Helen has worked alongside English Leaders and Senior Leadership in schools to support and identify areas for development relating to English and deliver the appropriate staff training or individual support required. As well as working with teacher trainees, Helen works with ECTs and experienced teachers whilst facilitating Early Career Framework and NPQ training and development programmes.

​Hilda Merttens
Curriculum Strand – Teaching and Learning, Subject Knowledge and Curriculum Design (Maths)
Hilda has been a class teacher for 20 years. Trained in primary education, she has taught all years from Reception to Y6. She has worked in London, Oxford, Sheffield, Nottingham and Exeter as well as teaching in Australia and India, where she worked for over two years. Hilda is also an educational writer, writing plans and resources, including working in a team of three to produce the Abacus Primary Mathematics Scheme, published by Pearson. This covers teaching and all resources for the whole of the primary age range and is based on the current National Curriculum. After completing Abacus, Hilda moved into Secondary Education to become a specialist mathematics teacher. She retrained whilst working and is now qualified to teach 4- to 18-year-olds. Hilda is passionate about teaching and learning and also about mathematics and despite loving teaching secondary pupils she has moved back into primary teaching and is currently the Maths lead at Bowhill Primary School, Exeter. Hilda is currently undertaking the Maths Mastery leaders' course to become a specialist in Maths Mastery so that she can support primary schools with teaching and learning mathematics.

​Jac Evans
Curriculum strand - Teaching and Learning, Subject Knowledge and Curriculum Design (Science)
I started teaching in 2001 in a large junior school in Kent, and from the very beginning took the role of coordinator, leading Science and Design Technology across the school. I currently teach at St. Thomas Primary School in Exeter where I continue to lead the subject, support my colleagues both on a day-to-day basis as well as through training, and have organised Able, Gifted and Talented workshops for children across the school and Academy. I have also enjoyed the opportunity to work with trainees from Exeter Consortium’s Teacher Training Programme. I am passionate about the importance of science in the curriculum, and the role we play as educators in promoting the subject.

​Kit Hardee
Curriculum strand - Teaching & Learning and Personal & Professional Habits
Kit is the Assistant Headteacher at Hazeldown Primary School. He has a desire to help teachers and pupils share a clear vision for education. Previously, he has been part of Hazeldown’s leadership team in his role as an upper key stage 2 team leader and has taught pupils predominately in year 6. Since joining the school in 2015, Kit has thrived as part of a successful leadership team who have had, and continue to have, a passion and determination to drive the school forwards - always looking for new ways to give their children the best possible opportunities within their education and to train them to have vital lifelong skills and learning attitudes. Kit is extremely passionate about supporting, developing and inspiring all staff to excel in their careers. He is the initial teaching training coordinator which involves the development of trainee teachers and liaising with three universities.

​Lee Goodenough
Curriculum strand - Teaching & Learning and Personal & Professional Habits
Lee is the Deputy Headteacher at Hazeldown Primary School. He is the pupil premium lead at the school and is also responsible for curriculum and attendance. He is passionate about equipping pupils with the characteristics required for modern life - particularly resilience and the ability to see mistakes / setbacks as learning opportunities that aid development rather than being an obstacle to it. He is on a mission to spread the growth mindset message so that all adults/children/anyone who will listen is aware of the importance of adopting the mindset! Furthermore, as part of his work on metacognition, he is keen to ensure that school adults make the implicit explicit, supporting pupils in the development of their metacognitive skills when doing so.  

​Lucy Herring
Curriculum Strand - Teaching and Learning and Curriculum Design (Early Years)
As an Early Years Trainee from the outset of my teaching career, I have always held a passion and interest in the education and development of our youngest learners. I have 12 years of teaching experience within the Early Years, encompassing teaching within both large and small schools in the Exeter Area. I have held the position of Assistant Headteacher with responsibilities for a large preschool up to supporting teaching and learning for pupils in Year 2. I have now left the classroom and am currently working as an Advisory Teacher for Early Years Children Looked After. This role has allowed for greater opportunities for learning on my part and I am enjoying deepening my understanding of Early Brain Development, Attachment Theories as well as supporting settings develop their provision to support the needs of vulnerable children. I have been involved with the Teacher Trainee programme with Exeter Consortium since its inception and have enjoyed seeing the programme for Early Years Trainees develop through the years. I always look forward to meeting trainees through-out the year and hearing first hand how their experiences in their placements start to shape and mould them as the next generation of teachers. There truly is nothing more magical about being surrounded with the Awe and Wonder of the Early Years!

Maria White
Curriculum Strand – Teaching and Learning, Assessment and Progress, Subject Knowledge and Curriculum Design (Humanities)
​Maria has 14 years of experience teaching in primary education and is currently the teaching Deputy Head at The Topsham School. As well as leading on maths, Maria is also responsible for curriculum design in the school and is led by her passion and vision to create a unique education that is driven by thinking skills and subject knowledge. She specialises in History and Geography and delivers the teacher training in humanities for the Early Years and Primary cohorts.

​Michael Emerton
Curriculum strand - Teaching & Learning, Subject Knowledge and Curriculum Design (Computing)
Michael is an IT Support Manager for the Ted Wragg Trust and has taught Computing across the Primary age range. His experience includes planning and implementation of the curriculum; implementing and managing school IT systems; planning, implementation and embedding of ICT into the curriculum; teaching alongside teachers, providing CPD and up-skilling leading to higher standards in IT; providing Exeter Consortium CLASS trainer Leadership support to schools as well as training and INSET on a variety of subjects including coding and online safety.

​Nikki Hewson
Curriculum Strand – Teaching and Learning, Subject Knowledge and Curriculum Design (Music)
Nikki is the Primary Education and Training Lead for Out of the Ark Music. She is an experienced teacher having worked in early years and primary education for over twenty years. Based in Somerset, she has worked as a primary teacher, advanced skills teacher (music and drama) and as a Teaching and Learning manager for the music hub. She is also a teacher educator, delivering initial teacher training for SCITT programmes across the country. Nikki is most passionate about working with organisations to develop high quality and accessible training and resources for teachers who are embarking on a career in early years and primary education. She believes that music has the power to transform a school and every teacher can and should feel inspired to integrate music and singing into their daily classroom practice.

​Paul Herring
Curriculum strand - T&L and Subject Knowledge and Curriculum Design (Computing)
Paul is currently the Assistant Headteacher and Computing lead at Exminster. During this time, Paul has overseen the development of a forward-thinking Computing curriculum and guided the school through the e-safety award, the result of which being that technology is used effectively, creatively and safely throughout the school. As the chair of the ICT action group for the Dawlish Learning Partnership (now disbanded) he has co-ordinated opportunities for shared practice across local schools and has experience facilitating and coordinating dialogue regarding creative and interesting uses for ICT across the curriculum. As Computing lead, Paul has extensive experience of keeping abreast of the latest technologies, programmes and apps that can be used to support children in their learning from Reception to Key Stage 2. A central part of the role involves the researching, negotiating and purchasing of equipment which provides the best value for money from what is always a tight budget. He has led INSET, CPD, peer-to-peer training and provided help guides to support staff in their own professional development. Central to Paul’s pedagogy and philosophy as a teacher is the importance of giving children the opportunity to achieve. He has developed the use of Digital Leaders over the last 5 years with excellent impact for children and teachers alike. The Digital Leaders have been trained up to a standard where they lead staff INSET on new technologies, carry out simple ICT tasks and mentor and train other children. Paul has also extended the ‘extra-curricular’ aspect of ICT to the formation of a school radio show which has again provided excellent opportunities particularly for children with SEND.

​Rebecca (Beccy) Haswell
Curriculum strand - Teaching and Learning, Subject Knowledge and Curriculum Design (Art)
I have been teaching for 28 years and am passionate about art and developing children’s creativity. I feel that art is a subject that has many benefits for children’s mental health, self-esteem and which allows all children to succeed - I am happiest when in the classroom with the paints out! I am currently a class teacher, team leader and member of the SLT at Exwick Heights Primary School and lead Art and Design. I am also the TTCO for ITT students and love working with trainee teachers, seeing them develop and learning from them too. For the last few years, I have enjoyed providing art training for teachers, TAs, and trainee teachers with a focus on the progression of skills and a chance to roll up our sleeves and try out some fun art activities. Outside of school, I paint, draw and visit galleries as much as I can and am always looking for new ideas to inspire art at my school.