West Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre

I have been a governor at West SILC since May 2012.  Prior to this, I was a parent governor at Pudsey Greenside Primary School for 12 years.  During my time as a governor I have been involved in recruiting staff at all levels,  and have worked on the Resources, Teaching and Learning, Strategic and Performance Management committees.  I have held special governor responsibility for literacy, special educational needs, inclusion and head teacher performance management.  I have also contributed to numerous working parties and initiatives to drive school improvements.

In my professional life, I am a motivated, adaptable and accomplished senior manager.  My key skills include but are not limited to: leadership, business development, communication, change management, learning and development and presentation skills.

My most recent positions have been at Leeds Community Healthcare Trust as a business consultant and member of the Children’s Services senior management team.  Before this I worked for Cool2Care, a social enterprise that provided care-workers for disabled people and disability awareness training throughout the UK.  I also run my own Learning and Development Consultancy and have designed and delivered various training and development courses for organisations throughout the UK.  

I was born in Leeds.  From 16, I did my work experience and community service at John Jamieson school in Leeds.  I was a volunteer at the PHAB (Physically Handicapped Able Bodied) youth club and undertook many residentials with them.  I have been a teacher all my working life.  I began my career as a Food Technology teacher in secondary schools.  I always wanted to work in a special school but wanted to be a good teacher first.  I moved to Victoria Park (as was) in 1995 to undertake my Food Technology to students with special educational needs.  I was the first teacher to introduce Entry level certificate courses and was responsible for ICT and assessment across the school.  I became an Assistant Headteacher in 2001.  In 2007, I became the principal for the SILC and consequently joined the governing body.  I am a single parent with two school aged children.  I particularly enjoy gardening; when I have the time!

I am a parent of three children, one of whom attended West SILC for seven years. During his attendance, I have been a parent governor and active member of the sub-committees for over six years which has seen many changes, including a school move. Overall, there have been many improvements to the school and this is reflected in a continuous improvement in Ofsted inspections. My occupation is as a commercial insurance broker where I deal with both national and international companies across a broad range of industries. This has included line management with responsibilities for performance management and recruitment.

In addition, I am a qualified junior football coach and have worked with children from 7 to 16 years old. This position entails having to undertake safeguarding training on a three yearly cycle.

Julie is a Labour councillor for the Bramley and Stanningley ward within Leeds City Council and joined us in June 2016.  Julie brings a wealth of experience to the governor role and was excited about West SILC from her first visit to the school. 

Following my training to become a registered general nurse, I worked as a staff nurse in hospital settings and then the private sector.  My experiences lasted for more than a decade and have proved invaluable. 

Following a change in circumstances, I swapped nursing for childcare, starting with pre 5s and working my way up the ages to teenagers!  I have worked in nurseries, children’s centres, main stream schools and residential settings prior to my role at West SILC.

I have now worked as an HLTA at West SILC for almost 6 years. I have had the privilege of working at three sites across the SILC with dedicated staff teams. Currently I work with students accessing the semi-formal curriculum and our CCA (Complex Communication and Autism) students. I have a good working relationship, knowledge and insight of the students with whom I work, as well as many of our staff team.  I feel therefore, that I can contribute positively as a governor.

I live in Bradford with my husband.  We have 5 children (3 boys and 2 adopted girls) 2 dogs and a guinea pig who moved in after his retirement from West SILC!

Sam joined West SILC in 2015 and qualified as a teacher in 2016.  Sam has a wealth of knowledge and experience of our complex communication and autistic students, working as the class teacher in Opal Class.