I began teaching Religious Education in 2006 and have remained in Catholic comprehensive education ever since. The responsibilities have widened - subject leadership, pastoral leadership, senior leadership, governance, inspection, curriculum and professional learning - but classroom teaching has remained a constant.
Deputy Headteacher · St Bonaventure’s Catholic School
Senior responsibility across the pastoral life of an 11–18 Catholic comprehensive school, including behaviour and safety, safeguarding, attendance, inclusion, wellbeing, staffing and HR, Catholic life, community partnerships, communications and transition. I continue to teach Religious Education.
Assistant Headteacher: Director of Religious Education & Teaching School · St Bonaventure’s
Led Religious Education and wider curriculum development, and from 2018 also led the school’s Teaching School and Catholic school-alliance work, including leadership development and professional learning across partner schools.
Middle Leader: Sacred Heart of Mary Girls’ School, Upminster
Teacher of Religious Education across Key Stage 3, GCSE and A Level; Assistant Subject Leader for RE with particular responsibility for Key Stage 3; and Head of Year 10 & 11, including responsibility for PSHE and Citizenship.
Teacher: St John Payne Catholic School, Chelmsford
Teacher of Religious Education at Key Stage 3 and GCSE, alongside pastoral responsibility as Head of House and service as a Staff Governor.
Current leadership development
NPQH · National Society for Education / Catholic Education Service · commenced 2025
Catholic Certificate in Religious Studies · Lifelight · 2013
MA Catholic School Leadership · Merit · St Mary's University · 2012
MA (Cantab) · 2009
PGCE, Secondary Religious Studies · University of Cambridge · 2006
BA (Hons), Education Studies and Theology & Religious Studies · 2.1 · University of Cambridge · 2005
### Chair of Governors
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Upminster ↗ [https://www.st-josephs-upminster.net/]
Foundation Governor since 2020, with earlier service as Co-Vice Chair and Chair of the Curriculum Committee; now Chair of Governors. Governance offers a different perspective on Catholic leadership: stewardship, accountability, challenge and support.
### Catholic Schools Inspector
Diocese of Brentwood · Catholic Schools Inspection ↗ [https://www.dioceseofbrentwood.net/departments/education/religious-education-school-inspections/] · since 2022
Serving within the Catholic Schools Inspectorate, with a particular interest in the relationship between Catholic life, Religious Education, leadership, self-evaluation and the lived experience of pupils and staff.
PUBLISHING, CURRICULUM & PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
## Work beyond my own school
### Religious Education
Founding Executive Member of ATCRE ↗ [https://www.atcre.co.uk/]; teacher-consultation contributor to the Catholic Religious Education Directory ↗ [https://www.catholiceducation.org.uk/resources/religious-education-curriculum-directory]; Newham Agreed Syllabus ↗ [https://www.newham.gov.uk/downloads/file/4761/newham-religious-education-syllabus-2022] teacher working party; oral evidence to the Commission on Religious Education ↗ [https://religiouseducationcouncil.org.uk/resource/commission-on-religious-education-final-report/]; London RE Hub; and earlier national collaboration with Culham St Gabriel’s, Teach First, the Teacher’s Enterprise in RE (TERE) and the Catholic Education Service.
### Publishing & assessment
Professional and classroom publishing with Bloomsbury Education, Oxford University Press, Collins and John Catt/Hachette; Series Editor of Source to Summit; curriculum, assessment and CPD work for Pearson/Edexcel including Entry Level Religious Studies.
### Leadership development
Former Director of the Agnus Dei Catholic School Alliance and Specialist Leader of Education in RE, contributing to aspiring-headteacher, senior-leader, middle-leader and Catholic-leadership programmes.
[IMAGE: Andy Lewis at the Palace of Westminster during a professional education event. | https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_%2128jx%21%2Cw_474%2Cc_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cq_auto%3Agood%2Cfl_progressive%3Asteep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F88d54b67-750e-4dda-b22e-ac5b0ae895c8_1536x2048.jpeg]
[CAPTION: Professional education work at the Palace of Westminster.]
SERVICE BEYOND SCHOOL
## Some of the work that does not come with a job title
Service outside school has also shaped the way I think about vocation and community. My public volunteering record includes long-standing involvement with CAFOD ↗ [https://cafod.org.uk/], Crisis ↗ [https://www.crisis.org.uk/] and HCPT ↗ [https://www.hcpt.org.uk/].
2007
### Mekele, northern Ethiopia
Six weeks teaching English to street-connected children through a project involving CAFOD, SCIAF and the Daughters of Charity. A short piece I wrote from Mekele is still preserved online.
Read the 2007 reflection ↗ [https://ethiopianreview.com/content/942]
2017
### CAFOD at the Orbit
Three Sixth Form students at St Bonaventure’s raised money for CAFOD by abseiling the ArcelorMittal Orbit. I went with them — one of many small examples of school charity work becoming something memorable and student-led.
Read the school story ↗ [https://www.stbons.org/abseil-away-2/]
2021
### Running for Caritas Anchor House
The London Landmarks Half Marathon connected running with years of TELCO/Newham Citizens work around housing and homelessness. Newham Voices later reported that the local team raised more than £3,500.
Caritas Anchor House fundraiser ↗ [https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/LLHM-CAH-2021]
More locally, parish and community volunteering — including coaching children’s football, Confirmation catechesis and helping behind the bar at the parish social club — has reinforced a conviction that not every worthwhile contribution needs to be transactional or highly visible.
In 2025 I ran the London Marathon for CAFOD; the official Team CAFOD campaign records £7,514.11 raised online from 146 supporters.
Vocation, Not Martyrdom ↗Team CAFOD · London Marathon 2025 ↗
## The thread
Teaching, leadership, governance and inspection look different from one another, but they all return me to the same question: what helps a Catholic school become more fully what it says it is?
Full professional timeline