Meet the Central Team

John Winter has been CEO of Weydon Multi Academy Trust (WMAT) since its conception, seven years ago; previously he was the Headteacher of Weydon School for 11 years.   

His career in the education sector spans 40 years working in several secondary school settings as well as a sixth form college, 30 years have been working at senior leadership level.  He has been involved in 3 Outstanding Ofsted inspections at SJB, Farnborough Sixth Form and Weydon.

During his headship at Weydon he took the school from the bottom 5% for progress nationally to Outstanding in just two and half years.

John is also a National Leader of Education, NCTL 2015 Fellowship Commission and School Improvement Partner St Bede’s, Reigate School, Bishop Wand School and Worthing High School.

John is the chair of Surrey Maths Hub, the Surrey Academies Group and the TFN network and is an active member of the Surrey Schools Forum and Council member for the NCCE.

Mark joined Weydon in 2000 as a Geography teacher. He has had leadership responsibility for progress and achievement at school level, led our teaching school and was at the vanguard of our i2i Teaching Partnership SCITT. Mark now leads academy improvement, working with school leaders across the trust to make teaching even better, to develop our curriculum and to support the development of our teachers and leaders. 

Kirsty joined BDO LLP as a Trainee Accountant where she qualified as a Certified Chartered Accountant. Kirsty is a fellow member of ACCA. Her 15 year career at BDO  included a wide range of roles from trainee auditor to senior audit manager where she managed a large portfolio of clients; which included private equity backed companies as well has regulated companies listed on AIM and Full Stock exchange markets. During her time at BDO LLP the accountancy firm went through an extensive growth period, she was a key contributor to non-client facing roles within the firm helping to induct and embed colleagues at all levels.

Whilst at BDO LLP, Kirsty also experienced a number of working secondments, one of those being to provide financial controller support to LK Bennett Ltd, retailer.  She became Head of Finance for the company. During her 8 year period there the company grew internationally and Kirsty successfully headed up the finance department. The company’s turnover grew to £100m+ and she was an integral project team member of merchandising and accounting systems that were implemented to support the company’s growth.

After a short career break for her family, Kirsty chose to move into the Education Sector. She was a School Business Manager for Springfield Primary school, a school which is part of GLF Trust. All aspects of the school finances, operations and HR were Kirsty’s responsibility. During her time at Springfield Kirsty successfully secured funding and managed 3 capital projects. After 2 years as a school business manager, Kirsty moved into GLF’s central finance team as a Regional Finance Partner, her key role was to provide financial partnering to 16 schools within her region.

Kirsty joined WMAT in 2020 as Head of Finance for the Trust’s central finance team, her role is now Director of Finance for the Trust. Since joining the Trust, Kirsty has skilfully and carefully, lead the Trust’s consolidated finances, ensuring that all aspects of the Academies Handbook have been met and all schools, Principals/Heads, Governors and Trustees receive accurate and timely financial reporting. Kirsty has also lead her team to implement new budgeting and forecasting software and has aligned the Trust’s accounting processes and systems creating efficiencies and growth capacity.   Kirsty also works very closely with our Special Schools to ensure that SEND funding is appropriately received from the LA. Kirsty has also successfully on boarded to new schools, Rodborough and Crondall, into the Trust in regard to their finance and payroll systems.

With over 20 years of experience in education, Amy feels privileged to be at the forefront of teacher training with i2i Teaching Partnership. Her journey in education began as an English classroom teacher in Australia where she quickly discovered her passion for inspiring and transforming the lives of her students.

Throughout her career, Amy has dedicated herself to not only teaching but also developing future educators. She believes that effective teaching is at the heart of student success and is committed to equipping new teachers with the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to thrive in the classroom. 

In her role, Amy designs and delivers the curriculum to trainee teachers at the Weydon Centre, and combines this teaching with visits to trainees in their placement schools. She envisions a future where every teacher is empowered to inspire the next generation.

Liz feels very fortunate to have been working in Education for over 30 years, having started as a Secondary Music teacher and worked in a variety of schools in Southampton, Hampshire and Nottingham.  She has been in Senior Leadership for 20 years; including as a Headteacher in a successful 11-16 school.  Liz has always taught throughout all of her roles, relishing her time in the classroom.  This has always enabled her to reevaluate her own practice and enjoy inspiring students through my subject.

Liz now feels that she is in such a privileged position to work with all those in the i2i Partnership and across the WMAT, and she is hugely passionate about giving our trainees the most professional and supportive training experience.  Her role involves leading session at one of our 5 Centres, as well as being out visiting trainees and other colleagues across the partner schools, presenting at our information events and the growth of our organisation.  She am truly passionate about the impact that a teacher can have on the lives of students and so grateful that she's in the position to make his happen across our communities.

Peter has worked in schools since 2006 and has spent the last 18 years working at St Peter’s Catholic School and Woolmer Hill School.  At St Peter’s, he worked his way from NQT to Assistant Headteacher and Head of Sixth Form before taking up the post of Deputy Headteacher at Woolmer Hill in 2016.  Peter has been a DSL for over 10 years and was previously the Safeguarding Lead for the WMAT before taking on the role of Director of Safeguarding for the Trust.  This role takes him out of Woolmer Hill every Friday to help support the amazing DSLs across the Trust.

Peter is, by training, a History teacher, and he has taught History, Classical Civilisation and Sociology to A level.  He continues to teach GCSE Sociology at Woolmer Hill for 5 of his favourite hours of the week!  Peter is happy to speak to anyone if they have any queries around Safeguarding, or any concerns that they would like some support with.

Steve joined the Trust on the 1st September 2024, previously he was Director of Technology at Barfield Prep School, with responsibility of all aspects of IT provision including support, devices and infrastructure. He held that role for twelve years, during which her led the schools response to online learning during covid and also oversaw the school's move to become a Google school in 2016.  Steve is a Design Technology teacher by trade, having become the Head of Design Technology at Barfield in 2006 and holding that role for eighteen years.  

Pierre has worked in schools since 2006 and joined the Trust in September 2022. Previously he taught French and Spanish in schools in Sutton and Crawley before becoming the Head of Languages at Woking High School in 2015. Pierre feels passionate about the endless opportunities that learning a language can offer and that it carries the values of respect and understanding. 

Having originally trained as a Journalist, Debbie has been a teacher for nearly 30 years, most of which she has spent working for schools which are part of the WMAT. She has, variously, worked as a Head of Department and a Lead Practitioner for English as well as a classroom teacher. Debbie's role as Subject Leader for English, involves her working with the English teams across the Trust around curriculum, assessment and teaching and learning. 

As a student, Hilary studied for her BSc Biochemical Sciences and MSc in Organometallic Chemistry at the University College Cork, Ireland. From there she completed her PhD in Analytical Chemistry between Edinburgh University and Imperial College London. Not long after, she was one of the first chemists appointed at the UK's National Measurement Institute, the National Physical Laboratory where among other roles she was a Group Leader, a Business Leader and Strategy Manager working with multiple partners on different national and international projects. One of the most rewarding projects Hilary worked on was the design and launch of the UK's Centre for Carbon Measurement which focuses on strategies to mitigate Climate Change. 

Since turning her focus to teaching she has worked at a number of different schools and is never happier than when she is in the classroom working with our wonderful students. Hilary feels very lucky to now be in a position to work across WMAT as Director for Science, bringing together the very best of everything we do to ensure our students have the very best experience during their science journey with us. 

Liz started her career working in the Finance Industry where she stayed until 2001 when she started working in the family business and raised her children.  Liz joined Weydon School in 2012, working as the Admission Officer ensuring the school successfully kept at capacity in all year groups.  Liz moved over to the WMAT Central Team in September 2021 providing strategic leadership of the admissions process for both New Round intake and In Year transfers for the Secondary and Primary Schools within the trust. 

Kathy has worked as a PA for 25 years, initially in the horticulture sector and moving into education in 2016, when she started a role as PA to John Winter in his capacity as Headteacher of Weydon School.  Since then the Weydon Multi Academy Trust has been formed and Kathy has continued to develop her role as PA to the Executive Team of the Trusts. Kathy assists the team with diary management, scheduling meetings, liaising with the member schools and preparing reports, agenda, minutes and presentations.

Elaine's previous experience in customer service provided her with a range of skills that she has been able to adopt when working for the Trust.  She was involved in setting up the trust with the founding schools which allowed her to get involved with lots of different aspects of the operations and its expansion.  Her main role is as the Clerk to the Board of Trustees and governance.

Elaine is involved in policies, the trust website, Google Drive, the annual calendar, new schools joining and GDPR.  She attends lots of meetings so if she is not able to help, she usually knows who can.