The Leeds Teaching School Hub Early Career Teacher Programme (ECTP), in partnership with University College London (UCL), is facilitated by experienced colleagues from schools across Leeds. Both the Early Career Teacher facilitators and the mentor facilitators are experts in mentoring and coaching, they work with their group over a two-year period to support their development as Early Career Teachers and mentors.
ECT Facilitators
ECT Facilitator
Rothwell St Mary’s Catholic Primary School
ECT Facilitator
Rothwell St Mary’s Catholic Primary School
I am Deputy Head Teacher at Rothwell St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Leeds. I have developed a sense of the importance of bringing research into the everyday experiences of classroom teachers and senior leaders. Building upon this, in my role as a Specialist Leader of Education, I have rolled out the implementation of research-based education across several schools across Yorkshire. I facilitate for Leeds Teaching Schools Hub on both the ECF programme and National Professional Qualification in Early Years Leadership. My specialist areas are Early Years, Special Education Needs and Continued Professional Development of teachers.
ECT Facilitator
Allerton High School
ECT Facilitator
Allerton High School
I am Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning/CPD at Allerton High School, where I also teach Spanish and French. Whilst I have the joy and privilege of working closely with trainees and Early-Career Teachers, I am passionate about championing evidence-informed classroom practice and high-quality staff development throughout all stages of a teacher’s career. I work with Leeds Teaching School Hub by facilitating training sessions for ECTs in the Secondary East Cluster, where I enjoy working with colleagues from a variety of local schools. It is this opportunity to network, to share ideas and to reflect on diverse perspectives and contexts that I see as a real strength of this programme.
ECT Facilitator
The Ruth Gorse Academy
ECT Facilitator
The Ruth Gorse Academy
I have a passion for developing the craft of teaching in others and devise and deliver training to a wide range of professionals including whole-school professional learning.
After completing teacher training at Leeds University and I spent the next 15 years teaching drama in South Yorkshire. I then joined The Ruth Gorse Academy in 2017 as Curriculum Leader of Drama and consequently became Professional Mentor for trainee teachers and am now responsible for overseeing and delivering professional learning for colleagues in their first three years of teaching.
I have been a facilitator on the ECF since 2021 and really enjoy working with colleagues at the very start of their career.
ECT Facilitator
Hillcrest Academy
ECT Facilitator
I am a LTSH ECT facilitator and an Assistant Principal at Hillcrest Academy. I have worked in education for 8 years and have taught across EYFS to Year 6. I have gained valuable knowledge in teaching and learning that I want to ensure is passed on to our new and upcoming teachers across the city. Along with the ECF programme, as a facilitator I have the pleasure of doing just that to aid and support the development of our ECTs and provide the best education for the children across the city.
ECT Facilitator
Diamond Wood Academy
ECT Facilitator
I have been teaching for nearly 10 years. Prior to this, I completed a 4-year BA HONS degree in Primary Education at Bradford College. I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a teacher trainee and benefited immensely from the support and expertise of my tutors and mentors. Ever since becoming a qualified teacher myself, I have been extremely passionate about proving high-quality mentorship to those entering the teaching profession. I am now a Deputy Head Teacher and part of my role involves leading on teacher training placements within school. This involves the coordination and training of our school-based mentors in order to ensure they are able to effectively support their trainees. In addition, I now work on behalf of the Leeds Teaching School Hub as an ECT facilitator and thoroughly enjoy this role. I take great pride in the successes of my mentorship to date, and it has been truly wonderful to see those I have supported to become teachers, middle leaders and even mentors themselves.
ECT Facilitator
Pudsey Primrose Hill Primary School
ECT Facilitator
Pudsey Primrose Hill Primary School
I am currently working as a deputy head at Pudsey Primrose Hill Primary School in Leeds, and I teach in Year 6. I have previous experience as a SENCO, English and maths Lead. I have thoroughly enjoyed mentoring an ECT 1 and an ECT 2!. I am now looking forward to being a facilitator on the UCL ECF programme.
ECT Facilitator
Horsforth School
ECT Facilitator
I am very excited to be a facilitator for the first time this year. I currently work at Horsforth School as an Associate Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning, and prior to this I have worked at other schools in Leeds including Abbey Grange and Carr Manor as the Curriculum Leader for MFL. I am passionate about developing Early Career Teachers and supporting them to be the best teacher they can be. I love researching all areas teaching and learning and I am keen to pass on my expertise and knowledge to teachers new to the profession, hopefully instilling a lifelong love of teaching
Mentor Facilitators
Mentor Facilitator
Laura Hocking
Mentor Facilitator
Laura Hocking – GORSE Partnership Director for ECTs/ECF
Leading on the Early Career Framework and Early Career Teachers (ECT) across The GORSE Academies Trust affords me the exciting opportunity to help shape, support and challenge the next generation of teachers and future leaders with GORSE.
An integral part of this role is working with the Early Career Framework, our Lead Provider Univeristy College London and our Delivery Partner, Leeds Teaching School Hub. Alongside my role as Partnership Director, I carry out the role of Mentor Facilitator for Leeds Teaching School Hub. Mentors are the key to an ECT achieving success, so it is with great pleasure that I support the training and development of the mentors within our programme. The golden thread in education is CPD and lifelong learning, so I harness every opportunity to deliver mentor and ECT CPD.
The passion from our mentors, ECTs and I hope myself, combined with the robust and innovative UCL materials – means, I believe, Leeds Teaching School Hub has a recipe for success.
Mentor Facilitator
Georgia Westerman
Mentor Facilitator
After 29 years in the classroom, and a number of school based senior leadership posts, I am passionate about the opportunity to use my experience to help develop the next generation of teachers. In my role as Director of Leeds Teaching School Hub with specific responsibility for the ECF I have the opportunity to play an integral role in the shaping and developing of new teachers and I am genuinely excited about the impact of the ECF on the profession.
I believe strongly that the key to developing successful ECTs lies in exceptional mentoring and part of my role at Leeds Teaching School Hub is to act as a Mentor Facilitator. Mentor facilitation provides high quality CPD designed to develop mentoring and to support mentors in playing their role in supporting and challenging new teachers, providing a key part of the golden thread of teacher development.
