Debi’s role as NEAT CEO is to be accountable to the trust’s Board of Directors for all aspects of our school’s performance and the trust’s financial position. She believes passionately that a good education is the key to unlocking potential and is at the heart of the trust drive to provide a world class education to all young people.

Debi has over 25 years’ experience of working in education in a range of different roles including Head Teacher of a very large primary school of 700 pupils, Local Authority Literacy Consultant and Additional Inspector for Ofsted. The vast majority of Debi’s career has been spent in schools in areas of high deprivation. Currently, alongside her role as CEO, Debi supports individual school leaders and trusts with aspects of school improvement in her role as National Leader of Education (NLE). This is a really exciting role as it enables Debi to not only support other schools and ultimately young people, but also learn from other schools and identify best practice, which she is able to share within our her trust.

Debi provides strategic leadership to the research school (Newcastle Research School) which is based within the trust. The Research school is currently working intensively with several local authorities but has national reach.

Debi believes in growing potential from within and as a trained professional coach, she uses quality conversations as a way of developing and growing leaders. Debi regularly supports schools to improve outcomes for children and young people. She chairs a number of committees including the School Effectiveness Committee for Newcastle City Council and is a trustee of Right to Succeed, a charity that champions a place-based approach to bring the community together to transform outcomes for children based on the belief that every child deserves the right to succeed, no matter where they live. Having been born in an area of socio-economic disadvantage herself, Debi believes passionately that education opens doors and provides opportunities for progressive change.

In her spare time, Debi can be found cheering on her grown up sons who both play football and looking after the family dog, Ned, who is a regular visitor to our schools.

Charles has worked in a senior leadership role in schools since 2010, being responsible for all aspects of financial, risk and estate management and a wide range of support services. Prior to this he worked in the private sector, being finance director for a venture capital backed publishing group, as well as setting up and running a business services company.

He has been an Associate Practitioner for the National Association of School Business Management and is a vice chair of governors at two primary schools. He has successfully completed the School Business Director programme with the National College for Teaching and Leadership and CIPFA’s financial reporting for academies programme.

Outside of work he enjoys walking his dogs in the beautiful north east countryside.