Our Team
Darran Jones
- Chief Executive Officer
Having joined Christleton High School for his first teaching job, Darran has over 35 years experience in Education, including 15 years in Senior Leadership in an Outstanding school.
The former headteacher of Christleton High School, Darran became CEO of the Trust at the request of Trustees in April 2023, bringing extensive strategic school leadership experience to the role, whilst also providing a unique perspective of life as a teacher at all levels and areas within the school environment.
His role is to lead the Trust's strategic development, as it seeks to positively impact the work our schools do in order to improve the life chances of the children and young people in their care.
Lesley Carding
- Chief Financial Officer
After qualifying as a Chartered Certified accountant and working in practice Lesley joined us 18 years ago as Finance Officer. Her responsibilities have grown as greater delegation of funds occurred and she is now our Trust Finance Manager, responsible for the delivery and probity of a circa £20m budget.
She works across the Trust leading the finance function and ensuring that we obtain maximum value of taxpayers’ money for our children’s education. Lesley is accountable to the CEO and Trustees who in turn are accountable to the government and audited by Murray Smith LLP, Chartered Accountants.
Lyndsay Watterson
- Improvement Director
Previously the Headteacher of Queen’s Park High School, Lyndsay’s role is to help and facilitate all of our Students to make good progress at all stages of their education by identifying and coordinating opportunities for innovation and the introduction of new initiatives, designed to improve both student outcomes and Trust Financial Performance.
Dave Helsby
- Director of IT
Dave is responsible for the vision and implementation of IT across all of our schools within the Trust. As a qualified school business manager, he has a wide experience of leadership across multiple aspects of school life.
Dave will be leading his IT team as they implement an exciting ‘cloud first’ system for the Trust, ensuring that IT enables all staff and students to achieve the best they can.
Andrea Nancollas
- HR Manager
With over 19 years of experience in the public sector, Andrea brings a wealth of experience in HR operations, ensuring efficient and effective support across all levels of the Trust. Over the past four years, Andrea has been a key member of the HR team serving as HR Officer, where she played a pivotal role in HR support across 3 of the schools within the Trust.
As HR Manager, Andrea leads the Trust’s HR team, focusing on enhancing HR operations and fostering best practices.
Andrea is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
Phil Hill
- Facilities Manager
Responsible for the maintenance and development of all our facilities, Phil is key to the smooth running of the Trust schools. For more than 14 years he has worked to successfully secure funding and deliver over £10 million in refurbishment and building including swimming pool, all-weather pitch and numerous new school buildings.
Phil can turn his hand to anything and can often be found working alongside his team of skilled maintenance and improvement workers. He takes an active part in setting and planning budgets and is responsible to Trustees and local governors for the health and safety of our school buildings.
Suzanne Wong
- Compliance & Governance Officer
Suzanne worked as Support Operations Manager at Christleton High School before joining The Learning Trust’s Central Team as Trust Co-Ordinator in 2021, and progressing to Compliance and Governance Officer in September 2023.
She works closely with the CEO, CFO, and Trustees to ensure that the Trust’s vision is implemented by overseeing all aspects of governance, and compliance within the Trust. She provides direction and advice to the Trust’s schools, supports adherence to good practice and meeting all statutory and regulatory requirements.
Paul Heath
- Chair of Trustees
Paul has 20 years’ of extensive experience in Local Government with the last 7 years being at Management Board level as Director of Policy and Resources for Cheshire County Council. He was a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and has chaired various national and regional bodies on performance improvement and finance. He has also completed secondments to central Government departments and worked as an Audit Commission adviser.
He was a school Governor for 14 years including both Chair and Vice-Chair roles, and has 15 years experience as Non-Executive Director/Trustee. Paul not only has passion and commitment, but has extensive expertise and experience in strategic planning, performance management, financial management, change management and governance.