Trust Leaders

Ash Ali - Chief Executive Officer

Ash started his career in 2003 as a History, Politics, and Advanced Skills teacher at Coombe Girls’ School in New Malden. He joined Grey Court School in 2008, moving from Assistant Headteacher to Deputy Headteacher, part of the leadership team that took Grey Court from ‘satisfactory’ to ‘Outstanding’ in 2013. He then became the Sixth Form Development Manager for the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames leading the successful and collaborative development of Post 16 provision at school level across Richmond.  In 2015, Ash became the Headteacher of Chessington School, with a much-needed financial turnaround the school moved from a small number of first choices (and only 51 students in Year 7), for Year 7 places full on 1st choices for an expanded year group of 155. Student progress outcomes changed significantly from below to above national averages and quickly Chessington became the school of choice for the community. Ash became CEO of the Every Child Every Day Academy Trust in 2020, leading three schools in Richmond & Kingston with Good or Outstanding Ofsted inspections. Ash is also the Chair of the Kingston Schools Forum.

Qualifications

NPQEL (Current) 

Masters in Education - Leading Innovation and Change

Amy Jackson - Trust Improvement lead & Headteacher

Amy is Headteacher at Hollyfield School and has been in the post for four years. Amy studied for a degree in Chemistry at the University of East Anglia (UEA), which she followed with a PGCE in secondary science. She began her teaching career in North Suffolk, where she taught Chemistry and was later Head of Chemistry. She moved to the South and eventually became Head of Science at Grey Court in 2010. Amy was a pivotal part of the team that moved Grey Court from a satisfactory school to a truly outstanding one and was a key part of their SLT until 2020, holding roles of Assistant Headteacher: learning and teaching, and Deputy Headteacher. 

In 2013 Amy qualified as an Ofsted inspector and more recently as a lead inspector. She has led inspections across all phases of school and continues to do so. A key aspect of Amy’s role is supporting other schools in their journeys towards outstanding. She worked alongside the previous Headteacher at Grey Court in her work as a School Improvement Partner and more recently has worked with schools in Richmond, Kingston, Hounslow, Suffolk, Surrey, and Wandsworth on quality of education, leadership and management, and SEND.  Amy is passionate about teacher development and leads the trust senior leadership team meetings as well as the National Professional Qualification for Senior Leaders (NPQSL) for aspiring leaders across West London. She is also committed to building relationships with primary colleagues and champions the vision of all educational colleagues working together to improve the experience of young people. She leads the Surbiton primary/secondary cluster which focuses on just that. 

Since becoming Headteacher at Hollyfield, Amy has overseen a middle leader restructure, the introduction of a new behaviour system, a marked improvement in student outcomes at GCSE, and a range of site developments including the building of a brand new music block, outdoor gym and complete IT overhaul. Amy is the parent of two adopted children, one of whom has a diagnosis of autism. Consequently, provision for young people who have had time in care or with a SEN/D is a particular area of interest for her.

Rebecca Gonyora - Director of Inclusive Learning

Rebecca Gonyora is the Director of Inclusion for Every Child, Every Day Multi Academy Trust (MAT). Her role includes supporting and working in collaboration with Headteachers, Senior Leaders and SENCOs in developing a person-centred approach to inclusion. Rebecca also works as a Deputy Regional SEN Lead (DRSL) for London. She is a NASENCO tutor and a Module Leader with Middlesex University working in collaboration with Real Training. In addition, she is a Trustee of Calibre Audio, a charity focused on audio reading resources for those with a visual impairment and dyslexia needs. 

Rebecca’s philosophy is centred on the understanding that every teacher is a teacher of SEND and every leader is a leader of SEND. She has more than 15 years’ experience working as a Senior School Leader, Deputy Headteacher, Assistant Headteacher and a SENCO in several inner-city schools. 

As part of these multi-faceted roles, she has developed and delivers a five-part course on levels of SEND leadership, supporting SENCOs to progress through a structured hierarchy of competencies in executive leadership skills. At its core, is the empowerment of SENCOs to practice distributive leadership whilst influencing others to prioritise SEND. 

She sits on several Local Authority panels, including Workstream 5 and a High Needs’ Funding Group. Recently Rebecca was commissioned to work with the Department for Education as one of their Trust and School Improvement (TSI) officers. This includes supporting schools and Trusts, to drive forward school improvement priorities. 

Qualifications

  • Master’s in Education (SEND) Middlesex University

  • Bachelor of Arts with Education Degree (English) - AU University

  • Certificate of Competence Psychometric Testing (CCET3) Middlesex University

  • Qualified Assessor Access Arrangements Middlesex University

  • National Qualification SENDCo Middlesex University

  • NPQ Executive ongoing Church of England

Professional Body Registration

  • Registered British Psychologist Society 

  • Registered British Trustee Association - Trustee (Calibre Audio)

Areas of Expertise and Support Offered:

Through her role as DRSL and Director of Inclusion, Rebecca has continued to develop her expertise to equip school leaders with skills and tools to improve their SEND offer by: 

  • Ensuring that all Trust schools, Headteachers and staff fulfil statutory duties with regard to the SEND Code of Practice (2015) and Equality Act (2010);

  • Ensuring Teaching Assistants and other professionals across Trust schools are deployed in a targeted way;

  • Developing policies, systems and processes that enable a joint SEND approach across schools;

  • Developing monitoring and quality assurance systems that allow for reasonable adjustments, including developing whole school approaches to adaptive teaching;

  • Ensuring all Trust schools have access to specialist support when assessing children with Special Educational Needs and disabilities;

  • Creating outstanding SEND provision in every school within the Trust; 

  • Improving the quality of teaching and experiences for children and young people with SEND; 

  • Ensuring SEN needs are identified and met in a timely manner.

 

Chris Rhodes - Raising Standards Lead & Headteacher

Chris Rhodes is Headteacher at Grey Court School, which has an enviable reputation as being one of the leading state schools in the country.  Most recently, he led the school to retain its Ofsted outstanding accreditation. He is also an active member of the ECED trust’s headteacher management group. As part of the ECED trust team he reports to Ash Ali, the CEO.  Chris has taken on certain areas of responsibility for the ECED trust. As part of the distributed leadership team this includes his role as prime lead for raising academic standards.  

Chris joined Grey Court as a teacher of modern languages after graduating from Durham. He also spent time travelling and working in a number of Francophone locations across the world.  After joining Grey Court, Chris rapidly progressed through the various levels of the school. His thirst for knowledge, and willingness to take on additional management duties, saw him progress to numerous positions of responsibility including gifted and talented coordinator, head of year, phase leader KS3, head of MFL, assistant headteacher, and deputy headteacher.  He also worked on a secondment basis at another trust school where he led the raising standards programme and taught some underperforming groups of students.  Chris was instrumental in the school’s improved Ofsted rating and then returned full-time to Grey Court.

Under the previous headteacher, Chris was recognised as someone who was adaptable and able to make clear and intelligent decisions, whilst also multitasking in a demanding educational and operational environment. He swiftly rose through to assistant head and deputy head. He became an invaluable member of the senior leadership team (SLT). He worked with curriculum and key stage leaders to improve the educational provision to students and gained the respect of teaching and support staff. Chris is articulate and numerate and took on many duties related to the coordination of academic results and financial planning.

The school policy was to interchange SLT members, allowing Chris to gain an understanding of the broad operating spectrum of Grey Court.  As the school progressed to multi-academy trust, Chris, along with the rest of SLT, was a key member of the management team, ensuring a smooth transition. Grey Court was the lead driver in the process.  

Chris took on the role of headteacher following the departure of the longstanding previous incumbent. While the school was outstanding, there were several challenges in terms of budget management, integrating with the community, developing the ECED trust, and embedding a significantly different leadership team. He also recognised the challenge of recruiting, training, and retaining qualified staff in a relatively expensive part of the country, all at a time when DfE budgets were tightened and associated resources highly limited. 

Chris mentors other senior leaders within the trust and welcomes a variety of other educationalists to Grey Court.  While the school is close to capacity in terms of numbers, and space and buildings to develop, Chris has shown initiative and creativity in increasing the number of classrooms. The sixth-form building has been expanded under his leadership, which bodes well for the future of the school.

Qualifications

  • BA (Hons) French and European Studies - Durham University

  • MA in Education - Leading Innovation and Change - St Mary's University

  • National Professional Qualification for Headteachers