Meet the Team

Helen Marriott, Strategic Lead for NELTSH, Headteacher Walthamstow School for Girls

As Headteacher of Walthamstow School for Girls, I am the Strategic Lead for the Teaching School Hub. I was appointed as Headteacher last September, began the role in January and was delighted to learn that we had been designated as a Hub in February. As Strategic Lead, this is a unique opportunity to build on the exceptional practice across our Hub area, to connect schools, facilitate networks and to ensure that everything we do has a demonstrable impact on the lives of young people.

I began my career as an English teacher, progressing to Head of English and then worked as a senior leader in a number of schools in North and East London. My most recent post was as Co-Headteacher at Little Ilford School, an outstanding school in Newham, where I had previously been Deputy Head, responsible for Teaching, Learning and CPD.

Staff training and development has been a key part of all my senior leadership roles. This has included being a PCM, an NPQSL facilitator, a specialist trainer for Literacy and EAL and in sharing best practice nationally with organisations such as SSAT, WomenEd and CUREE. The best training and development is always sustainable and impact-driven, using systems which directly measure the impact on student learning.

I know from my own experience that education is life-changing and if we can harness its inspirational power, through effective training and development, we can dramatically change society for the better. Given the commitment of the schools, teachers and leaders in our Hub area already, I am confident that we can work collaboratively to achieve our vision.

Nick O'Brien, Director of NELTSH, Deputy Headteacher, Walthamstow School for Girls

Welcome to North East London Teaching School Hub!

Having joined the NELTSH Team in January 2022, I’m excited to be leading a Teaching School Hub that is dedicated to provide high quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their career. Whether at the beginning of your teaching journey as an Early Career Teacher or as a leader looking to develop and hone your practice, NELTSH looks to provide opportunities and support you on your development journey.  

Prior to joining NELTSH, I have been a school leader in London schools for over a decade. With a leading role in curriculum, learning and teaching, I'm passionate about working with leaders, teachers, students and families to develop systems and pedagogies to realise engaging and impactful learning experiences for every child. Education is transformative; working with schools to develop practices that enable every child to learn, make progress and thrive has been the fundamental cornerstone of my work over the last 20 years.  

Fundamental to striving to providing high quality provision for all children is a focus and dedication to the development of those teachers who work directly with young people. An interest in and commitment to the development of teachers has been at the forefront of my work in the schools I have worked in and with. As a leader in a Teaching School previously, I have developed professional development programmes for groups of individuals and schools. As a Specialist Leader of Education (SLE) and one of the national trainers for this programme, I’ve had a keen interest in system leadership; looking to build capacity in the professional to support individuals, groups and schools as they develop their practice.  

It is a privilege to join NELTSH at time when there is a national focus on supporting the profession to reflect on and develop their practice. Working with both national programmes and local expertise, we seek to develop a dynamic and exciting professional development offer from which all educators can benefit.  

Adrien Schweitzer, Project Manager NPQs

A little about my experience in education so far….

As Faculty Administrator and Communications Officer, I have been using my administrative skills to support staff here at Walthamstow School for Girls since 2010. My role has been extremely varied – which I loved! As Faculty Administrator I was responsible for supporting up to 5 faculties, plus the Senior Leadership Team; Educational Visits administration; booking trips and conferences; collaborating on funding/award applications, and much more. As Communications Officer, I had responsibility for all content on the school website and the set-up and development of the WSFG Twitter account to promote our Outstanding school to the local and wider community.

Prior to working in education I spent 13 years in Business Travel, then worked as a library assistant, at an estate agency and for a care provider.

Working for the Hub …

As Administrator for the Teaching School Hub, I am using all my skills and experience to support our work as we focus on our aim of ensuring all children have great teachers. I am the first point of contact for our schools and have built strong relationships with colleagues across the three boroughs. I am responsible for record keeping, communications, social media and much more.

My personal values align closely with those of the Hub – I have a strong commitment to helping our young people achieve their full potential and always champion diversity and equal opportunities for all.

Seet-Ying Fan, Project Manager for ECF, Assessment Lead Gearies primary School

I am working as the Assessment Lead at Gearies Primary School and I am also the manager of the Gants Hill Partnership Teaching Alliance (GHPTA). After a rigorous process, I was appointed as Specialist Leader in Education (SLE) for the GHPTA. Through this role, I have been asked to help support the maths curriculum in many schools

As the Teaching School Manager, I have organised, sourced keynote speakers and led multiple Maths and English forums to meet the needs of the wider teaching community. I focused on the current issues in education such as Subject Focus Deep Dives. This equipped the Middle Leaders in the borough to develop their leadership skills in order to have the confidence to present the standards of their subject during a deep dive. To help support this initiative, I worked collaboratively with both the Maths and English Hub to share best practise and create networks to help support best practise in all schools in a range of different contexts.

In response to the new Ofsted framework, I worked, and continue to do so, with the Redbridge Educational Partnership (REP) to create three bespoke CPD courses for subject leads. The courses were designed to ensure that the subject leads have the subject knowledge to design their curriculum so that it meets the needs of their children in their schools. This project not only develops the subject knowledge of the subject leads but enhances the profile of SLEs and their expertise. SLEs have a vast knowledge and they are a valuable resource which should be utilised.

I am currently now working with the North London Teaching School Hub as an ECF Project Manager. I would like to work closely with all schools across Haringey, Waltham Forest and Redbridge to ensure the smooth implementation of the new Early Career Framework to help support our Early Career

Vivienne Porritt, Chair of the Strategic Board, co-founder and Strategic Leader of WomenEd and Vice President of the Chartered College of Teaching

I am delighted to join you as Chair of the Strategic Board for the North East London Teaching School Hub.  I have worked with many schools and trusts in East London and am honoured to be invited to contribute to a collaborative, ethical endeavour.

I am a leadership consultant working with schools on vision, strategy and impact as well as professional learning and development.  I am a Co-Founder and Strategic Leader of WomenEd and Vice President of the Chartered College of Teaching. Additionally, I am a Non-Exec Director for Captiva Learning Ltd and a Member of Eko Trust. Previously I was a secondary headteacher, Director of School Partnerships for UCL Institute of Education and Chair of Governors of a secondary school in Camden.

I write for the TES and professional and academic journals and, joyously, am the co-editor of 10%Braver: Inspiring Women to Lead Education (2019) and Being 10%Braver (2021).