01902 925700 office@smartmat.org.uk

St Martin’s Multi Academy Trust

 Trust Members & Directors

View our team members

Trust Members

Daniel’s primary role is as a Church Leader at Excel Church. In this capacity he has been going in to Wolverhampton Schools for the last 19 years supporting daily acts of worship, music curriculum and school governance. Over this time Daniel has sat on governing bodies at a number of schools including Primary and Secondary Schools, Local Authority and Academies, where he has gained a vast wealth of experience in all areas of school governance. Daniel has helped to support schools out of special measures and now in his current role as Chair of Directors at St Martin’s Multi Academy Trust, he has supported the school through transition to academy status. Daniel has been Chair for over 4 years after previously holding the role of Vice Chair.

Mr Daniel Lee

Dave was born in Wolverhampton in 1954 and attended Wednesfield Grammar, going onto study at Wulfrun College and Wolverhampton Polytechnic and qualified as a Civil Engineer. In later life he returned to study and obtained a degree standard qualification in Health and Safety and is a Graduate member of IOSH, The Institute of Safety and Health.His career has mainly been in the Construction Industry and he is currently the Regional Director for Ringway Infrastructure Services, part of a French company Vinci, which is the largest construction company in the World. Dave is responsible for 700 employees and for an annual turnover of 100 million pounds. He has a passion for the education of young people in Wolverhampton and to this end has previously served as a school governor on twogoverning bodies.Dave is married with three grown up children, and his hobbies include athletics, football, music and singing.

Mr David Rowley

Ms Clare Shaw

Tim has considerable experience of working with and supporting schools. He has been a local authority Assistant Director of Education and is currently MD of Abednego Services which provides consultancy and interim management services to the public sector. He has been working with the Education & Skills Funding Agency for the last 4 years.

Mr Tim Westwood

Mr Sam Davis

Charlotte works for the NGA (National Governance Association) as Programme Manager for DfE funded CPD for governors, trustees and clerks and has been in post since 2019. Prior to this she worked for City of Wolverhampton Council in Governor Services where she was responsible for providing support and advice, designing and delivering training and carrying out governance audits across the city. Charlotte also set up and delivered a clerking service for maintained schools and local governing boards who were part of a MAT, special schools and PRUs. Charlotte is passionate about schools’ role in producing well-rounded children, and, as much as academic achievement is invaluable, our shared responsibility in supporting our young people to become thoughtful, kind and happy members of society.

Mrs Charlotte Harding

View our team members

Trust DIRECTORS

After completing a degree in Business Management, Ben worked in both the public and private sector (from housing to rivet manufacture!) before going into teaching. Ben has been a senior leader in Wolverhampton for over 15 years. He began as a Deputy Headteacher at St Martin’s Primary School, then later the Headteacher, before moving into more executive roles and is now the CEO. Ben has been the key leader during a number of Ofsted inspections and SIAMs inspections at the Trust and has been a facilitator for the ConnectEd Schools Direct (co-author), NQT, NPQML and NPQSL programmes. Ben has achieved the National Professional Qualification in Headship and the National Professional Qualification in Executive Leadership. From 2011 to 2014, Ben worked for Richard Dunne Training Ltd to present 2 day maths training programmes to schools across the country. He has also provided consultancy support for other organisations including DRB, where he presented Headship Briefings throughout England.

Mr Ben Davis

Daniel’s primary role is as a Church Leader at Excel Church. In this capacity he has been going in to Wolverhampton Schools for the last 19 years supporting daily acts of worship, music curriculum and school governance. Over this time Daniel has sat on governing bodies at a number of schools including Primary and Secondary Schools, Local Authority and Academies, where he has gained a vast wealth of experience in all areas of school governance. Daniel has helped to support schools out of special measures and now in his current role as Chair of Directors at St Martin’s Multi Academy Trust, he has supported the school through transition to academy status. Daniel has been Chair for over 4 years after previously holding the role of Vice Chair.

Mr Daniel Lee

Elizabeth Thomas is a retired level 3 teaching assistant and, as a Christian, is an active member of St Martin's Church Bradley.She was for many years an officer with the Church Lads and Girls Brigade. In that capacity she was involved with working as part of a team to look after boys and girls spiritual, moral and cultural welfare and attending residential visits. Elizabeth was a foundation governor at St Martin’s CE Primary School and is now a director of St Martins Multi Academy Trust.

Mrs Elizabeth Thomas

Dave was born in Wolverhampton in 1954 and attended Wednesfield Grammar, going onto study at Wulfrun College and Wolverhampton Polytechnic and qualified as a Civil Engineer. In later life he returned to study and obtained a degree standard qualification in Health and Safety and is a Graduate member of IOSH, The Institute of Safety and Health.His career has mainly been in the Construction Industry and he is currently the Regional Director for Ringway Infrastructure Services, part of a French company Vinci, which is the largest construction company in the World. Dave is responsible for 700 employees and for an annual turnover of 100 million pounds. He has a passion for the education of young people in Wolverhampton and to this end has previously served as a school governor on twogoverning bodies.Dave is married with three grown up children, and his hobbies include athletics, football, music and singing.

Mr David Rowley

Peter Richardson is a Director of Peter Richardson Estates, which has offices in Telford, Shrewsbury and Wales. He was born and bred in Wolverhampton. He worked for a Local Authority for many years, specialising in private housing rentals. He has experience of dealing with rental properties and rental property law. Peter has a great interest in education believing all children should be given the opportunity to flourish within a supportive educational environment.

Mr Peter Richardson

Ian was born in Darlaston in 1976 and attended St. Thomas Moore School Bilston. Upon leaving school Ian went on to read International Political Studies at Coventry University, followed by an MSc in Information Library Management at Birmingham City University before undertaking various professional development courses in management, leadership and adult learning at various institutions. In his early career Ian was employed in the NHS in the role of Head of Library Knowledge Services at Walsall NHS Trust before moving sector to work within Higher Education as a Business Development Manager at the University of Wolverhampton. Currently Ian is employed by the University of Birmingham as an Assistant Director in Library Customer Support. The role requires Ian to lead a team of over 100 staff in a variety of business functions with oversight of a significant operational budget. He has a keen interest in ensuring all pupils have a full range of opportunities afforded to them in order for them to achieve their full potential. Ian currently has two children who are pupils within the MAT.

Mr Ian Keepins

Carroll is the Head of Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School in Bilston where she has served the local community since 1994, being a school leader in Wolverhampton for 22 years. Prior to this, she worked in Catholic education in the neighbouring borough of Walsall. She has supported the development of school leadership locally and nationally and has worked extensively across a range of schools to improve pupil achievement and progress. Carroll believes it is the mission of all educational practitioners to search for the gifts and talents of each member of the school family and to support the growth and development of these. In this way, it is her belief that all are given the opportunity to achieve the best that each is able.

Mrs Carroll McNally

Kate became the vicar of St Martin’s Church, Bradley in June 2020. She's delighted to be joining the St Martin’s MAT governing team and look forward to getting to know pupils, families and staff of the Trust community. Before becoming a vicar Kate was a landscape architect for many years, mostly working on large-scale urban design projects. She is married to Andy, who is a debt centre manager for CAP (Christians Against Poverty) and we have three grown-up children, spread around the country. In her spare time she loves spending time with family and friends over a good meal; cooking; gardening and also getting out into the countryside.

Mrs Kate Watson

Business & Pecuniary Interests

Governance Structure

Meeting Attendance 19/20

Meeting Attendance 18/19