St Martin’s Multi Academy Trust

Trust Members & Directors

Governance

Trust members & Directors

View our team members

Trust Members

Trust members meet at least once a year and are responsible for ensuring the Trust operates within its Articles of Association. A typical AGM will include:

  • Reviewing the membership of Members and Directors
  • Approval of financial accounts
  • Quality Assurance of the work undertaken by the Board of Directors
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

Helen has an extensive background in education. She was the Principal Adviser for Primary School Effectiveness in Birmingham having responsibility for just under 400 primary, nursery and special schools. When she left Birmingham, primary education in the city was judged by Ofsted to be good. Until her semi-retirement in 2020, Helen provided highly valued termly Briefings for Headteachers and senior leaders. Her areas of expertise include developing leadership skills, analysing school performance outcomes, school self-evaluation, school improvement planning and curriculum leadership. Helen became an Ofsted inspector in 1992 and a Lead Inspector in 2002. She continues to lead inspections.

Mrs Helen Morrison

Matthew has twenty years’ experience working in primary school education. During this time Matthew has been the subject lead for Science, and the RE and collective worship lead in school, successfully leading two outstanding church school inspections. Matthew has also served as a head teacher for over a decade in a three form entry, inner city school of over 46 different languages. During this time he has had the pleasure of leading three good Ofsted inspections, as well as a school building project. Matthew has completed his SIAMS inspector training as is the SIAMS lead for the Diocese.

Mr Matthew Welton

Acting on behalf of dlEt

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

Carol has been Chief Executive Officer of Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust since April 2014 overseeing the Trust growth from a three school MAT to Trust of 18 schools, educating more than 9,500 pupils and with a budget of over £65 million by the end of 2022. During her time at BDAT, Carol has also supported the set-up of a new Diocesan MAT in the Richmond area of North Yorkshire and acted as a Trustee on a number of other Trusts including New Collaborative Learning Trust and the Hallam Schools Partnership. In September 2022 she was elected as an advisor to the DfE Yorkshire and Humber Region Advisory Board. In 2020, Carol was awarded an OBE for her services to Education in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours. Carol is a political science graduate from Leeds University and Chartered Marketeer. Carol has worked in a number of public sector roles delivering project work across different areas of the children’s workforce from early years, social work and integrated working (Every Child Matters). Carol previously worked as a team leader in the Academies programme at the Department for Education covering Yorkshire and Humber and the North West.

Mrs Carol Dewhurst

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 16 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 provided consultancy support for other organisations including DRB, where he presented Headship Briefings throughout England. Ben has achieved the National Professional Qualification in Headship and the National Professional Qualification in Executive Leadership, and is now the lead facilitator for the NPQH programme with Manor Teaching School Hub.

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

Ian was born in Wolverhampton and has lived and worked in the area all his life. He has worked in finance for 30 years and in education finance for the last 20 years. He has built up extensive experience of academy finances while employed as a Trust Finance Director for over 6 years. During this time they grew from a single maintained school to a 9 primary school MAT. He led on academy conversations, liaising with RSC officers, several local authorities and various solicitors during the growth process. He now works for another growing MAT of 7 secondary and primary schools. He is also a Parent Governor on the LGB at his son’s school.

Mr Ian Moore

Sukhi works at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust as Medical Staffing Manager overseeing Human Resources and Recruitment for Medical Staff. She has 20 years of experience of working in the NHS with over 15 years of this experience within Human Resource and Recruitment. As part of her role and CIPD qualification, she has specialist skills in employee contract management. Sukhi has 3 children all of which progressed from a school within MAT to secondary schools during which for she was a Parent Governor for more than 5 years. As a former Parent Governor as well as her experience of working within the NHS, Sukhi understands the importance of growth and development of children with education and learning at the core foundation As a HR specialist her passion lies in the health and well-being, progression and development of people of all ages from children, teachers and parents.

Mrs Sukhdeep Kaur

Baljit works as a Communications Manager at the City of Wolverhampton Council leading the marketing and campaigns team. She has over 20 years’ worth of experience in marketing and communications in both the private and public sectors. She has worked on several city and regional campaigns, showcasing the city and its residents. A former governor, Baljit is passionate about education and the importance of nurturing young people to be the best that they can. Being the parent of a primary school aged child herself, she understands the pressures and demands placed on students and their parents.

Mrs Baljit Hague

Esther Martin, with over 25 years at West Midlands Police, transitioned from an intelligence analyst in 1997 to Head of Analysis by 2002. She's pioneered a career pathway for analysts, integrated the National Intelligence Model, and authored the first strategic assessment for the UK's second-largest police service. Ascending to Head of Strategy and Direction in 2012, Esther ensured comprehensive strategic planning and readiness for HMICFRS inspections. Since 2020, as Deputy Head at the National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS), she's spearheaded a five-year strategy and the delivery of an ISO17025 compliant national ballistic forensics service. Her work extends internationally, aiding the Western Balkans in firearms examination and intelligence. A Criminal Justice Studies graduate from Portsmouth University, Esther's also contributed to a major European system development program. Committed to public service, she's actively involved in her community, holding significant roles in local education, including school governance, and sports organisations for many years.

Mrs Esther Martin

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

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

Lisa has worked in SEND since graduating from Nottingham Trent University as a Batchelor of Education with Honours. Family experience gave her a passion for SEN and an empathy with children with severe and profound learning difficulties. In 2004 she joined Broadmeadow Special School as Deputy Head Teacher and now works as joint Head Teacher of the school. Lisa has extensive experience in leadership and developing others. She facilitated National Professional Qualifications for several years as part of her work with ConnectEd partnership. She is recognised as a Specialist Leader in Education for Initial Teacher Training and for many years has been involved in training students and teachers new to the profession. Lisa is a qualified coach and an accredited positive behaviour management and physical intervention trainer. She has worked in Wolverhampton for her whole career having settled here following a childhood as a service child. In fact she briefly attended Grove Primary School in between military postings. Lisa is dedicated to supporting children to have an equal and positive school experience whatever their needs or circumstances.

Mrs Lisa Walker

Meeting Attendance 21/22

Meeting Attendance 22/23

Meeting Attendance 23/24