The VNET team comprises a small group of highly skilled education specialists and business professionals whose focus is to run the CIC as a non-profit organisation for the benefit of the schools, academies and colleges – and ultimately the children and young people – that make up the network.
Sonia Innes
Director
Sonia Innes is a highly experienced and knowledgeable education consultant and former headteacher across three schools. As Education Director at VNET Education CIC, she works closely with schools to support improvement. Sonia analyses the needs of VNET schools in light of national developments, ensuring the support package remains focused on their key areas for development. Her collaborative and supportive approach, combined with clear, practical advice, has helped schools to improve and make rapid progress. A highly effective coach, Sonia is trained to deliver WalkThrus training and Andy Buck’s BASIC coaching model, equipping school leaders with effective strategies for development. With extensive knowledge of the education sector, she works with colleagues from around the country and is committed to high-quality induction for new headteachers in Norfolk and the development of strong leadership to drive school improvement.
Ruth McGlone
Principal Consultant
Ruth has 15 years of working in Norfolk Schools and just under 10 years as a Headteacher, leading a school through some challenging circumstances. As a Headteacher who has led a school through Covid-19 she is best placed to understand the effect that this has had on those in the profession and on schools. Since its inception, Ruth has been committed to the Norfolk Better to Best and Good to Great strategies and a great supporter of VNET since its formation.
She has worked as a System Leader as part of the Sheringham Teaching School Alliance and has been active in supporting the development of Mastery Mathematics in West Norfolk alongside the Cambridge Maths Hub.
Emma Adcock
Principal Consultant
Emma has just under twenty years of experience in the education sector, ten years of which she has spent working as an English Consultant for Norfolk Schools.
Emma is a former Headteacher, system leader and advanced skills teacher. She regularly provides additional leadership capacity for schools. This additional leadership has previously included: acting head positions, part-time assistant head roles and she has worked across schools as a teaching and learning coach to support Quality First Teaching.
Emma is also an experienced trainer who regularly provides training for VNET schools on the following: curriculum design, subject leadership, Reading, Writing, Spelling and the explicit teaching of vocabulary.
Rosemary Kett
Senior Associate
Rosemary has vast experience in education as a headteacher in a variety of schools, often in challenging circumstances, as an adviser, chairing governing boards and Interim Executive Boards. Her expertise is in school improvement, working alongside headteachers and other senior leaders particularly focussing on action planning and self evaluation. Additionally she offers training and support to governors, and mentors and supports new or acting headteachers.
Maria Curry
Associate
Maria worked for OFSTED as one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors for schools for the past five years. Prior to this she was a successful headteacher of two primary schools in Suffolk, judged Outstanding by OFSTED. She has been an inspector/adviser for Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk Local Authorities. Maria started her career in inner London, working in Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham. She has wide ranging experience of working with small and large schools, in rural and city regions, and in supporting leadership development and school improvement.
Nick Butt
Associate
Specialisms: Leadership & Management, Headteacher Support, Assessment, Data Analysis, Primary
Associate
Nick King
Associate
Nick has nearly 30 years of experience in primary education, with nearly half of that time as a successful headteacher in Norfolk. He has worked in a variety of schools from small Norfolk primaries through to large London schools. He has also worked in the Australian system, including a stint as an acting head in rural Queensland.
Nick’s expertise includes leadership, data analysis and headteacher support. The building of school culture and the development of effective systems are also something Nick specialises in supporting school leaders with.
Clare Searle
Associate
Clare has over twenty years’ experience of working in Early Years Sector, as a EY teacher, Forest School leader and Early Years Advisor, in the School Achievement Team, for the local authority. For the past two years Clare has been supporting our VNET schools to consistently improve teaching and learning in Early years Foundation Stage. Clare leads the VNET Early Years team and together they bring diverse skills and experience to the Early Years VNET offer. This has really grown in response to need and takes the form of EY reviews, training, EYPC, 1:1 surgeries.
Lucy Mills
Associate
Lucy has been working within special needs education for 20 years. She has worked with pupils ages 3 – 20, as a teaching assistant, class teacher, senior teacher and department lead. Lucy has set up and established a successful Sensory and ASC department within a special school, developed a pre-formal curriculum and has been the SEND facilitator for the ECF training programme. Lucy has worked in several different SEND schools within the Norfolk area and specialised in developing a sensory approach to teaching. She specialises in supporting children with varying complex needs such as PMLD, ASC, MSI, HI and VI and has developed and adapted assessment and curriculum to enable individualised progression. Lucy has been delivering training for several years within schools and as an Engagement Model tutor in both mainstream and SEND. Lucy strives to support schools in developing both communication and independence for SEND learners.
Fyfe Johnston
Associate
Fyfe worked for OFSTED as one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors for schools and a contracted OFSTED lead inspector for four years.
Prior to this, he was the successful headteacher of a complex needs specialist school with pupils aged 3-19. During his tenure, the school was judged Outstanding by OFSTED under the previous and current education framework.
Fyfe started his teaching career in Suffolk, requesting joint training placements in primary and special schools. He went on to work in a range of specialist provisions for pupils with mainstream, moderate, severe and profound learning needs. He has also worked with pupils with complex medical needs.
With a wide range of experience, Fyfe supports leadership development and school improvement with a deep interest in the curriculum, SEND, safeguarding and equalities.
Jude Twani
Associate
Judith has around forty years’ experience of working in education, initially in Key Stage 2 and then in the Early Years Sector, as a EY teacher, Children’s Centre teacher, NVQ assessor/tutor, EY Ofsted inspector and Local Authority Early Years Advisor.
She has experience in senior leadership as deputy head and assistant head, She
has worked with national organisations such as Future Creative and BEAM, was a regional manager and consultant for the national company, Early Excellence, working nationally and internationally, and has been a regular speaker at Nursery World national events.
Now semi-retired, Judith has been working with our VNET schools as an EYFS Associate consultant, delivering training and supporting schools to develop quality learning environments in EYFS and Key Stage 1.
Janey Craigs
Associate
Janey has nearly 40 years of experience working in the Early Years sector initially as a class teacher, then as EYFS lead within three UK authorities. She has also worked as an advisor in Norfolk’s school achievement team for 16 years as a lead moderator in EYFS for the Assessment team and most recently delivering training and support around maths, behaviour and well-being whilst supporting schools and settings in delivering universal quality EYFS provision.
James Chester
Associate
James spent three years as one of His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI), during which he also served as a regional trainer. Prior to joining Ofsted, he held senior director roles across two multi-academy trusts. Although James is secondary trained, he has also built up strong primary expertise.
He is a former headteacher, appointed through the former Talented Leaders programme, and has a strong track record of school improvement. Following his time as an HMI, James has continued to lead Ofsted inspections and has been selected to lead inspections under the new framework.
Currently, James works with a wide range of schools in various capacities, supporting development, review, and strategic improvement planning. He has also been asked to speak at events such as The Education Forum.
Darleen Grimsby
Associate
Darleen has a wide-ranging background in education, including EAL and SEND. She holds a Bachelor of Education, the NASENCo Award, a Certificate in Competence in Educational Testing, and a Master’s Degree in SEND and Inclusion.
She began in mainstream schools before she transitioned into specialist roles supporting students with additional learning needs. She served as Deputy Headteacher at a Complex Special Needs school.
Currently, Darleen works as a Trust SENDCo and Inclusion Officer, supporting a network of schools to develop inclusive practices and provision for students with complex needs. In addition to this, her current research focuses on effective strategies to support ADHD learners in accessing exams (GCSE and A Levels) and on mental health support for non-speaking autistic individuals.
In addition to her leadership and research, Darleen is the author of Developing Educational Plans for Learners with SEND.
She is dedicated to ensuring that all learners receive the support they need to thrive, continually advocating for equity and inclusion in education.
Alex Robinson
Director
Alex is a co-founder of VNET Education CIC. He was a school governor in Norfolk for nearly 30 years until 2022. During this time he became a National Leader of Governance and represented school governors on local and national bodies.
Currently a management consultant and 3rd year student on a BSc course in Counselling and Psychotherapy, Alex has formerly been one of the founding directors of the company which created GovernorHub, a system used by over 30,000 school governors in England. Prior to this he was the CEO of the UK National Skills Academy for IT. He has global and local business experience as the UK CIO, IT Director and Transformation Director of a FTSE 100 company. He has also been a non-executive director for a community health trust.
Paul Mathews
Director
Paul has over twenty years experience in the education sector having originally trained and worked as a teacher and moving into the education business. Paul brings to VNET considerable professional and educational experience having worked for numerous education service providers and business.
Paul worked for ICL Education Systems (Fujitsu) on the European ERDF funded MEON and Primary Step Projects, acted as Learning Services Director at MerseyGrid managing consultancy teams and projects, including outsourced management of Local Authority provision, and was Sales Director, Managing Director and then Principal Consultant at national educational software development organisation Angel Solutions.
Paul has also operated his own small education consultancy businesses focussing on school improvement, financial management and ICT.
Nania Poulson
Director
Nania has over 20 years experience in strategic operations. In 2022 she completed an MBA and holds a Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership, CMgr FCMI and practices as a qualified coach (BASIC coaching certificate).
Nania has over a decade of experience in school governance. She sat on the governing board of Avenue Junior school, five years as Chair, during which time she oversaw the creation of the Heigham Community Federation. She is currently a governor at Queens Hill Primary School.
As well as leading operational and membership delivery at VNET, she is a trainer for the BASIC coaching course and delivers whole staff training around personal development and difficult conversations.
Laura Harris
Operations and Events Co-ordinator
Laura joined VNET in 2023. With over a decades experience in retail management, she brings a wealth of customer service, administration, and event management experience with her.
Laura is passionate about education in Norfolk and is a governor for Heigham Community Federation.
Lucy Grace
Marketing and Operations Co-ordinator
Lucy brings over 12 years experience managing multi-brand marketing in the event and travel industry.
During the pandemic Lucy moved into the education sector, working in supporting roles in secondary and adult education in Norfolk, before joining VNET in 2022.
Lucy also serves as a parent governor at Drayton Junior School.