Greg Sayer has been appointed a senior manager at Let Me Play, a provider of school sport programmes, where he will be responsible for introducing PE coaches to aid school staff.
He will also concentrate on continuing professional development to coaches and sports and activity clubs within schools.
Mr Sayer, 38, started in his new role Monday last week. “I really enjoy seeing what coaches can offer children,” he says. “We can give all children the physical literacy, emotional and thinking skills to achieve everything they want to in life . . . I want to do that through sport.
“PE and sports improve overall school improvement so if we deliver great PE then I feel we are having a really good impact on education as a whole.”
Mr Sayer graduated from Brunel University with a degree in leisure management.
He has since had many roles as a sports coach but for the past six years has worked at Planet Sport as a business development manager.
Kerrie Courtier is the new head of Longvernal Primary School In Midsomer Norton, Somerset.
She most recently was assistant head at Weston All Saints Primary School in Bath, but was seconded to Longvernal in May last year before her recent permanent appointment.
She is a keen believer in the “forest schools” philosophy, an educational approach to outdoor play and learning in a woodland environment, which she wants to develop in her new school.
“I think it encourages children to take risks. It makes them independent, helps them to develop problem-solving skills, team work, and just builds confidence. I really have seen the benefit of a forest school before.”
Mrs Courtier completed a BSc at Bathspa University and in the past 18 months has completed a national professional qualification for headship.
Ashley Harrold is to replace retiring head Janet Felkin at Blatchington Mill School and Sixth Form College, East Sussex.
He previously taught at Fulham Cross girls’ school, west London, and then Harris Girls’ Academy in south London.
Mr Harrold, 31, puts his rapid career success down to his wife Samantha and two-year-old daughter Ophelia – as well as a hint of luck.
“My career has been based on
fortune really. Obviously you have to work hard, you’re not going to be a school leader unless you put the work in,” he says.
“I’ve worked under some great headteachers . . . and I’ve been like a sponge, absorbing all the information that they have given me. I learn from them and have put that knowledge into practice.”
Mr Harrold studied history at University College London and then completed his PGCE at the Institute of Education.
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