Our Staff

I have had the privilege of being Head Teacher at Epinay Business and Enterprise School since January 2017. I have spent my full working career in special needs schools, a job I find tremendously rewarding. I like to think that I have a lot to offer as a leader in a special school, I have had a number of positions within school including teaching assistant, HLTA, Pastoral Manager, Residential Child Care Officer, Teacher, middle leader, Assistant Head Teacher, Deputy Head Teacher, Head of School and Head Teacher.

I was delighted to be awarded with Head Teacher of the Year in 2023 for the North East of England, a night I will remember for a very long time.  Since 2017 I have a lot of proud moments, the school staff team have won Team of the Year on South Tyneside, lots of children have been involved and won inter school sporting competitions, we have also been awarded many national awards, such as the Family First award, reading, and the careers kitemarks.  Our teachers and support staff have been nominated and shortlisted for many individual local awards.  In short we strive for excellence in everything we do.

 ‘Ready to listen, ready to learn together’ is something that we strive to work towards every day, we have worked extremely hard in giving children an enriching and creative education that equips them with the skills and attributes they will need to support them to develop as happy, confident and independent learners who are prepared for adulthood.

I trained as a middle school teacher which enabled me to teach in both primary and secondary schools. I began my teaching career working in mainstream primary and secondary schools in Sunderland where I taught the primary curriculum mainly in year 6 and maths in secondary school. I quickly realised I had a real connection with SEND children and decided to move into special education. I have worked in 4 authorities in a variety of special schools; mainly SEMH, for most of my career to date. I have had a number of positions as a teacher, head of department, Assistant Head Teacher, Lead Practitioner and now Senior Deputy Head Teacher.

My role as Senior Deputy Head enables me to work closely with the Head Teacher and all stakeholders to ensure we meet the needs of all children by giving them an enriching, creative education that equips them for life. I would not accept anything other than outstanding for my own children and therefore strive to ensure we offer just that to all the children here.

I have been extremely fortunate in my career to work at Epinay School for 36 years in various roles and capacities. I started life in the early days as a year 7 pastoral teacher; teaching Food Technology, Art and English teacher, moving on to a subject leads for both Food and Art. In recent years, I progressed to senior teacher with responsibility for Cognition and Learning and Creative Partnerships. Then to Assistant Headteacher and designated lead for safeguarding.  My present position is Deputy Head Teacher with responsibility for teaching and learning and designated Safeguarding Lead, these roles which are extremely demanding but incredibly rewarding.

In my spare time, I enjoy spending precious time with my family and friends. I have passion for sporting activities whether it is watching my beloved Newcastle United or participating in spinning and body combat classes at my local gym.

I enjoy travelling around Europe, exploring new places and sampling the local food and culture.

Both personally and professionally, I want to continue to strive for positive outcomes for all the young people who I have the pleasure of working with. I would like to further develop my leadership skills to ensure that the outstanding practice and vision of Epinay School continues to evolve for many years to come and we continue to be an inspirational school for students with additional needs.

I have been extremely fortunate to work at Epinay School since 2010 where I started as a NQT teaching Maths and ICT. During my time at Epinay I have progressed to Subject lead for ICT and E-Safety, Head of Secondary and Sixth form and now to my current position of Assistant Head Teacher. I am also responsible for careers and in 2021 successfully completed my Level 6 Certificate in Career Leadership. I am very proud of the journey and progression I have taken during my career at Epinay. In my personal time, I love spending time with my daughter and family, we enjoy walking, cooking and spending time together. It has been an absolute pleasure working at Epinay School and engaging with so many young people, I look forward to continuing for many years to come.

I qualified as a teacher in 2012. Since qualifying I have had a number of different roles in school including maths lead, science lead and assessment lead. I have also supported a number of schools across the country with teaching and learning.
When I am not in school I love to watch football and support the best team in the country- Leeds United. I also love anything Disney and enjoy spending time with my family.

I came to Epinay school in 2006 as a seasonal sports coach and was lucky enough to be offered a position as a Teaching assistant shortly after. Since then I have completed my PGCE and middle leadership qualifications, and I am currently Employed as a lead practitioner.  Most of my teaching is within the area of maths for Phase 3 and Phase 4.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, taking part in fitness activities, as well as watching my favourite football team Sunderland. I love the sunny weather so travelling to hot countries is something I enjoy very much!

I am lucky to be able to come to work in such an amazing school surrounded by fabulous students and colleagues

I started Epinay Business and Enterprise School as an ECT in 2021, I have completed my first three years of teaching and I have just started my fourth year in September 2024.  I currently leach in Phase 1.

I have been here at Epinay over 20 years and in that time have covered many subject areas.

I came to Epinay in 2022 following a Deputy Head of Art role in a mainstream school.  I recognised how much of a connection I had with SEND students from a link school and decided to pursue this at Epinay.  As a specialist teacher of Art, I have a genuine love of the subject, which is my tool to develop engaging and exciting practical projects for our students. Students experience such a broad range of skills such as ceramics, textiles, mixed media, drawing, painting and printing – it’s always busy in Practical Magic!

I have been teaching since September 2000. I first joined Epinay School as a supply teacher in Primary 2 and am now thrilled to be a permanent member of staff. I have spent the majority of my teaching career so far in a mainstream school teaching from Reception to Y5, I have studied British Sign Language level 1 and I am “Read, Write Inc” trained.

I enjoy reading, knitting, and the movies especially Sc-fi and thrillers. I am also a carer for my Dad who lives with us and suffers from Dementia. Most of all I love spending time with my daughter Natasha and our dogs Sweet Pea and Patchouli, who is a new addition since the tragic loss of my beloved Poppy.

I have spent most of my career working in mainstream schools, however, in January 2022, I was lucky enough to become the English teacher here at Epinay School.   I love my role here, seeing the writing and reading develop, especially being able to share new and interesting texts with the students.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, especially doing activities with my little boy.  We love being outdoors, going on day trips and family holidays!

After graduating with a BA in architecture from Newcastle University in 2014, I decided to pursue a career in education. Working as a teaching assistant for SEND pupils within a mainstream provision, I decided to complete my PGCE at Northumbria University. Following this, I taught for three years in a mainstream primary setting and I am thrilled to be back working with SEND learners and to be part of the Epinay family.

Outside of teaching, I love to be creative; interior design and home styling is a passion. Spending time with my family is by far the most important thing to me and, as they’re scattered around the globe, travelling is a big part of my life.

I have worked at Epinay for 14 years now and enjoy the environment we create here. I am currently leading ENRICH (Epinay’s nurturing, re-engaging, individualised, child-centred hub), which is for children that need extra support and struggle in a main school classroom environment. I am a teacher with lead responsibility in alternative education where I support staff to create bespoke timetables for children. I have a BA Primary Hons with a specialism in Early Years and a British Sign language level 2 qualification. I have recently completed training using strategies for intervention with dyslexic children. I have two children and a dog. In my spare time I enjoy going to the theatre and travelling.

I have worked at Epinay since 2011 and have had the pleasure of not only working alongside amazing staff but also outstanding pupils. No day at Epinay is ever the same and that’s what makes it a one of a kind place to be! Our students are incredible and tackle any boundary or obstacle they face with determination and hard work and I am proud to be their teacher. We are always ‘ready to listen and ready to learn together’. Away from Epinay I am a mam to two young children who are my absolute pride and joy, we love spending time together in the outdoors and walking our dog Martey or create havoc at home.

BA Primary Education with QTS

CEOP e-safety qualification and Duke of Edinburgh Instructor

I joined Epinay School over 15 years ago after working in Barclays bank for 22 years.  After having my family of 3 and completing numerous ‘working with children’ courses I retrained and gained a Diploma in Nursery Nursing (NNEB) Early Years.  Whilst at Epinay I obtained HLTA (Higher Level Teaching Assistant) then completed Catering Assessors Award enabling me to deliver City and Guilds NVQ level 1 & 2 within Epinay Cafe where I work at present.

When not at work I enjoy spending time with my husband Ian and my children Rebecca, Emily and Anthony.  I like cycling, and walking but my passion is baking and decorating cakes with flowers and decorations I have produced myself using sugar.

I have been working in SEND provision for over 20 years now, in 3 different schools both in Newcastle and South Tyneside.  I have worked at Epinay since 2019 and I absolutely love being part of the team.  I feel privileged to work with such amazing staff and students.

I currently teach a class within the life skills hub, where the scheme of work has been developed to ensure pupils have a broad and progressive curriculum that will help develop the skills and knowledge they require to establish confidence and independence within adulthood. On 2 afternoons per week I teach the BTEC Level 2 Home Cooking Skills qualification to phase 4 students where the students learn a variety of cooking skills and get to prepare numerous dishes.

In my spare time I love spending time with my family and friends, my daughter Libby keeps me very busy and entertained.  I also enjoy going on holiday, visiting new places and spa days.

I have worked at Epinay since 2017 as classroom support.  I have completed a 10 week training programme for Scrap Play/Encouraging imaginative play (similar to the tyres we have already).  I am just about to finish university for the year graduating with Fda in Education and Care.  I have already enrolled for next year and chose to top up my degree with another 2 year course part time in Education and Curriculum Studies.  My ultimate goal is to complete a final course in psychology to train as an educational psychologist.

I am currently qualified to teach PE/dance in further education, I have 4 year experience teaching in a college setting and various secondary schools, before coming to Epinay in 2021. I am very much looking forward to continuing my professional development and expanding my knowledge within SEND.

In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my family and little boy. I also teach at a theatre/dance school and continue to work as a professional dancer. My hobbies are playing netball and going for bike rides in the summer.

I hope to gain QTLS which will enable me to progress in my career, and continue to inspire young people’s aspirations.

I have worked at Epinay for 36 years and I am the longest serving member of staff. I started as a nursery nurse and had various roles and responsibilities within the role of support staff. The past 4 years I have been employed as an unqualified teacher  with the responsibility of teaching history and geography.

Dipolma in Nursery Nursing (NNEB) Early Years.

I have worked at Epinay School for over 4 years.  I have worked with special needs children for 16 years.  I enjoy teaching children Makaton through my sing and sign club, sign of the week and through lessons.  I initially self-taught myself Makaton and then attended a Level 1-4 course and hope to attend more courses to develop my signing further.  I enjoy being part of the team to support children to access residentials at Robinswood since being at Epinay.  I have additional roles within the school including support through TACPAC (a sensory communication through touch and music), Sensory Sam and Easter Play scheme which I find rewarding seeing the children progress through these extra-curricular activities and support.

I have worked at Epinay School for over 20 years and have loved every minute of it. I work with wonderful staff who are committed to their job and the rewards we get from teaching are priceless!  The opportunities for the children within the school are thoroughly researched so they get the very best  out of their time with us. I feel very privileged to be part of such an outstanding school.

I live with my partner Paul, our 2 daughters Jade and Ashley and our beautiful cat Tabitha. In my spare time I enjoy catching up with family and friends to spend quality time with them.

I am support staff for PE, sports and classroom teaching assistant. I also support after-school clubs and I am trained minibus driver. In my spare time I run the Harton and Westoe under 11 football team.  I am a football referee and I like to play and coach cricket.  I also run soccer camp during the school holidays at Temple Park.  I have 2 sons who also enjoy sports and we are avid Sunderland supporters.

I am working towards my Level 3 Diploma in Support Teaching and Learning as well my Level 2 Safeguarding and Prevent. I thrive on the environment created within Epinay and thoroughly enjoy my role within the school.

Away from Epinay I enjoy spending lots of time with my family, going on long walks and going to the gym.

I joined Epinay in September 2019 as a 1:1 inclusion support assistant.  I have a BTECT Nursery Nursing, but for the past 10 years I have supported SEN children in mainstream schools.

In my spare time I enjoy spending time in my garden or in the hot tub.  I also play darts 2 nights a week and enjoy spending time with my family.

I joined Epinay in 2021 and I am thoroughly enjoying being part of the team. I have a degree in primary education and I am always looking for opportunities develop my skills. I currently work as a teaching assistant in the Life Skills Hub where we prepare pupils for adulthood and the world in which we live, I love my job and find it extremely rewarding.

At home I enjoy playing in a wind band and walking, I hope to one day complete all 214 Wainwrights.

I have worked within the SEND sector for 5 years now after gaining my degree in Childhood and Youth Studies. At Epinay I spend time within the classroom, but I also working with individual children to meet their sensory needs through TACPAC & Sensory Sam sessions. Being a Teaching Assistant is a very rewarding job which I love, as I get to see the children progress and enjoy school.

I have been teaching for a few years and have a Degree in Primary Education with a mathematics specialism.  I’ve previous studies in Music including production at degree level also with a keen eye on technology in media and how the arts change around us.  I hope to take my own studies further in an MA related to psychology or special educational needs.

I have worked with children and young people and adults for over 20 years in various settings, the last 17 years working for South Tyneside Council in; Children’s Services, Education Welfare, Services for Young People and the Early Help Service.  I am a qualified Youth and Community worker, Parent Practitioner – Level 5, I have a Diploma in Advice and Guidance, a qualified Specialist Leader for Behaviour and Attendance, Certificate in Counselling, accredited Learning Mentor, Certificate in Awareness and Responses to Domestic Violence.  I also do a lot of voluntary work with agencies such as; the Probation Service and Hospitality and Hope.  I am married and have four grandchildren; I love spending time with family and friends and enjoy city breaks and walking in the lakes.  I am passionate about working with children, young people and families and supporting them to reach their full potential.  I have been in post since September 2017 and delighted to join an outstanding school and team.

I have worked at Epinay since 2010 as business Development Manager and subsequently School Business Manager.  I have a BSc in Management Studies and have completed relevant training that not only supports my work but develops my own personal interests.  My role oversees finance/budgeting, marketing and school development.  I am a founding member of South Tyneside Admin Representatives for Schools (STARS) and support the Wanderers Sports Association.

I have two daughters and I enjoy the time we spend together and as a family we are always looking for new and exciting things to do that broaden our experiences.  We enjoy the outdoors, city breaks and make the most of the town in which we live.

In have been part of the Epinay team since October 2007.  I am the Head Teacher’s PA at the school and absolutely love working at Epinay.  I love the everyday challenges we face in the front line of the school but most of all I love working with fantastic children.  It is amazing to see the children go through the school; from primary to secondary and some even into sixth form!  I am proud to be part of an exceptional admin team but even more proud to be a small part of an outstanding and supportive staff team.

I started working at Epinay in 2019 after many years working in administrative and customer service roles.

I am based in the office, doing reception and admin duties.  

I love my job and am so proud to work in such a wonderful school, surrounded by a fantastic bunch of staff and children alike!

I have over 20 years ‘experience of working within a school office environment but have found Epinay to be one of the most kind, caring and friendliest of schools I have had the pleasure to work in.  In my spare time I love spending time with family and friends, going on holiday and doing fitness classes at the gym.

I have 15 years of experience working in the education sector in office based roles.  I was very excited to join the admin team here at Epinay.  I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting the team and getting to know the pupils.  In the short time I have been here, I have been truly impressed at how wonderful the staff and children are.

In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my family and friends and travelling.

I work part-time in the Epinay office.  I initially came to the school for a six week temporary contract in June 2012… I loved it so much I am still here!

I work mainly on the school’s admin systems, collating information and data – this may sound boring to some, but it my dream job!