Cleo CunninghamSenior School Improvement Officer
Cleo is a School Improvement Officer with a wealth of expertise in school leadership including teaching & learning, curriculum, behaviour, inclusion and strategic financial management.
A former headteacher and executive headteacher, Cleo draws on practical experience from leadership across a range of settings to support leaders, teachers, governors and support staff in the pursuit of the highest aspirations for all children. With principles rooted in inclusive, comprehensive education, Cleo supports schools to ensure that no child is left behind.
Cleo recognises that all schools have a unique ethos and identity and takes time to learn about and understand each community she supports to ensure that schools are successful in meeting the needs of local families.
Safeguarding the needs of children sits at the heart of Cleo’s approach to supporting schools. Cleo has completed the NSPCC Safeguarding Skills for Supervision course which qualifies her to support leaders with their obligation to seek external safeguarding supervision.
Cleo has a strong reputation for achieving positive change in the schools she supports and understands the importance of balancing support and challenge which is always focussed on securing the best personal and academic outcomes for young people.
Outside of Cleo’s commitment to the needs of young people, she enjoys spending time with her family, including her granddaughter; open water swimming, walking the Cumbrian fells, horse riding and canoeing. Cleo also enjoys singing jazz and blues and has performed at many charitable and private functions.
Christine BoucetlaSchool Improvement Consultant
Christine's background is embedded in teaching and learning, having taught in the primary sector for over thirty years. Christine has been Headteacher of two primary schools, one in Carlisle and until July 2017 at Gilsland Church of England Primary School in Cumbria when the school was judged outstanding by Ofsted and as a result was designated a teaching school.
Christine's experience includes developing and running the ECT (Early Career Teacher, formerly Newly Qualified Teacher) programme through the Rural Learning Alliance Teaching School:
- Running training sessions
- Supporting new teachers at the very start of their career
Christine supported schools in and around the Carlisle area as a National Leader of Education resulting in improved Ofsted judgements for many of the schools.
For three years, Christine acted as chair of Cumbria Teaching Schools focusing on school improvement across the wider county.
Although semi-retired, Christine now works as a school improvement officer for the Good Shepherd Trust supporting schools in the west of the county. In 2017, her portfolio of responsibilities increased when she was elected chair of Whitfield Church of England Primary School in Northumberland which is also a member of the Good Shepherd Trust family of schools. On an independent basis, Christine supports headteachers in the county with their annual performance management reviews.
When not working Christine enjoys walking her two dogs, spending time with her family and four grandchildren and spending time in the garden.
Sue StaintonSchool Improvement Consultant
Sue became a member of the Good Shepherd Trust school improvement team in 2021. Prior to this she was a teaching head of an outstanding C of E primary school for 19 years. She has varied teaching experience in both a large city junior school and a village primary school.
Sue also has experience as an executive headteacher; she has led a teaching school; supported colleagues as a LLE and NLE, as well as developing county wide CPD and collaborative partnership projects.
Sue refers to being a teaching head as “the best of both worlds – coming alongside children and helping develop their progress as learners and young people as well as working in partnership with the school community to create the best possible learning opportunities for the children in our care”.
Sue has expertise in the effective use of data, developing subject leadership, curriculum development (with first-hand experience of CUSP/CLUSP) and working with leaders at all levels to develop their potential and skills.
Jo LakerSchool Improvement Consultant
Jo is currently the Executive Headteacher of two small schools in the Good Shepherd Trust, Dean and Braithwaite. She has also become a member of the Good Shepherd Trust school improvement team in 2022. She was a teaching head at Braithwaite from 2007 to 2019 when she took on the Executive Headteacher role. She has teaching experience in both large and small schools and has also worked for Cumbria in the Learning Improvement Service as an Associate General Advisor, where she particularly focused on induction of new Headteachers and was part of a research project about Headteacher wellbeing.
Jo has a particular interest in leadership development, mentoring and supporting new Headteachers, and is working with staff at both schools at the moment using the ‘Great Teaching Toolkit’. This brings the latest research in cognitive science to teachers so they can enable pupils to learn most effectively. She has day to day experience of working with both staff and Local Governing Body Members on school action planning and monitoring, along with analysis of data, developing subject leadership, curriculum development and safeguarding.
