Headteachers

The headteachers of Epping Forest Schools Partnership Trust provide leadership of our academies. The wealth of experience and expertise they bring to the trust allows for fantastic, collaborative opportunities.  Click on their profiles to find out more about them.

• Tara Bristow
  The Alderton Infant School
  Tara Bristow

  Tara began her teaching career at The Alderton Infant School in 1999. ￿

  Tara was born in Buckinghamshire but then went on to spend much of her childhood living in Cornwall. She grew up particularly enjoying science and mathematics.

  For many years, Tara worked in a Special Needs School with attached Nursery in Loughton and led a Special Needs Play Scheme. She was a qualified Nursery Nurse before she went on to study for a BED (Hons) at The University of North London. Tara has worked in a variety of children's homes across Essex, working with children up to nineteen years. She has a broad knowledge of Early Years Childhood Development. Working as a Children's Centre teacher she gained her Early Years Professional Status while working alongside, and also leading practise, in a number of pre-school settings. ￿

  This breadth of experience has led Tara to develop a strong belief that children learn best when they are having enriched, engaging, fun and practical real life activities. It is important to Tara to have strong relationships and communication, with all invested parties, which are needed to support children to move successfully through their school journey.

• Kirsty Johnson
  The Alderton Junior School
  Kirsty Johnson

  After leaving university, Kirsty trained as a teacher and started her first teaching role in the London Borough of Brent in 2005. Kirsty had always wanted to be a teacher and felt passionately about making the educational experience for all of my pupils the best, most engaging and nurturing experience, ensuring that each child was confident to move on to the next stage of their education. This passion and drive to provide an exceptional education for all pupils led her onto senior leadership in another Brent school where she taught across the primary age range, and then on to Deputy Headship in 2013 in a diverse, two form entry school with a children's centre and nursery in the London Borough of Islington where Kirsty held responsibility for Assessment and Inclusion. She also completed the NPQSL and National SEN Award. During her time there, ￿Kirsty built up strong relationships with parents and the community, developed provision for pupils with SEND and worked closely with the Head Teacher to secure a Good Ofsted outcome after the school had many years of satisfactory or Requires Improvement judgements. ￿

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  Following this, Kirsty became the director of her own company, providing leadership and school improvement support to schools across London. Kirsty became a Visiting Tutor for trainee teachers with The Bridge School and Goldsmith's University, provided interim leadership to a school in Merton and took the opportunity to engage in further professional development by completing a Masters in Psychology with Distinction, focussing on educational leadership and developing effective shared visions. ￿

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  In 2017, Kirsty was appointed as Deputy Head Teacher at The Alderton Junior School and was promoted to Head Teacher in September 2018. Kirsty is incredibly proud to be the Head Teacher of The Alderton Junior School, where she describes ￿her team as The Alderton Family, a place where all are welcome, where the staff ￿believe in the values of hope, compassion and kindness and often refer to our motto 'Belong, Aspire, Achieve' to refer to the journey their pupils and staff have when they join us. ￿Alderton believe in developing the 'whole child', providing an exceptional education and the necessary skills to succeed. ￿

• Alison Farquharson
  Buckhurst Hill Primary School
  Alison Farquharson

• Amy Downling
  Chigwell Row Infant School
  Amy Downling

• Sarah Hurwood
  Epping Upland CE Primary School
  Sarah Hurwood

  Sarah graduated from St Mary's College, Twickenham with a BA Hons in English and Drama and then went on to gain her PGCE teaching qualification from Chester College.

  Sarah's teaching career has centred around schools within Epping Forest and as such, she has a strong understanding of the needs of the locality.

  She moved to Epping Upland in 1992, where her career progressed to Headship. As Head of a Church School, she has strong links with local clergy and would say that Rev'd Canon Chris Bard, who was her first Chair of Governors, has acted as one of her greatest inspirations in trying to make a difference to children and their families.

  Sarah's principal philosophy is that happy children are more able to learn and that their learning spaces should be positive and nurturing. Children should feel that they 'belong' to their school and feel valued and respected. She places great emphasis upon mental health and wellbeing believing that where children feel relieved of their worries and anxieties, they are more able to focus on their learning and more able to absorb what they are being taught.

  She also extends this focus to staff believing that the workforce deserves to be well looked after also so that they can be the best that they can be for the children they are teaching.

• Renette Fourie
  Hereward Primary School and Nursery
  Renette Fourie

  Renette has been working at Hereward Primary School since 2004.

  Renette grew up on a farm in a small town called Karoi, in Zimbabwe. She has always wanted to be a teacher and was fortunate enough to be given a full scholarship to study in South Africa by the primary school she attended as a child. Renette received a Bachelor Of Primary Education in 2001.

  Renette then decided to visit the UK and do some supply teaching. It is through being a supply teacher that she found work at Hereward. ￿Renette's career at Hereward started as a Year 1 teacher which she did for four years. In 2008, she became Key Stage 1 Leader and then in 2013 became Deputy Head. During these years, Renette was fortunate enough to go on many training courses from SEND training to different courses that positively affected teaching and learning in her school.

  Within my time as Deputy, she was also SENCo for a year, which gave her a greater insight into SEN and statutory assessment procedures.

  Renette's ￿passion has always been to ensure that children are provided with the best opportunities to learn and explore through engaging and challenging teaching. Kindness is at the root of everything ￿Hereward school stands for and is a huge part of what she believe makes school a great place to be at.

  
  

• Sarah Roffey
  High Beech CE Primary School
  Sarah Roffey

• Joanne Willcox
  Hillhouse CE Primary School
  Joanne Willcox

• Rebecca Sigston
  Ivy Chimneys Primary School
  Rebecca Sigston

• Sarah Noden
  Lambourne Primary School
  Sarah Noden

  Before joining the teaching profession in her mid-30s, Sarah worked in the City of London as a Management Accountant (useful when budget setting and ensuring best value). ￿ After qualifying with 1^st class honours, she taught in a junior school in Loughton, a primary school in Redbridge before becoming deputy and then Headteacher at Lambourne Primary, where Sarah has been since 2008.

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  Lambourne Primary is in a wonderful village, where the community spirit is fantastic. ￿ Lambourne is a successful one-form entry primary school with 220 on roll. ￿ Since joining the school, the school has developed the outdoor area beyond recognition. ￿ Lambourne has a heated outdoor swimming pool, an all-weather astro-turf pitch, a ￿mile a day ￿ track and a dedicated sports hall. ￿ Our children must be the fittest in the area!

  Sarah's focus has always been ensuring every pupil achieves their full potential in ALL areas, not just academically. ￿ Lambourne's disadvantaged pupils are extremely successful and the staff has worked hard to ensure this is so. ￿ Reading is a strength including outcomes for phonics. ￿ Sarah is proud of the outstanding behaviour of the children at Lambourne and their learning attitudes. ￿ The staff has worked hard to have a consistent approach to learning centred classrooms. ￿ Sarah's dedicated staff are happy in their roles, staff turnover is incredibly low and our budget is always healthy. ￿

  As a Headteacher, Sarah has a passion for collaborative working and offering her support to others when needed. ￿ She believes that working together ensures the best outcomes for all pupils. ￿

• Sami Taylor
  Limes Farm Infant School
  Sami Taylor

  Sami started her teaching career at a Primary School in the London Borough of Waltham Forest in which she worked in the EYFS for three years. Sami then moved to Limes Farm Infant School and Nursery.

  Sami has ￿vast experience and knowledge in working with children who are disadvantaged, including a high number of pupils who speak English as an additional language. From her personal background and experiences, Sami understands and value the importance of diversity and celebrating all cultures within the community. ￿

  Sami has worked at Limes Farm Infant ￿School since 2012 with over ten years of experience in a number of different Roles including; Class Teacher, Early Years Leader, ￿NQT Mentor, Subject Leader, Deputy Headteacher and also a Specialist Leader in Education, specialising in Phonics and the Early Years Curriculum.

  The satisfaction of seeing children develop and progress makes her job a rewarding one. Sami believes that all ￿children have the capacity to learn and achieve their full potential if given the right learning opportunities and experiences. ￿

  Wellbeing is an area that she holds a great passion for having recently achieved the Wellbeing award for Schools. ￿Sami has also developed a wellbeing room for the children, as well as developing our outdoor learning areas to enhance mental and spiritual health.

  Sami is ￿delighted to be the Headteacher of ￿her fantastic School and Nursery and proud to be part of the EFSPT. ￿

• Tina Kearney
  Oak View School
  Tina Kearney

• Jonathan Furness
  St. John's CE Primary Schools
  Jonathan Furness

• Nick Mallender
  Staples Road Primary School
  Nick Mallender

  Before joining Staples Road, Nick worked in Hackney for over 10 years. He was first a deputy head, leading on Inclusion and developed a deep knowledge around additional needs in education. He also headed up a teaching school, training many PGCE and SCITT student teachers, as well as supporting schools across London in embedding effective approaches to behaviour management. ￿

  In 2017 he became a headteacher at another Hackney school and drove improvements across the curriculum, especially in raising standards in reading and maths. He also developed key aspects of the school such as the playground and library and enhanced provision by building a sensory room and a creative arts space.

  Nick is passionate about ensuring all children develop a love of learning through a broad, enriching and inclusive curriculum. At Staples Road, Nick is keen to build on and add to the school's strengths and utilise the school's position of being opposite Epping Forest to maximise its potential as a rich learning resource.

• Andre Rall
  Theydon Bois Primary School
  Andre Rall

• Ann Grisley
  White Bridge Primary School
  Ann Grisley

  Ann has ￿been working within the Epping Forest area since 2013. ￿ Having worked in two other Local Authorities prior to that, both of which were London Boroughs. ￿ Ann joined Limes Farm Infant School and Nursery as the Deputy Headteacher and was promoted to Headteacher of the school in 2017. ￿ Since then she has moved within the Epping Forest Schools Partnership Trust, where ￿she is now the Headteacher of White Bridge Primary School. ￿ ￿

  Ann came to Education later in her career, having originally been in a business background, but her passion for the teaching and learning of children has always been a part of my life. ￿ The Epping Forest Schools Partnership Trust is extremely important to ￿Ann and when looking for my second headship was one of my key motivations, in that she recognise the support and the collaboration between all of the schools.

  Ann is proud to be the Headteacher of White Bridge Primary School, which is a happy school and to lead a dedicated, well qualified staff, committed to providing the children with an excellent education that develops strong basic skills and independence. White Bridge aims to establish early steps that will lead to a lifelong love of learning.