Meet the Team

The most important people in the Vine are the pupils in our academies. Find out much more about them and the staff who work with them by following the links to each academy. Here are some of the key people who work hard for our very important pupils.

Our Members

The Members of the Multi Academy Trust are the conscience of the organisation. They appoint the board of directors and ensure that the aims of the trust are upheld. They are:

The Chelmsford Diocesan Educational Trust
Chair of the Diocesan Board of Education
Diocesan Director of Education
Chair of the Diocese of Chelmsford Vine Schools Trust

Our Board of Directors

The directors are a core group of people with a proven track record of school improvement and experience that is relevant to making the trust a success. They are responsible for its strategic direction and are accountable for the academies to the Secretary of State and therefore determine the level of delegation to Regional Hubs / Local Governing Bodies so that these can be as effective as possible.

The Vine Board has overall responsibility and ultimate decision-making authority for all the work of the Trust.

The Directors

Emma Wigmore Tim Rose Bryan Lester Caroline Haynes (Hobbs) David Wilde Debbie Rogan Doris Olulode Gavin Flynn Joan Costello Mike Ferguson Philip Howlett Venerable Elizabeth Snowden

Emma Wigmore is an experienced teacher with over twenty years’ experience. She has been Headteacher for 9 years and Executive Headteacher for the last four years.

She has previously had oversight of five Schools within the Vine Trust.

Emma has a great track record of consistently improving underperforming schools. She is passionate about school to school support and has further developed an effective ‘hub’ model, which has led to significant improvements for all schools involved. Emma is also a ‘Local Leader of Education’ and a qualified coach.

In a recent SIAMs inspection, Emma was recognised as being ‘a shining example of Christian leadership’ which added to her track record of academic achievement. This and her knowledge of the Vine Trust makes her a great leader of our trust.

Tim is a Non-Executive Board member. He works for a consultancy firm providing a range of corporate advisory and training services to businesses and International Donors.

The former focusses on building management capacity based on best practice and the latter on job creation for aspiring young entrepreneurs in developing countries. Tim is a qualified Chartered Director and a Deacon at his local church.

Bryan is the Diocesan Schools Officer. He manages finances for the Diocese Education Department including VA school capital projects.

Bryan worked at Capita for 14 years supporting schools use of SIMS software.

Caroline is the Retired Executive Principal of Tendring Technology College and Clacton Coastal Academy.

Caroline has considerable experience of school improvement that has included leading good and outstanding secondary schools.

A Fellow of the IoD, Member of the BCS and Associate CIPD with over 30 years in central and local government leadership spanning policy, large scale operations, strategy and whole service transformation, David has a wealth of experience in the public sector specialising in technology, digital and information leadership, communications and commercial development. David now runs his own consultancy business for integrating digital and strategic business plans, transforming services, advising multinational and UK IT companies to reshape and grow their businesses as well as holding 3 Non-Executive Directorships in the NHS and Education. He is currently providing strategic change and technology leadership for Worcestershire County, South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse Councils in the UK

In Essex David was a member of the Executive Board from June 2015 and Chief Information Officer (CIO) since 2011, leading on Place Operations and then Digital. Before that he was CIO for the City of Westminster, Waltham Forest Council and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and was a senior Policy Advisor in The Departments for Education and Employment and Local Government and the Regions.

Debbie Rogan OBE is the HEARTS Academy Trust CEO. She was awarded an OBE by the Queen on her 90th birthday honours list for her services to education over a 30 year career.

The HEARTS Academy Trust was one of the first Multi Academy Trusts in the country to have both Church of England and Community Schools in its MAT. Debbie is National Leader of Education and system leader through her work as an OFSTED Inspector. Pupil Premium reviewer and prevously as a SIAMS Inspector. She was an elected member of the first Eastern Region and North East London Regional School Commissioner’s Academy Headteacher Board. She was also a memer of the Essex Schools Forum for over 12 years.

Debbie is part of the WLE (women leading in education) coaching pledge which is aimed at supporting women into leadership roles, through development opportunities, sharing of good practice and access to a range of helpful resources.

Doris is an experienced HR Director who has a wealth of UK and International Human Resource experience at both the strategic and operational level.

She has also been a Board member providing oversight into the organisation. Doris currently holds a Public Appointment with HRMCTS and was previously a School Governor. Her expertise will support the Trust to meet its obligations.

Gavin is currently SVP Partnerships, Planning & Delivery at InterContinental Hotels Group and is responsible for a team of 100, a P&L of $280m and development of the commercial strategy and its translation into action.

He has an MBA from INSEAD, an MA in Chemistry from Oxford, and is studying for an MSc in Behavioural Science at London School of Economics.

Joan is the principal at Ormiston Rivers Academy. She brings experience of academy sponsorship to the Vine Board. Joan has transformed secondary education on the Dengie where three of our Vine academies are located and feed into Ormiston Rivers Academy. Joan is committed to the long-term partnerships on the Dengie which will provide excellent education in this rural location.

Mike Ferguson originally qualified as a Chartered Electrical Engineer before realising his real passion for People Development – primarily in the areas of management and leadership. He has practised as a Business Psychologist for over 30 years. He is currently Director of Development at Developing Professionals International, and leads programmes for organisations such as the Academy for Chief Executives, whilst also co-presenting the Confident Leader programme for the NHS.

In March 2019, Mike was presented with the Risen Star award for his work with Vistage – the world’s largest Executive Coaching organisation. He has held senior posts at UK University Business School for much of his career, and continues to supervise research and deliver work as a Visiting Professor at Business Schools both in the UK and overseas.

Philip is currently Director of the Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD) programme at Anglia Ruskin University.

Having previously taught for nearly 20 years in secondary schools in Cambridgeshire and Essex, he is an experienced educator, with interests in a wide variety of aspects of education. His research areas include the pedagogical uses of mobile technology, classroom teaching and Science education.

Elizabeth Snowden is the Archdeacon of Chelmsford having previously trained as a teacher at the London Institute of Education completing a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE).

Before being ordained she taught geography and economics at a secondary school.

Central team

Emma Wigmore Brendon Ince Dawn Watts Julia Rix Sarah Muckle Sharon Porter

Emma Wigmore is the Chief Executive (Accounting Officer) for the Vine. An experienced teacher with over twenty years’ experience she has previously had oversight of five Schools within the Vine Trust.

Emma has a great track record of consistently improving underperforming schools.

Brendon is the Chief Operating Officer (Chief Financial Officer). He has overall responsibility for all financial and operational matters, including training and strategic financial planning.

Dawn is Trust Support Assistant. Dawn assists the Vine Support Manager with compliance and internal audit.

Julia is the Vine Support Manager. She is responsible for coordinating HR and ensuring academy compliance across the Trust.

Sarah is the Vine Trust Operations Manager. She has day to day Vine financial responsibility and provides support & training across the Trust.

Sharon is the Vine Finance Manager. She is responsible for Vine Finance including support and training across the Trust.

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‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit’

JOHN 15:5

© The Diocese of Chelmsford Vine Schools Trust 2020 a company limited by guarantee and registered in England. No 8709542.
Registered address: The Diocese of Chelmsford Vine Schools Trust, Diocesan Offices, 53, New Street, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1AT.