Rob has over 28 years of experience in education in Northamptonshire primary and secondary settings. He has worked in roles such as Advanced Skills Teacher, Deputy Headteacher, Headteacher and Head of Primary Education. He is currently CEO of Hatton Academies Trust.
Rob has a track record of successfully improving schools and securing educational excellence. Sir Christopher Hatton Academy remains one of the highest performing secondary academies in the East Midlands and its primary academies have all been judged by Ofsted to provide a Good standard of education in the last 12 months.
In 2016, Rob was shortlisted for the Pearson Teaching Awards in the category of Primary Headteacher of the Year. As a Principal, he has secured judgements by Ofsted of Outstanding in every category in 2015. He is the senior partner for Challenge Partners Northants Hub and facilitates for NPQ training regionally for Best Practice Network.
Colin is a public sector finance specialist who has dedicated the past 30 years to a career in financial management within various NHS and educational organisations in Northamptonshire. He was appointed to the post of Director of Finance and Operations at the Trust’s inception in 2012. In this role, Colin oversees all strategic aspects of the Trust’s financial, legal and operational affairs. Leading on all operational business compliance matters, he is the Trust’s Health and Safety officer and Data Protection Officer.
A qualified business graduate, majoring in advanced financial and management accounting, Colin takes his responsibility as the Trust’s Chief Financial Officer very seriously. He has developed a strong track record and reputation for robust stewardship of the public purse and plays a pivotal role in ensuring that the Trust and its academies have firm financial and operational foundations on which to build exceptional educational opportunities and outcomes.
A former pupil of Sir Christopher Hatton Academy (alumni 1989) Colin is proud to support the Trust community to provide the same excellent educational prospects and privileges that he enjoyed as a pupil.
Keren has been teaching in Northamptonshire for over 25 years, beginning her career as an English Teacher in Raunds, and moving rapidly into leadership roles as Second in English and later as Head of Sixth Form and Head of English.
Looking for new challenges, Keren moved to Sir Christopher Hatton Academy in 2003 as Whole School Literacy Coordinator and her career then took a different direction taking on leadership of whole school PSHE and Citizenship, later leading SMSC and the wider enrichment curriculum. She joined the National PSHE Association’s Advisory Council in 2014 and has delivered workshops and training at several national PSHE events on the skills required of the non-specialist PSHE teacher and strategies for the delivery of the PSHE curriculum.
A career-long interest in personal, departmental and whole school CPD as well as mentoring, coaching and developing colleagues has run in parallel other responsibilities and as a consequence she has been able to build a portfolio of skills.
Joining the Senior Leadership Team as Assistant Principal in 2015, Keren has been fortunate to have a wide range of opportunities in terms of Leadership roles, including the role of Director of the Teaching School. Keren is currently the Professional Tutor, with responsibility for our Early Career Teachers, Initial Teacher Training and aspects of staff development, alongside working on the new Hatton Centre for Education.
Alastair qualified as a maths teacher at Jordan Hill in Glasgow and soon embarked on his teaching career in Northamptonshire. For over twenty Years he has taught across four different secondary schools in various management roles with the sole intention of improving his pedagogy in order that students in his care are given the best possible education.
Throughout his teaching career he has seen the value in being outward facing and has provided services to the local authority and other schools in a school improvement capacity, with particular focus being on the improvement of mathematics, whole school curriculum design and improving the attainment for disadvantaged students.
In 2009 Alastair started his journey at Sir Christopher Hatton Academy as Assistant Principal with responsibility for mathematics, then in 2016 was appointed Vice Principal in charge of Curriculum and finally in 2019, was incredibly proud to be appointed Co-Principal.
Outside of work, sport is Alastair's main passion.
Nick began teaching in Northamptonshire in 2002. His first role in management was as second in Science at a rural Hampshire school. In 2006 he became Head of Science at an inner city school in Southampton. Since progressing into management, he has undertaken considerable outreach work.
From 2009 to 2013, Nick supported newly appointed heads of science in departments across the city of Southampton in conjunction with the LA Science Coordinator. During his time as Head of Science in Southampton, he became the lead teacher for OCR for the Southern region, supporting the exam board in delivering the gateway science exam syllabus.
In 2013 Nick joined Sir Christopher Hatton Academy as Assistant Principal with responsibility for science. The following year he was appointed as Senior Assistant Principal with responsibility for standards and progress of students across the curriculum, and also retained strategic overview of the science department. In 2016, he was appointed Vice Principal in charge of Teaching and Learning, and in 2019, he was incredibly proud to be appointed Co-Principal of Sir Christopher Hatton academy.
Outside of work, Nick enjoys watching and participating in sporting activities.
Claire had a career in insurance between 1990-2005. In 2005 she retrained Northampton University, gaining a qualified teacher status in 2008. As a trainee teacher, her first teaching practice in 2005 was in Reception class at Oakway Infants School, leading to her employment as an NQT in 2008.
During her time at Oakway Claire has gained professional qualifications including; Level 7 Diploma Specialist Literacy Teacher qualification; SENCO Accreditation and a Masters in SEN and Inclusion. Within her 13 years at Oakway Claire has held many roles including; Class Teacher, SENCO, Vice Principal and Principal. She has been lucky enough to work within an excellent team who support one another well and who work tirelessly to ensure the highest ambitions are in place for the children who attend the academy are.
Ian has over 20 years experience in education, working in Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire. His roles have included teacher, senior leadership positions and SENCO.
He is currently Principal at Victoria Primary Academy and is proud to have worked for Hatton Academies Trust for six years.
Ian has worked in a variety of schools, encompassing many successful OFSTED inspections. He is strongly committed to ongoing improvement at Victoria in order to secure the very best possible outcomes for every one of the children.
Kate has 20 years of experience in education in Northamptonshire primary and secondary settings.
Kate began her teaching career at Sir Christopher Hatton Academy as a Teacher of English. She was Head of English at SCHA for a number of years before joining the leadership team. As a senior leader at SCHA, Mrs Cleaver led whole school CPD and oversaw the recruitment and development of newly qualified teachers and was involved in the formation of the Hatton Teaching School Alliance.
In 2016 Kate began working with Oakway Academy before taking on the role of Principal at Ecton Village Primary Academy, now amongst the most improved primaries in Northamptonshire.
Kate continues to work closely with colleagues in Hatton Academies Trust and has a particular interest in ensuring that primary to secondary transition is a positive experience for all.
Bio coming soon...
Luke is a secondary Geography teacher with over a decade’s classroom experience and has been involved in youth group provision in various leadership roles prior to that – something that he continues to do today in his spare time. Luke also enjoys mountain walking, especially in the Alps, and keeping up to date with current and global affairs to complement his political geography specialism.
Luke’s family roots are in Yorkshire and he completed his teacher training near Stoke-on-Trent before relocating to Northamptonshire to take a teaching position at Sir Christopher Hatton Academy. Since that time he has held middle leadership roles at different levels including Head of Department, Head of Year and Director of Key Stage before joining the Senior Leadership Team in 2017. As an Assistant Principal he has led on Pastoral Standards, VI Form Provision, and Safeguarding and Welfare. During this time he completed his NPQSL before commencing his current role as Vice Principal. Luke believes passionately in the importance of robust pastoral systems to support students to flourish and in high expectations for all.
A secondary Spanish teacher with 15 years’ experience, Anna has a passion for languages and the experiences, opportunities and skills that learning a modern language can bring to students.
Anna began her teaching career in South Wales and soon moved to the sunnier climes of Malaysia, where she stayed for 8 years and developed in her teaching and leadership. During this time, she progressed to leading a large faculty and completed her NPQSL, focusing on the impact of first languages in cultural representation in a school environment.
Anna joined Sir Christopher Hatton Academy in 2017 as Head of Faculty for Languages and then took on the role of Assistant Principal, Professional Tutor, which allowed her the privilege to work closely with our new staff members and early career teachers at a crucial time in their development. She recently took over the position of Vice Principal for Teaching and Learning and is excited about the opportunity to improve even further the learning experiences of the students that we support.
Angie Aitken worked as a secretary before joining Oakway Infant School in 2000 as a lunchtime supervisor. Learning on the job, she developed and trained as a teaching assistant before gaining HLTA status in 2005. An assessment based only route through the University of Gloucestershire enabled her to train, teach and qualify simultaneously, gaining QTS in 2010.
Angie's journey continued, gaining a Masters in Education in 2016 and becoming an Assistant Principal at Oakway Academy shortly after. Recent years have seen her become a Vice Principal and complete her NPQSL, with a particular focus on Reading, Data and Assessment. She has continued to adapt and drive changes with the children at the heart of everything she does.
Mr Hollingsworth's career in education began in London in 2008 after training at UCL's Institute of Education. He has taught in settings in London, Hong Kong, and Northants, and has taken opportunities to lead at all levels. Accompanying his professional qualification, James has also gained a certificate leading learning for Gifted Pupils from Sydney - UNSW, and has recently completed his NPQSL.
Within his 5+ years with HAT he has led Oakway Academy to improve in areas such as Maths, Data and Assessment and Curriculum Development. He has built a strong relationship with other senior leaders to ensure that the ambitious plans for the Academy are realised.