The members of YCAT bring a wealth of experience from education, legal, business, banking and HR. Their role is to hold Trustees and schools to account.
Our members meet twice a year and their key role is holding the Trust to account.
At the heart of YCAT are the trustees who are the custodians of YCAT’S vision, values and are responsible for planning the trust’s strategic direction.
Trustees provide the passion and drive to promote the values and working practices that will ensure YCAT’s strategic planning raises standards and progress for all pupils throughout our schools.
The local governing bodies undertake a vital role ensuring children receive a safe and high quality education that meets the needs of all children and their local community.
Jenny’s early career was in the education sector implementing policy in schools to improve pupil outcomes and teaching practices harnessing the potential of developing technology. She then went on to qualify with the CIPD and, with an honours degree in post 14 education and training, she established and led training departments and development services in the public sector.
Denise is a qualified chartered accountant and brings over 30 years of experience of working in the private, public and charitable sectors. Since 2011 she has worked in higher education where she was interim chief financial officer for a number of universities, including Hull and Durham. Denise is a non-executive director of Connect Housing Association and Highstone Housing Association. Denise chairs YCAT Finance Resources Audit and Risk Committee.
Nikola is a Project Manager by trade, having worked on and around school building projects in both the private and public sectors for 15 years. This included a stint with the Department for Education, working on the Priority Schools Building Programme and before that with Hull City Council on their Building Schools for the Future programme. During her time with the local authority, she also project managed the formation of the city’s first Academies, and the city’s first local MAT.
Jo is an experienced headteacher who is committed to collaborative working. Her focus is developing joint practice development across schools to strengthen leadership and she has acted as an executive headteacher for schools facing difficult circumstances. In 2015 she became a National Leader in Education and since this point has supported a range of primary schools, most recently through the Covid Recovery Fund. Jo is the CEO of YCAT
Andrew is a Management and Leadership Consultant. He has worked in training and development for over 35 years, starting with the British Army and latterly in the private sector. Andrew has served on many high performing teams and has spent time as a school governor. He is committed to helping in his community and working to improve educational standards for all young people.
Vicki is a passionate educator who has had a varied career in the sector. Vicki started her career as a primary teacher in Harrogate and continued teaching for 26 years. During this time she had many different roles which were all founded upon her love of teaching. This led Vicki to sharing her knowledge and expertise with both new and experienced teachers as a Specialist Leader in Education and English curriculum Lead. Throughout her career Vicki has been dedicated to recruiting and training the next generation of teachers into the profession and she is proud to be the Director of Red Kite Teacher Training - a large Initial Teacher Training provider which serves North and West Yorkshire. Securing excellence in education for all students is at the heart of all Vicki does and she brings this along with her vast experience to her role as Trustee.
Lizzie is a published author with 15 years' research consultancy experience in the education sector. Previously, Lizzie led governance and compliance across a multi-academy trust and now works providing advocacy, training and support for governance professionals nationally across the trust sector. Lizzie is a member of the Trailblazer Group for the Level 4 Governance Officer apprenticeship, a graduate of the Chartered Governance Institute's Chartered Qualifying scheme and a former National Leader of Governance (NLG).
Peter Laurence retired from full-time work at the end of December 2018, following a forty-year career in education in three different local authorities, as a teacher, senior leader and secondary head, after which he led the creation of a cross-phase co-operative trust and its successor organization, The Brigshaw Learning Partnership MAT, in 2016. He also worked extensively as a regional adviser with national bodies advising on workforce reform, extended services and succession planning, for two years as a seconded head to a large local authority, and provided consultancy support to a range of individual schools, school partnerships, governing bodies, and local authorities.
After a career teaching English in secondary schools, including 10 years as part of a school leadership team, Jan became a school governor to make a contribution in her local community of Richmond, North Yorkshire. As she commented, “I wanted to make sure that all children get the best education they can, and that they enjoy their time in school!” Between 2004 and 2014, Jan was a Regional Adviser for the Department for Education and its partner agencies. Since 2014, Jan has worked as an independent education consultant. Jan was designated as a National Leader of Governance (NLG) in July 2017, and it was through this that she became linked with Hawes Primary School as Chair of Governors.
Stephen is a solicitor and has practised in Harrogate since 1986 dealing mainly with family work. He particularly promotes collaborative law a non-confrontational approach to dealing with issues that arise on divorce and separation. He is also a member of the management committee of the Harrogate Chamber of Trade. All of his three children have attended local state schools and he lives in Harrogate.
Georg has a wide range experience in international banking and business.
Emma was a YCAT Trustee for seven years before stepping into the role of Member. She is a STEM Ambassador, has over 25 years Built Environment and Infrastructure experience, and has worked on the consultancy side in project management and sustainability roles. Outside of her day job Emma also supports the Institute of Directors, Chartered Institute of Building and the Women’s Engineering Society with driving equality, diversity and inclusion matters.
