Sarah is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant and Accounting Technician. She has worked for a range of different industries, FMCG, FS, Practice and Education, exposing her to varying degrees of accounting, processes and technical experience. Her most recent position was Head of Finance and strategic lead for a private training provider, leading through a transition from delivering privately funded courses to deliver Apprenticeship programmes funded by ESFA.

Sarah is the Strategic Lead for the Finance department and is responsible for the financial management of the Trust and will work along with the Headteachers to set the annual budgets based on the funding received. She will report monthly to the Trustees on financial performance in line with the Academies Financial Handbook and will also engage with Headteachers and team on budget performance and support the various demands on the budget.

Carolyn Fox has been a Headteacher for 10 years, having been appointed to the Infant School in 2020, subsequently becoming the Executive Headteacher of Rise Park Academy Trust in 2014 when the two academies were opened, from which time they have gone from strength to strength, achieving two 'Ofsted Good Provider' judgements in May 2017. Mrs Fox is the now Director of compliance for the SFAET.

Clea is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), a qualified Mental Health First Aider and an accredited investigator.  She has worked for a range of different employers where she gained extensive experience of generalist HR functions and employee relations in the public and private sectors.  More recently Clea worked as a senior leader in the country's largest multi academy trust and also with a single academy trust, shaping her HR knowledge to the educational environment. 

Clea is the strategic lead for the HR department and is responsible for all recruitment activity and the lifecycle of all employees and volunteers across the Trust.  Working closely with senior leaders she is responsible for creating, reviewing and implementing the People Strategy which is an integral element of the Trust Development Plan.  Starting with the Trust in November 2022, Clea has focused on updating and harmonising policies, procedures and working practices to provide consistency among the five schools without detracting from their individual and unique differences.

Lynne Sexton is the Deputy CEO for the Trust and has an extensive amount of senior leadership experience. She worked in an outstanding school in Essex for 10 years, before coming to Havering where she has worked for 7 years. Mrs Sexton is passionate about safeguarding and this is her area of expertise. She has hosted a safeguarding conference in Havering and is responsible for this area across the Trust. Mrs Sexton has exceptionally high standards for all students and believes that effective pastoral care has a huge impact on students' academic success.

Gareth is a Chartered Construction Manager (MCIOB) with the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and a Certified member (CIWFM) of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM). With over three decades of experience in the facilities sector, Gareth has established himself as a seasoned professional, having worked his way up from the ground level to assume leadership roles. Throughout his career, Gareth has primarily focused on providing facilities services to a diverse range of organizations within the charity sector, including housing, fitness, community centres, childcare facilities, and catering operations. His extensive knowledge and expertise encompass a broad spectrum of disciplines, including security, fire safety, health and safety, compliance, project management, and systems improvement. Gareth has demonstrated his ability to manage in-house teams, contractors, and voluntary workgroups effectively, and has actively participated in various construction and refurbishment projects.

As the strategic lead for estate management and hard and soft facilities management, Gareth oversees operational site teams and collaborates closely with headteachers, local authorities, and key stakeholders. He spearheads health and safety, fire safety, and environmental initiatives, ensuring the timely completion of statutory tests and inspections. Gareth also oversees all capital projects, building improvements, and asset management plans. Additionally, he plays a pivotal role in managing contracts, procurement, and tender processes to optimize cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, Gareth leads on the marketing of lettings and room hire opportunities to maximize revenue generation.

Jenny supports the Director of Finance in the operational management, supervision and provision of the Trusts’ finance systems ensuring compliance with audit requirements.

These services include:

• Accounting and financial management

• Financial ICT systems

• The management and supervision of administrative staff and functions

The Finance manager is expected to delegate administrative functions that will be delivered by administrative staff and will be expected to line manage and support the development of the wider team which will include supporting the HR Payroll Manager and deputising in their absence as required. The HR/Payroll Manager will be responsible for supervision and line management of this post.

Karen is the Payroll and HR Manager. She is the operational leader for the HR and payroll provision and line manages the HR assistant and also the Finance Manager. Karen is responsible for any payroll queries. She processes all timesheets for all schools in the Trust and completes all required payroll checks to ensure all staff are paid accurately and on time-based on the information received by the team. Karen is also the point of contact for any contractual queries in relation to new contracts or changes of contracts.  

Karen completes the annual staff workforce census for all three schools and engages with curriculum leads to ensure the data supplied to the DFE is accurate and up to date. Karen oversees the recruitment process and completes regular checks on the single central records for each school ensuring they are accurate and up to date. 

Karen works from 08.00 - 16.30 Monday - Thursday.

Nikki is one of four finance administrators. She is responsible for placing orders with suppliers, ensuring goods are received at each school and that invoices are paid. She is a point of contact for any school and she works from 08.00 - 15.30 everyday but does not work every other Thursday. 

Nikki ensures that budget reports are issued to budget holders and that all ParentPay/Parentmail transactions are input on to our Finance System and that print costs are reconciled to departments. 

Nikki also provides HR administrative support to the team and deputises in the absence of Clare Valentine.

Kelly is one of four finance administrators. She is responsible for placing orders with suppliers, ensuring goods are received at each school and that invoices are paid. She is a point of contact for any school and she works from 08.30 -16.00 every day.

Kelly ensures that budget reports are issued to budget holders and that all ParentPay/Parentmail transactions are input on to our Finance System and that print costs are reconciled to departments.

Vicky is one of four finance administrators. She is responsible for placing orders with suppliers, ensuring goods are received at each school and that invoices are paid. She is a point of contact for any school and she works from 09.30 - 14.30 every day.

Vicky ensures that budget reports are issued to budget holders and that all ParentPay/Parentmail transactions are input on to our Finance System and that print costs are reconciled to departments.

Kelly is one of four finance administrators. She is responsible for placing orders with suppliers, ensuring goods are received at each school and that invoices are paid. She is a point of contact for any school and works three days per week Monday and Tuesday 08.00 -16.00  and Thursday 08.00 - 14.30. 

Nikki ensures that budget reports are issued to budget holders and that all ParentPay/Parentmail/Squid transactions are input into our Finance System and that print costs are reconciled to departments.

Kelly will also invoice our customers and runs regular debtor reports for the Trust and Director of Operations who leads lettings for all schools.

Gill is one of four finance administrators. She is responsible for placing orders with suppliers, ensuring goods are received at each school and that invoices are paid. She is a point of contact for any school.

Gill ensures that budget reports are issued to budget holders and that all ParentPay/Parentmail transactions are input on to our Finance System and that print costs are reconciled to departments.

Clare provides the HR administrative functions to the Trust, this includes recruitment from the point when a vacancy is identified to the point the new starter contract is agreed upon. Clare will place job adverts online through our partner agencies, she will send all applications for posts to the appropriate school, and confirm interview dates with candidates once the preferred candidate has been through the selection process, she will then update the single central record, input staff details onto SIMS and provide instructions to payroll based on agreed contract data to ensure new starters are paid. 

Clare will also complete all administration for new contracts and contract changes in accordance with instructions from Headteachers. She will inform payroll through set procedures to ensure staff is paid as per the contract instructions received. 

Clare generates reports and provides support to Headteachers and the Director of Finance where information is needed based on HR policies. 

Clare updates information on SAS to ensure that the schools receive insurance based on staff absence.

Joshua started his journey in the Trust in 2017 as the IT technician for The Royal Liberty School. While in this role he got involved with supporting one of the Assistant Headteachers in creating spreadsheet reports for staff and it is from ehre that his passion for the analysis and presentation of data began. 

At the end of 2018, he became the Data Officer for Redden Court School and The Royal Liberty School, and in 2021 the whole of the Trust. He has been responsible for creating and maintaining sheets to assist staff in tracking: progress, behaviour and attendance in their departments and continues to develop new and more efficient ways to convey this data. He also provides regular reports to Trustees with a general overview and comparison of data from all schools within the Trust. 

Joshua is also responsible for taking care of, and ensuring that the relevant people have access to the various management systems that the schools across the Trust use, including Go4Schools and SMID. In addition, he assists in researching and implementing new data management systems to match the needs of the schools in the Trust. He is excited for the new challenges working for the Trust will bring.

Jamie joined the Royal Liberty School in 2021. He has brought over ten years of extensive experience in the IT industry, supporting businesses of all shapes, sizes and varying technologies.

Since joining, he has already succeeded in moving the entirety of Royal Liberty School out of their temporary accommodation back into the newly refurbished Hare Hall building. He has undertaken projects himself, ensuring that the school's network is kept in pristine condition. He has streamlined the school into a paperless environment with Year 6 transitions, to name a few achievements.

In September, Jamie moved into the Trust Strategic Network Manager role and is responsible for the trust’s ICT vision in all of its capacity. With unity and security at the heading of his role, he leads with research and experience-backed solutions to ensure schools throughout the trust run reliably, are easy to use and secure whilst continuously building towards future-proofing technologies for the long term.

Some of Jamie’s future projects include unifying schools across the trust with their printing solutions, phone systems, paperless technologies and backup solutions so that IT support is provided to both staff and students more efficiently.

Jeanette has worked hard to streamline and standardise the Trust attendance procedures and policies across all three schools, so that our high expectations are consistent and unified.

Jeanette works closely with our excellent Attendance Officers in the three schools and is responsible for promoting excellent attendance, providing legal guidance aroudn school attendance legislation and offerign support. It is a proven fact that excellent attendance is directly linked to acheivement and it is of course, one of the important life skills that prepares our young people for the world beyond school.

The welfare part of Jeanette's role is very important to her, working with students/families to overcome barriers and life challenges that impact on attendance to school.

Miffy has recently been appointed as the Health & Safety Operations Officer for all 5 schools within the trust. Miffy ensures all the Risk Assessments are prepared and communicated to staff and offers advice and support to staff on health and safety matters. Miffy keeps up to date with any legislation changes or reports from the HSE or any reports that come from the Local Authority. These are then communicated throughout all the schools to ensure everyone is kept safe.

Miffy supports the Site Teams and the Director of Operations, working in partnership with them to provide efficient and consistent approaches to estate and health and safety management.