Jane Bennett

About Me

I have held my current position of Vice Principal at Ormiston Rivers Academy since 2014 where my main responsibility is for Teaching, Learning and Assessment.  I work with teachers from across the school to develop outstanding teaching and learning and have designed a highly effective CPD programme that addresses the needs of teachers of different levels of experience.  This year, we have joined forces with another academy and I have designed a schedule tailored to the needs of staff from both schools.  A key part of my role is to monitor, assess and evidence the quality of Teaching Learning and Assessment in line with the new Ofsted framework and I also lead on all aspects of ITT, Students voice, work scrutiny and performance management.

Prior to this, I held the position of Senior Assistant Headteacher at The Hertfordshire and Essex High School, with specific responsibility for CPD and leadership development and Research and Development.  A significant element of my role at Herts & Essex was in leading the CPD, leadership development, Talent Management and Succession Planning strand of the teaching school agenda and I feel enormously proud of my contributions towards developing the Catalyst TSA.  As a result of working in this environment, I have extensive experience of designing and running a wide range of training programmes that centre on different aspects of teaching and learning and leadership and management.  I have worked with colleagues from different phases to ensure that training and development exactly meets the needs of teachers and leaders at all levels.  This has ranged from a regional EYFS network to developing NPQML and NPQSL delivery.  I have worked with individuals, departments, senior leadership teams and groups of schools to provide high quality of training and support for staff at different levels of experience and in many different areas of specialism.

As part of my role at Herts & Essex, I worked in partnership with Cambridge University on the ‘HertsCam’ Teacher led development work (TLDW).  I have experience of setting up and developing teacher led research communities and incorporating lesson study in school CPD programmes.

I am a languages teacher and teach German, French and Spanish.  Prior to joining the world of senior leadership, I was Head of MFL in two schools and in both cases, made a significant impact on the outcomes of all students.  I have much experience in training both ITTs and NQTs and am extremely competent in all aspects of leading and developing a department, be that MFL or otherwise.  Recently, in my role as SLE I supported an MFL department in a school in special measures, providing training and support for the Head of Languages and helping her to further develop and strengthen her team.  This intervention lead to improvements in the quality of teaching and learning and subsequently raised outcomes.

I am passionately committed to providing the best education possible to all students and an important part of both my current and previous roes has been the development of student voice and student leadership.