ACE People
Within our ACE Schools we have a number of teams working collaboratively together along with our Central Services Team. Our Central Services team offer professional advice, support and guidance and are based at our Totnes St John’s Primary School.
Cheryl has undertaken a variety of leadership roles throughout her career including Headteacher of Shaldon Primary. Under her leadership Shaldon achieved an Outstanding OFSTED, a national Character Education Award and a nomination for Primary School of the Year. Cheryl is a National Leader of Education (NLE) and is passionate about impactful school improvement. She has a particular interest in character and values-led education that develops excellent outcomes for all children. In 2016, Cheryl and the Governors created The Academies for Character and Excellence. Academic excellence, character education and metacognition continue to be the driver for this Trust with the development of a bespoke curriculum, ‘A Curriculum for Excellence’. Cheryl has continued to develop as a leader, completing an MBA in 2023, with a focus on culture, strategic leadership and innovative organisational design.
Cheryl Weyman
CEO of The Academies for Character and Excellence
Katy was deputy Head at Collaton St Mary, before moving to her current Headship at Galmpton, 7 years ago. As well as being Headteacher, she is also an ACE Strategic Advisor for Galmpton, Torre and Shaldon; along with being the Strategic Lead for Special Educational Needs across the Trust.
Katy Burns
ACE Strategic Advisor
William initially joined the Trust as Headteacher of Redhill’s Community Primary School in Exeter (now St Gabriel’s C of E). He progressed to Headteacher for Totnes St John’s leading the school to a Good OFSTED rating from the previous Inadequate rating. He is also an ACE Strategic Advisor and has been supporting a number of Management Partnership schools. He leads on standards and assessments across the Trust and is very interested in evidence based leadership.
William Jaworski
ACE Strategic Advisor
Wendy has a background of working within education as a Safeguarding Officer and SEND lead for many years and progressing to become Strategic Safeguarding and Inclusion Lead within the Trust. Wendy has a specialist interest in strategic safeguarding, training and enjoys working collaboratively with the Trust’s safeguarding teams in ensuring children are safe with the best outcomes. She leads on the strategic safeguarding and inclusion.
Wendy Parr
Safeguarding & Inclusion Lead
Ben became the Headteacher at Brixham Primary School in January 2023, having been both a deputy Head and then Headteacher at Collaton St Mary prior to this. In September 2022, Ben became an ACE Strategic Advisor with responsibility for Collaton St Mary, Brixham and Berry Pomeroy’. In this role, Ben continues to be a Headteacher, whilst supporting these schools and raising the standards in Maths across the Trust.
Ben Nelson-Smith
ACE Strategic Advisor
Sam holds a BSc (hons) in Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management and has worked for over 15 years in educational catering, developing leadership, decision-making and organisation skills. Sam has provided consultancy externally around school food, supporting local schools with their in-house provision, overseeing operations to make improvements and efficiencies. Sam is a dedicated professional, passionate about improving pupils' health and nutrition, food education and community partnerships. Sam enjoys coordinating operations across multiple sites, driving operational excellence to support Trust strategy, and overseeing estates and facilities management with a focus on health and safety.
Sam Ward
Operations Lead
I’m really passionate about providing children with healthy and nutritional food that is tasty and enjoyable to eat. I’ve spent the last 5 years working and managing a school kitchen where all meals were cooked from scratch using seasonal and local products. Before working in school catering, I worked in many different catering establishments including vegetarian restaurants, pubs, hotels and even VIP stadium lounges in Australia.
Stacey Szender
Catering Services Manager
Greg has an extensive facilities background and has worked within the hospitality industry before moving to Devon. Greg has been working within education for over two years with a focus on school site management, estates and health and safety. Greg ensures that the Trust remains compliant and he particularly enjoys collaborating and working on various estates projects with the schools.
Greg Minns
Estates and Facilities Manager
Rozel, an Associate member of the CIPD, has worked for the Trust since 2016 and is now the Trust People and Governance Lead. Rozel worked within the private sector in HR for a number of years prior to joining the Trust, and also ran her own HR consultancy for SMEs. Rozel enjoys working collaboratively across the Trust and taking part in Strategic Trust projects.
Rozel Ridgway
People Lead
Charlotte has joined our People Team as the People Advisor. Charlotte has worked within Administration for over 25 years during that time she has worked in a HR for 7 years. Charlotte has two older children and enjoys walking with her little dog Lily.
Charlotte Wilson
People Advisor
Hannah has a background in
HR and education and has been part of the education sector for over 15 years. Hannah works collaboratively across the Trust advising and supporting all employees and offering specialised advice and guidance to all headteachers and the
senior leadership teams.
Hannah Fleet
People Advisor
Natalie has been involved in governance in education settings since 2015. She has performed a number of roles both as a governor, chair of governors and clerk to governors for a variety of schools. Natalie enjoys the many faceted areas of governance and the role it plays in school improvement and compliance.
Natalie Stanbury
Governance Professional
Lucy was appointed as the Executive Assistant to the CEO of the Trust in September 2022. She previously worked in HR within the public sector for 20 years. Lucy works collaboratively across the Trust with the Business Team, Board Members and schools and is enjoying working within the educational environment.
Lucy Milton
Executive Assistant
to the Trust CEO
Lisa joined the Trust in October 2018 and has worked in finance for over twelve years. In her role as Finance Officer Lisa deals with the daily financial and administrative work within the accounts department of the Trust. Professionalism, integrity and collaboration are key values that Lisa holds to the forefront of all her work.
Lisa Borrill
Finance Officer
Jacinta joined the Trust’s Finance Department as a Finance administrator. She has over 40 years of financial experience having worked in various industries including banking, retail and manufacturing. She is now enjoying working within an educational environment, enabling her to apply her experience to the Trust’s financial systems and processes.
Jacinta Nicholls
Finance Administrator
Nick was appointed as the Trust CFO in September 2022. Nick graduated from the University of Exeter and qualified as a Chartered Accountant whilst on the Graduate scheme at PKF Francis Clark. Nick is highly motivated to draw upon 15 plus years of senior finance management experience, across a number of different industry sectors, for the benefit of the Trust and most importantly the young people we serve.
Nick Jones Whyte
Chief Finance Officer
Jess joined the Trust in September 2020 initially starting as an apprentice, completing her level 3 AAT alongside her work. After completing her A-Levels in Business, Economics and French, she felt like a finance apprenticeship was the perfect fit and was delighted when the opportunity arose with the Trust. She works alongside the rest of the finance team with a particular focus on the purchase ledger.
Jessica Ainscough
Finance Assistant