Our Central Team (ID 1099)

• Gary Wilkie
  Chief Executive Officer
  Gary Wilkie

  In his over 25 years as a school leader, Gary has gained extensive knowledge and understanding of how successful schools work. Amongst his credits are membership of the NLE Fellowship in 2015 and the NAHT School Improvement Commission in 2020. He was a member of the DfE Expert Advisory Group on Wellbeing.

  He was the founding CEO of the Learning in Harmony Trust originally set up by two Newham schools Sheringham Primary School and JFK Special School. The trust now has 12 schools across London and South East Essex.

• Darren Woollard
  Deputy CEO
  Darren Woollard

  Darren has been a head teacher (and Executive Head Teacher) for over ten years, initially at Blenheim Primary School in the City of Southend, and more recently at other schools within our Trust. He is passionate about improving the Quality of Education for all pupils through his work as Deputy CEO, and leading on curriculum development. He particularly enjoys the opportunity to work with school leaders in a range of contexts.

  In Southend, Darren is the Chair of the Primary Heads' Association and the School Performance Group (part of the Education Board); and is a Local Leader of Education, NAHT branch secretary for Southend and a coach for head teachers.

• Jennifer Naish
  Chief Operating Officer
  Jennifer Naish

  Jennifer has been working in the public sector since 2001 in a variety of roles from a national charity dedicated to supporting individuals to protect their rights through free advice and advocacy, to local government positions within Children's Services and Education and Learning departments. She has been a director of a local charity as well as a governor of a large primary school. She joined Learning in Harmony in 2017 as Head of Governance, Risk and Compliance, and as the Trust has grown and centralised services her role has grown too; now working as the COO and overseeing the Director of Finance, Director of HR, Head of IT, Estates and Facilities Management, Governance and Media and Communications Officers.

• Ashley Eastwood
  Executive Leader
  Ashley Eastwood

  Ashley has been a head teacher for over 15 years, leading his second school through a process of expansion, amalgamation and ultimately academisation by joining the Learning in Harmony Trust family of schools. Ashley loves working in highly collaborative, creative and nurturing environments and has been involved with coaching and mentoring head teachers and other leaders over many years. He became an Executive Leader at Learning in Harmony in 2019 and has had many different responsibilities. Ashley now leads oversight of our SEND provisions as the Executive Leader working with JFK Special School & Connaught Special School and works strategically on SEND across all our schools.

• Jim Johnson
  Executive Leader
  Jim Johnson

  Jim has over 15 years experience as a head teacher. He has a strong belief that culture is at the heart of school improvement and therefore in his schools he has focussed on creating an environment which fostered collaboration, innovation, distributed leadership and professional development. Jim was attracted to bring his school to the Learning in Harmony as he felt that the Trust lives and breathes these values.

  Throughout his career, he has been committed to system-wide leadership. His roles have included: Local Leader of Education, School Improvement Partner and Director of School Improvement at Southend Primary Teaching School Alliance. As an Executive Leader, Jim works to support schools in the Trust, a significant element of his role is mentoring and coaching school leaders. In addition to this, he is responsible for leadership development across Learning in Harmony and the Trust's Initial Teacher Training partnership with Ambition Institute. He is a strong believer in the value of ongoing learning having completed an Advanced Diploma in School Improvement, the NPQH, and a Masters in Leadership.

• Emma Gleeson
  Executive Leader
  Emma Gleeson

  Emma became the Head Teacher at Drew Primary in 2012 and moved the school into the Learning in Harmony Trust in 2018. This decision was driven by her belief in collaboration and that a drive for continuous improvement should be at the heart of all schools. Emma comes from a family of educators and believes that a great education can change lives. Since joining the Trust and becoming an Executive Leader, Emma has had the opportunity to work with a variety of Deputies supporting them into a role as Head of School and then into Headship along with Leadership teams to continually improve their schools. Emma is also the strategic lead for Safeguarding in our Trust, she has also completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education Leadership along with an NPQEL.

• Raheema Patel
  Business and Infrastructure Lead Officer
  Raheema Patel

  Raheema been part of the Central Team since it was established in September 2014 and has responsibility for Estates, Multiple Sites Facilities Management, Managing Construction Projects and Health and Safety Compliance.

  She has over 20 years of experience working in schools carrying out business management functions with a focus on organisational leadership, strategic and critical thinking, innovation, effective communication, and project management.

  She works with cross-functional teams in our schools to provide clearly defined goals, guidance and resources to improve our estates and energy efficiency.

• Louise Pragnell
  Head of IT
  Louise Pragnell

  Louise has over 20 years of experience in Education ICT having started her career as a school-based technician for a Local Authority. Over the years, she has fulfilled various roles within this field such as ICT Learning and Resources Manager, ICT Operations Manager and is currently the Head of IT.
  
  Louise joined the Learning in Harmony team in 2015 and has overall responsibility for the strategic and operational delivery of IT across the Trust, including ICT support service delivery and large scale software implementation projects. Louise is passionate about enabling the best possible educational outcomes for our students and staff.

• Sarah Tyler
  HR Director
  Sarah Tyler

  As HR Director for Learning in Harmony Trust, Sarah has strategic responsibility for the Human Resources and Payroll function across the organisation. This incorporates all aspects of HR, including employee relations, policy development, recruitment and retention and HR metrics. The HR team manages the payroll function across the Learning in Harmony Trust and is continuously developing systems and processes to create efficiencies and enhance the employee experience.

• Tessa Hagger
  Interim Finance Director
  Tessa Hagger