Meet our Associates

Jenny Rankine

MEd, LLCM, Completing ILM (lev 5)

I enjoyed teaching music in both primary and secondary schools in both Scotland and England from 1988. My first leadership role as Head of Arts was when my interest in the impact of leadership began, leading to 12 years of senior leadership and most recently currently 7 years as Principal in a large comprehensive school on the outskirts of Cambridge.

My passion for school improvement led to study for a Master’s in Education at Cambridge in 2012 to investigate whether engaging in evidence- based research benefits school improvement. This work led to opportunities to work alongside the Cambridge Faculty of Education and Kazakhstan education system in a joint initiative between schools in UK and over the past 10 years we have led and developed successful teacher training and leadership workshops for Kazakh city schools.

Completing the ILM (lev 5) qualification allows an in-depth understanding of the skills and behaviours related to effective coaching. Through experience of coaching senior leaders in Primary and Secondary sectors both in the UK and Internationally it is evident to see the impact coaching has on developing a positive culture, allowing reflective communities to flourish.

Marianna Philippou

Executive Coaching ILM (lev 7)

Having worked in education for over 20 years and as a senior leader for 10, my career has been based on investing in people, in the futures of children and in the development of staff.

As an ILM Level 7 qualified coach, my passion is to help you find confidence in your abilities, to make careful and accurate decisions, to achieve high levels of self-awareness and to realise your full potential through reflection and discussion. My role is to help you to see that you hold the solutions to your own challenges.

Having coached in a variety of contexts and having established a strong coaching culture in my school, I have seen the impact this approach has both on an individual and on an organisation. 

Mark Little

My career in education, spanning nearly 30 years, started as a passionate music teacher, driven by wanting to help young people learn and grow. I naturally became inquisitive about effective leadership and the impact it could make. Successfully taking on a number of middle and senior leadership positions, I never underestimated the responsibility I had in ensuring the professional growth of the colleagues around me.

I have had the privilege of working in a number of schools, both in the UK and abroad, and have held two headship positions.  My most recent experiences have been in a school which has had coaching at its very core of existence. Part of a global network, the school not only had a coaching approach to leadership but ensured all staff were trained coaches.

This experience drives my passion for coaching. I have always believed that a successful organisation is fuelled by hope and energy. I now know this energy is sustained through the practice of powerful conversations that are solution focused and raise awareness of how we can create a preferred future- as both individuals and together.

After completing my PGCE in Secondary English in 2007, working in London, I secured my first role at a secondary school in Tower Hamlets. I completed my NQT year in 2009 and remained at the same school for five years, becoming Second-in-Charge of a highly successful English department, regularly securing over 90% A*-C grades on consecutive occasions. I then qualified as an Advanced Skills Teacher and led professional development workshops, individual teacher mentoring and support and training programmes for other education settings, including local alternative provision.

In 2013, I became Head of English in a school in Essex before quickly becoming an Assistant Principal in charge of Teaching and Learning. In 2018, I became Principal of the school at 33, a role I remained in for 7 years. During that time, I led the school to its best ever outcomes, consistently achieving attainment scores well above the national average, secured three 'Good' Ofsted inspections, rejuvenated the facilities through selling a small piece of school land in order to build a state-of-the-art multi-purpose sports pitch and tennis courts, expanded the curriculum by creating new subjects such as dance, economics and media studies and successfully navigated the school through the perils of the global pandemic never losing sight of the key purpose; to provide the best educational offer for the young people that the school serves.

Having completed an NPQEL, I am now enrolled on the ILM Level 7 coaching certificate with the British School of Coaching. I am also a facilitator for a Teaching Hub, running the NPQ in Headship course, a Specialist Leader in Education and provided bespoke coaching for a range of education leaders and talks for a range of educational organisations on various topics such as tackling ‘imposter syndrome’ to enable the best outcomes for young people.

Roger Knowles

BA (hons)

Roger has over 23 years experience teaching Conflict Resolution, De-escalation Techniques, managing Challenging Behaviours, Breakaway Techniques, Control and Restraint (including Clinical Holding in clinical settings), Defensive Skills and Communication Techniques amongst other disciplines. He has worked with the Security Teams at numerous Hospital Trusts, a British Embassy (training the Guard Force and Gurkha contingent at the British Embassy, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo), The Iraqi Oil Protection Police, Aid & Development Workers for large International Charities, doctors, dentists, nurses, porters and general staff, as well as school teachers, college lecturers, prison service personnel and field representatives of a multi-national pharmaceutical company. 

He has attended the NHS Security Management Service (later NHS Protect) Conflict Resolution familiarisation, the Patient Safer & Therapeutic Services (PSTS) course in dealing with aggressive subjects with mental health issues and completed the Teamwork, Low Level Interventions and Breakaway Training with Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust. Roger has also been involved in the Social & Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) training with schools in Northampton. 

He is a First Aid instructor through Emergency First Response, a Manual Handling Instructor and a 6th dan Black Belt in Ju Jitsu which he teaches at his own club based in Northampton for the last 31 years.

He also holds a BA (hons) in Graphic Design.

I began my career as a teacher of English and Drama in a Norfolk secondary school in 1982. A few years later I became a SENDCO and for the next twelve years this experience honed and developed my leadership skills and approaches. From this post I was appointed as a Deputy Headteacher and became Headteacher less than a year later. During these years, I was seconded twice to work at senior adviser level with a large local authority, in the latter secondment working with integrated teams and coaching leaders from a wide range of public sector contexts including police, social care, youth justice and human resources. I was privileged to work as a Headteacher for the next twelve years before leaving to take up a substantive post as Senior Adviser with the local authority.

I completed my Masters in Education at the University of Cambridge in 1998; since then, I have worked as an Associate Lecturer for Anglia Ruskin University, working mainly on postgraduate courses and the MBA in Educational Leadership. At the same time, I was employed by a large MAT as Director of their leadership development and training. I am energised by lifelong learning and enjoy working with individuals, teams and larger groups either as facilitator or coach. I have developed and delivered courses for leaders which include Coaching Techniques to Enhance Leadership and Women in Leadership and have extensive experience in writing and delivering materials for previous and current National Professional Qualifications.

My experience and my research have taught me that teams work best when a positive and safe culture is the anchor for improvement through challenge, creativity and personal growth. Coaching is one of the most effective leadership approaches and a vital tool in establishing such a culture.