Our Trustees

Mandy began her teaching career in mainstream primary and then followed a purposeful career path into specialist education. Having worked  as a teacher of primary children with SEMH, she has spent the last 13 years as a senior leader. As SEMH lead for a mixed MAT in Darlington, Mandy was fortunate to lead  the opening the first primary SEMH free school in 2013 which grew significantly and provided places for children across the North-East and Tees Valley.  Mandy was awarded the MBE in 2017 for recognition of her services to special education.   Mandy is currently the VP for Teaching, Learning and Assessment for Horizons Trust. 

Mandy states : "I am privileged to have loved every minute of my career in education and continue to be passionate about the education of our children; particularly those children with additional difficulties to overcome. I believe in the right of every child to receive an excellent education and maintain high expectations of outcomes irrespective of barriers.” Mandy’s appointment to the Lion Academy Trust is welcomed by the Trust Board and Executive who look forward to benefiting from her extensive SEND experience and shared values that have made the Trust so successful to date. 

Barbara joins the Lion Academy Trust as a highly experienced governor and trustee working across the education and charity sectors. Barbara has lead on restructuring of senior leadership teams in the maintained sector and has extensive construction, funding and governance leadership expertise. As a previously practicing solicitor, Barbara also brings a well honed set of skills in risk management, procurement and contract management and will bring these considerable skills to her role as Trustee.

Justin has been a headteacher and executive headteacher for over ten years, an early years specialist, dive master and hockey coach. He was approached by the Department of Education in September 2011 to turn Barclay Primary School into a multi-academy trust and assume the role of Chief Executive Officer. With a history of only ever working in the most difficult schools with complex needs, high deprivation and mobility, and low outcomes, Justin led the formation of the Lion Academy Trust (2011) and the Lion Education Trust (2014) to provide structural solutions and support for schools in need of rapid and sustained improvement. Since 2012, Justin and his team have sponsored and converted three inner- and six outer-London schools.
As the Executive Principal of Barclay Primary, Justin oversaw the achievement of the "outstanding" Ofsted judgments in 2016 and 2021, he continues to drive standards, aspirations and expectations across all the schools in the Trusts.

Oliver is a project management professional working for a large utility company in the renewable energy industry. Oliver has worked on the development and construction of many large scale wind farm projects since graduating from Loughborough University with a Master’s degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering in 2011. Oliver is skilled in project delivery & oversight, commercial negotiation, process design and improvement, and people management and development.

Oliver has a particular interest in the promotion of STEM subjects and the wide and varied careers these subjects can lead young people to.

Robin is a fully qualified teacher and professional musician, working as an assistant head and previously as an AST in music. Robin has been performing for over 20 years a cellist, playing internationally and leading orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, and has recorded four solo albums and contributed to many others.

Robin has been the Barclay Primary School Chair of Governors for over 10 years, working as a governor and chair, and acts the safeguarding lead for the Lion Academy Trust in his role as trustee. Robin is keenly motivated by retaining a critical overview of whole school performance, and played a critical role during the recent Ofsted outstanding judgement at that school.

Robin’s career has seen him working as a teacher at the Royal College of Music for over 25 years where he teaches cello and working as an orchestral coach. As a professional musician and teacher, he has previously acted as the Head of Strings at Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith – broadening his reach across the primary and secondary phases. Robin’s role as chair of the Barclay Secondary School PAB is thus based on both his Trustee role but also his excellent understanding of data, performance and working with the Trust and staff to achieve the highest outcomes.

Hannah joined the LAT Board as a Trustee in 2025. She is also a member of the Audit Committee. Both Hannah’s children attended Sybourn Primary School from daycare through to Year 6. She was a member of the school’s Parental Advisory Body for 8 years, including 5 years as the chair. During this time, she worked closely with the school leadership team and Trust Executive Team to support the school’s transition to an Outstanding school.

Hannah is a Director of an independent research and consultancy company delivering research and evaluation support to central government departments, local authorities and other public and voluntary and community sector clients. She has worked in research and evaluation since 2013, focusing on children and families, social care, health, homelessness and criminal justice. Before this she worked in service delivery roles in drug and alcohol and family support services. This means she has specialist safeguarding knowledge, and a nuanced understanding of the crucial role of education in improving children’s life chances.