{"id":234672,"date":"2025-09-15T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=234672"},"modified":"2025-09-15T11:40:37","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T10:40:37","slug":"movers-and-shakers-womened-birmingham-council-transforming-lives-wolf-inclusion-e-act-sparx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/movers-and-shakers-womened-birmingham-council-transforming-lives-wolf-inclusion-e-act-sparx\/","title":{"rendered":"Movers and Shakers:\u00a0WomenEd, Birmingham council, Transforming Lives, Wolf Inclusion, E-ACT, Sparx"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This week\u2019s movers and shakers include a former chicken-catcher, skydiver, competitive swimmer and award-winning cadet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This column is our fortnightly guide<\/a> to who is moving where in the schools community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are keen to hear about appointments at a senior level. Please send submissions for this section to news@schoolsweek.co.uk<\/a> with \u2018Movers and shakers\u2019 in the subject line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keziah Featherstone<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Chair and treasurer, WomenEd<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start date: September<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current role: Executive trust leader, The Mercian Trust<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interesting fact: Keziah worked as a free-range chicken catcher in Somerset before she went to university. Everyone got paid based on how many chickens the full team caught. She lasted three shifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin Fitzwilliam<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Director of schools, Birmingham City Council<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start date: September<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former role: National education director \u2013 primary, E-ACT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interesting fact: Martin once went to the doctor with what he thought was a frozen shoulder, only to discover he\u2019d been carrying a poorly-mended broken arm from a rugby match years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helen Stevenson<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Interim CEO, Transforming Lives Educational Trust<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start date: August<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current role: Director, Satis Education<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interesting fact: When Helen was 18, she spent a week at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival before heading to university and ended up going on a date with a lion tamer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jude Macdonald<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Director, Wolf Inclusion<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start date: September<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current role: Director of inclusion, Keys Academies Trust<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interesting fact: Jude was a skydiver for many years. She has completed 1,300 skydives and has flown more hours in the wind tunnel than she cares to imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Niall Gallagher<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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National education director \u2013 secondary, E-ACT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start date: September<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former role: deputy national director \u2013 secondary, E-ACT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interesting fact: Niall swam competitively for Liverpool as a teenager, stopping only when he stopped growing and everyone else continued to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sir Charlie Mayfield<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Chair, Sparx Learning<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Start date: October<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current role: Chair of tech training company QA and leading the government\u2019s Keep Britain Working review<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interesting fact: Charlie was awarded the Sword of Honour at Sandhurst which is given to the Officer Cadet considered by the Commandant to be the best of the intake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Michaela staffer joins Sunak’s charity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A founding teacher of Michaela Free School has joined former prime minister Rishi Sunak\u2019s new charity to boost numeracy skills among schoolchildren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bodil Isaksen has been appointed chief programmes officer at The Richmond Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set up by Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, the charity aims to \u201csupport creative ways of tackling numeracy problems\u201d including among \u201cchildren struggling at school\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaksen was a founding programme director at prison recruitment charity Unlocked Graduates and more recently led edtech maths platform Dr Frost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will focus on practical, evidence-led programmes that help people use numbers in everyday settings at home, at work and in the community,\u201d she said of the new role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lizzie Gaisman, a former charity and finance worker, has been appointed chief executive of the charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunak said \u201ceducation is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet for changing lives \u2026 But when it comes to numeracy what we need most is cultural change. If we can give more people confidence with numbers, we can change lives and boost social mobility in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s movers and shakers include a former chicken-catcher, skydiver, competitive swimmer and award-winning cadet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":234472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[679],"post-theme":[3304],"class_list":["post-234672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-movers-and-shakers","post-theme-movers-and-shakers"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t