Richard studied History at the University of Huddersfield and undertook his PGCE at the University of Sheffield. Through this Richard developed a love of Early Modern British History, especially the Tudor period.

He began teaching in 2002 in Oxfordshire. He became Head of History in 2005 and then Faculty Leader for Humanities in 2007, where he led and managed the History, Geography, RE, Sociology, Psychology, Philosophy and Law departments. Following nearly 10 years in middle leadership Richard returned to the north of England as an Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning at a school in Rotherham.

Richard joined Silverdale School to pursue his passion for post-16 education and became Head of Sixth Form in 2016. In 2017 Silverdale School recorded the best ever A-level results and this significantly contributed to the school being recognised as the best state secondary in the north by the Sunday Times.  After a successful year when Richard supported SLT as a Deputy Headteacher, he was successful in becoming a full-time, permanent Deputy Headteacher in 2018.

Samira joined Silverdale School in 2014, originally as Assistant Headteacher. She has worked at a number of local secondary schools and has taught abroad in Washington DC and Kashmir. She studied Economics and Accountancy at the University of Sheffield, before training as a teacher.

During her career she has been involved with London Challenge, a school improvement programme which originated in the capital and saw dramatic improvement in underperforming schools.

She is relentless in her drive to raise and maintain high standards in education, with a focus on achieving excellent student outcomes, particularly for those young people who are vulnerable and/or disadvantaged. She is passionate about ensuring that all students have the opportunity to achieve success and played an instrumental role in the ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted judgement in November 2014, leading on Pupil Progress and Assessment. She now also oversees the Strategic Co-ordination of the Sixth Form.

Jenny joined Silverdale in 2007 as an English teacher and held several whole school posts before becoming Assistant Head responsible for Teaching and Learning in 2018. 

Prior to joining Silverdale, Jenny taught in a range of settings in the primary, secondary and adult education sector in the UK, and in extra-curricular language schools when she lived in Spain and Japan.  It was while working as a Lecturer with international post-graduate students at Durham University that she recognised the need to bring Academic Literacy pedagogy to the secondary classroom.

Her work on literacy strategies has featured in case studies with the National Literacy Trust and NALDIC (National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum), and she has presented at regional and national conferences.  In 2017 Jenny became a trainer on the EAL in the Mainstream Programme funded by the Bell Foundation and EEF.  She has worked extensively with NQT and ITT colleagues since joining Silverdale. 

Jenny’s current work includes developing a coaching culture at Silverdale and delivering a whole school approach to reading that seeks to address the social, linguistic and cognitive issues faced by struggling readers. 

Kathy has been working in Sheffield schools since 2008 after graduating from the University of Sheffield with a degree specialising in Sociology and Social Policy. Kathy has a PGCE from the University of Leicester and teaches Sociology and Psychology; she joined Silverdale in 2021 as an Assistant Headteacher with responsibility for Professional Development.

During her career, Kathy has worked in several secondary settings across the UK and has had a number of different roles, including ITT Coordinator, Deputy Head of House, Professional Tutor and Trust Director for Professional Development. Kathy has extensive experience of training Early Career teachers, is a qualified coach and is currently completing her NPQSL.

Kathy is relentless in her drive to raise and maintain high standards of teaching and believes our role as educators should be to offer quality teaching and learning, to enable staff to grow and afford students of all abilities and backgrounds opportunities to achieve their aspirations.

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