ISA Awards 2024

Paul Bevis (FFCCT) has more than fifty year’s experience as a teacher and school leader in the independent sector. Paul retired as Headteacher of Claires Court Girls and Co-Ed Sixth form in 2017.  Since then he has led many ISA courses and national conferences and worked as a school improvement partner for multi-academy trusts and individual schools. Paul has been an A Level Chief Examiner, is the co-author of three academic text books and teacher guides and is a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching (FFCCT).

Nick has taught History and Politics at state and independent schools and is an Honorary Fellow of the Schools History Project. He is Deputy Head Academic at Kellett School, The British International School in Hong Kong, which on the Spears/Carfax index is ranked as one of the top 100 schools in the world. He is a co-presenter of a series of documentary films for the World History Project and serves as a board member for a variety of international and national education organisations. Nick’s work has been published widely, including contributions to academic books, resources for students and literary magazines.

Born in Romford, Essex, he attended Brentwood School.  He worked in the pharmaceutical industry, started to train as an actuary, but office life did not suit him, so he entered the teaching profession and found that was the niche he wanted to occupy. He began teaching in a primary school in Tilbury docks, then he taught STEM subjects in a prep school, before becoming Headmaster of More House School Frensham.

His qualifications include BA (Hons), QTS and FRSB.

He was Headmaster of More House School in Farnham from 1993 until 2015 when he became Principal of The More House Foundation. More House School provides high quality education and pastoral care for boys aged eight to eighteen who might be bright,  but struggle in mainstream schools due to SEND issues. When he joined the school there were 69 pupils, when he left there were 470, around half funded by some 35 LAs on EHCPs, the rest privately funded.    

The More House Foundation aims to open other schools similar to the one in Farnham, to offer expert SEND help to independent and maintained schools and to also specialise in training and research into SpLD, language and social communication issues.

Barry is an Independent Trustee of the ISA and makes pre-compliance inspections of schools.  He chairs the ISC Advisory Group for SEND.  He has represented the ISC in discussions with DfE and other official bodies He has spoken at educational conferences and gives advice to fellow Heads who encounter problems with SEND legislation. He has been  an adviser to A Class of Your Own, a social enterprise group, who run Design, Engineer, Construct courses at several levels.

In 2014, he was awarded an OBE by the Queen for Services to Education.

Married with 2 children, one of whom has followed in his footsteps and is Headteacher at a Primary School in the North East and the other a Consultant at a large teaching hospital.

Barry would like to offer help in all aspects of SEND including EHCPs and relationships with LAs and Tribunals. Additionally school development and vocational studies.

Email:

[email protected]

Phone:

07900 698 892

Amanda Kirby was the Headmistress at Cundall Manor School until her retirement in 2022.

Education is much more than academic learning within a classroom and Amanda passionately believes that the ‘soft skills’ and character development that comes from an enriching programme is vital, not only in school, but also in the world that lies beyond education.

Amanda inspects with ISI as both a Team and Compliance Inspector and uses these skills as part of the ISA Inspection committee.   

With 3 adult children, now all following their passions, Amanda understands how encouraging our pupils to try new experiences and to push themselves beyond their comfort zone will open a whole new world of opportunity.

Angie is a communications expert with over 25 years’ experience in marketing and public relations.

As a Senior Press Officer with the Metropolitan Police Service, Angie worked on some of the biggest news stories of the last three decades, including the inquest into the death of Princess Diana and the Millennium Dome Diamond Robbery.

In 2011, Angie joined the Independent Schools Association as Marketing and Communications Manager, working with ISA schools across the UK. Angie supported ISA’s member schools with marketing and PR, wrote and edited the newsletter and magazine and worked closely with stakeholders including ISC and DfE.

Angie established Inkstream PR in 2015 to help schools, universities and education companies communicate more effectively. Working with creative agencies, Angie is a conceptual copywriter for leading brands and was recently appointed Communications Lead for EDI training consultancy Radius Networks.

Andrew Hampton is a former Chair of ISA and former director of ISI. He has trained aspirant and new Headteachers in the independent sector using the popular 'Leading an Independent School' online course for the last 10 years and his particular focus has been on finance and governance. Andrew stepped down from the Headship of the multi-award winning Thorpe Hall School in July ‘21 after 14 years in post. At Thorpe Hall he built up the pupil roll from 300 to 411, and garnered funds for projects worth over £4m during his tenure.

Tamazin Steele is the Executive Director of ISTIP and has oversight of the overall management and strategic direction of the organisation. She has worked for ISTIP since 2015; before that, she taught for 15 years in a large secondary school in South West London. Prior to qualifying as a teacher Tamazin worked for an investment bank.

Tamazin is co-chair of Governors at a primary school in SW London.