Trustees Update| 27 March 2024

Matthew Bowler

I am an experienced school and system leader with a wide and diverse range of leadership responsibilities held in secondary education over the last 30 years. The bulk of my career has been spent in six different secondary schools in Greater Manchester in a range of teaching, middle leadership and senior leadership roles.

After building extensive experience in school leadership in varied and challenging settings I became a Headteacher and was instrumental in driving whole school improvement in teaching and learning, curriculum and inclusion support.

Following these successes, I took on roles in school-to-school collaboration and system leadership as both an Executive Headteacher and CEO of a partnership of six secondary schools and a sixth form college. This Trust saw considerable success in improving provision and outcomes which led directly to the formation of a multi-academy trust.

Over the next 5 years working as CEO with a small number of school leaders and Directors I built a new MAT and developed an organisation that aimed to provide a high quality education to learners based on the three key principles of support, challenge and collaboration.

Following relocation to North Devon in 2021 I have worked as both a governor and leader within education in the area. I am now working as a consultant providing school improvement support to schools and trusts in Devon. My main passion as a leader has always been developing others, primarily the children who are the ones whose lives and futures are shaped by the education we provide, but also the school teams who commit to the important mission of providing high quality education. I have learned much through all of my experiences and I am keen to utilise my learning and skills to the benefit of the mission of DSLS and to learn more myself.

I am married and have two children. My personal interests include writing, reading, travel, football and exploring the wonderful coastline of the south-west.

Jo Hunter 

I started my career in East Sussex having trained at the Roehampton Institute of Education, studying education, music and RE.  I focused on teaching primary-aged children and loved the variety of teaching this age group.  I also enjoyed leading music and English as a subject leader in two different schools.  Next, I took on the role of Deputy Headteacher, with a year 5/6 teaching commitment and SENDCO/English lead role in a small community school and then was appointed as headteacher – staying a total of 14 years.  I also had the opportunity to support another school during this time in the role of Exec headteacher.

I then took the decision to move to working in West Sussex and was headteacher of 1.5 FE VA primary school which we then grew to 2-form entry.  I learnt a lot about construction and building regulations at that time, working closely with the governors, local authority, local community and the Diocese of Chichester.  In all my work in schools, what has supported and sustained me as a headteacher has been the strong partnerships and collaborative working across schools – sharing resources, training and expertise for the benefit of a wider group of children and staff.

We then took the decision to relocate to Gloucestershire where I worked for a year as a headteacher of a small primary school, which was in the process of closing and had a very transient community which included over 75% families from the traveller community.   I was then appointed to work with the Diocese of Exeter Education Team as Deputy Director and Interim Director which included supporting the family of schools over Covid.  I really appreciated all that schools did to reach out to children and families during this time, they showed such commitment and excellence as servant leaders at a time of extreme pressure, risk and uncertainty.

I have recently relocated to Devon and am currently employed as Senior Adviser for Christian Distinctiveness for the Diocese of Exeter Education Team.  I am privileged to work across the diocesan family of schools providing support, guidance, advice and training.  This includes supporting the development and embedding of school’s Christian visions, collective worship, RE, spirituality and courageous advocacy alongside support for SIAMS inspections (Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools).  I look forward to supporting the Devon Schools Leadership Service (DSLS) in my role as trustee and helping to drive forward the shared mission and vision ‘For Schools – With Schools – By Schools’.

E office@devonsls.co.uk     T  01392 325890     W devonsls.co.uk    

Registered office:

c/o Monkerton Community Primary School, Sestertius Road, Monkerton, Exeter, EX1 3WS - Registered Charity Number 1186756

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