Meet our judges

Ali is Chief Executive at the Youth Sport Trust, a children’s charity building belonging and wellbeing through play and sport.

Ali joined this charity in 2004, becoming the CEO in 2016. Prior to this Ali was the Deputy Director of Sport at the University of Bath, having started her career as a teacher in Essex. Ali is a Trustee of Youth United Foundation.

Ali holds an honorary doctorate of the University of Bath. In 2020 she was recognized as the Best Leader in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies and was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.  

Amanda is the headteacher of a primary school in south London. She has a Masters Degree in Coaching and Mentoring Practice and uses her experience to help individuals become more aware of their abilities and move forward in their careers. In 2025 Amanda received an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Cumbria for her outstanding contribution to teacher education. She has recently embarked on her PhD studies where her research will explore headteacher emotions during critical incidents involving students. Amanda is a member of the Royal Borough of Greenwich Educate Against Racism group and is a non-executive board member for the Greenwich Learning Partnership.

Annamarie Hassall MBE is Chief Executive of Nasen – the National Association for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) - the leading membership charity that exists to champion, connect and support those working in the education community from the early years to schools, post-16, specialist schools and wider settings, with and for children and young people with SEND and learning differences.

Annamarie has held local, national and government advisory roles that span the breadth of education, children’s social care, early years and SEND. Annamarie is steadfast in her resolve that high-quality education should be a right for all children and young people.

Chris is currently Director of Impact at the Education Endowment Foundation and Vice-Chair of Ofqual. His core role at EEF includes overseeing the work of the teams most directly related to EEF's impact activity: Policy; Mobilisation; Communications; Content and Engagement; and Evidence Synthesis. Prior to joining the EEF, Chris was Senior Policy Adviser to the Secretary of State for Education for 7 years.

Dame Alison Peacock is Chief Executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, a charitable Professional Body that seeks to empower a knowledgeable and respected teaching profession through membership and accreditation. Prior to joining the Chartered College, Dame Alison was Executive Headteacher of The Wroxham School in Hertfordshire. Her career to date has spanned primary, secondary and advisory roles.

She is an Honorary Fellow of Queens' College Cambridge, Hughes Hall Cambridge and UCL, a Visiting Professor of Glyndŵr University and a trustee for Big Change, the Helen Hamlyn Trust and an adviser to the Institute for Educational & Social Equity.  She is a Director of the Edge Foundation, a Member of the Star Academies Trust and has honorary degrees from the University of Brighton, University of Bath Spa and University of Greenwich. She is a Deputy Lieutenant for Hertfordshire. Her research is published in a series of books about Learning without Limits offering an alternative approach to inclusive school improvement.

A former secondary school headteacher, Christine was Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector at Ofsted from 2006 to 2011. She returned to Ofsted as Chair last September. She has substantial local authority experience as both director of education and chief executive.

Christine is also the Chair of the Education Endowment Foundation. An Honorary Professor of Practice at UCL, she is involved in a range of education projects. Christine has a keen interest in place-based school partnership and co-chairs the national organisation for area-based education partnerships (AEPA).

Dr David James is an English teacher and a Deputy Head at a leading independent girls’ school in London; he also teaches at a local state school. He is the author of several books on education, an editor of study guides and literary texts, and a regular contributor to national newspapers and magazines on cultural, as well as educational, matters.  His latest book, co-authored with Jane Lunnon, is 'Schools of Thought: Lessons to learn from schools doing things differently’, which was published by Bloomsbury last year.

Durell is Head of Governance at RSAcademics and works with boards in the UK and overseas on developing governance potential in standalone schools and within groups. After twenty years in school leadership positions, he spent eleven years at ISI where he was responsible for liaising with heads, governors, local authorities, ISC Associations, Ofsted and the DfE about safeguarding and quality assurance. He has been a governor in a variety of schools, including overseas, state maintained, independent charitable foundations and a for profit group. From 2018-2022 he was Chair of the ISEB. Currently Chair of the ISBA inspections committee, he is also a specialist education partner at Alder, a communications and crisis management consultancy, and on the advisory board of The Wellbeing Hub

James Bowen is Assistant General Secretary at the NAHT, where he leads the organisation’s policy, research, press and communications teams. He is the former Headteacher of a junior school in Hampshire and has held a number of other leadership positions in schools, including Deputy Headteacher, SENCO and subject leader. James has particular expertise in a number of key policy areas including: funding, assessment, accountability and curriculum. He is a regular education blogger and appears regularly on television and radio as an NAHT spokesperson.

John Roberts is Interim CEO of Oak National Academy. A co-founder of the organisation, he previously led the product and engineering team behind Aila, the UK’s first publicly funded generative AI tool for mass use, designed to support efficient, high-quality lesson planning. Before Oak, John worked as a teacher and senior leader in the North West of England. He has since collaborated with a wide range of education organisations, from early-stage start-ups to multi-academy trusts, as well as established companies and charities, bringing practical classroom insight and system-level expertise to judging with focus on impact, innovation, and outcomes for schools.

Julie Robinson is state school educated but has worked for most of her career in independent schools.  She began her career as a teacher and was then head of two Sussex prep schools. She worked for the prep schools’ association IAPS for five years before joining the Independent Schools Council in 2015.

ISC is the umbrella body for associations representing heads, governors and bursars in independent schools, aiming to inform and promote independent education widely, rebutting untruths, explaining the value of independent schools and the importance of parental choice. ISC’s research and data analysis informs advocacy of the sector and Julie promotes sector-wide messaging, appearing in the national media, including Newsnight, Sky, BBC and Channel 4 News. Julie represents independent education at national level in the media, to government and with policy-formers.

Julie is a governor for a state school and an independent school.  She is an enthusiastic advocate of partnerships and governance across all kinds of schools.

Leora Cruddas is the founding Chief Executive of the Confederation of School Trusts – the national organisation and sector body for school trusts in England.  She has advised successive governments and sits on several DfE advisory and partnership bodies. She also sits on the advisory board for Evidence Based Education and is a fellow of the RSA. She is an English teacher and has spent many years working in local government, latterly as a Director of Education in two London Local Authorities. She is Visiting Professor at UCL Institute of Education. Leora was awarded a CBE in the New Year’s Honours, 2022. She has recently published a book, New Domains of Educational Leadership.

Margaret Mulholland is the Inclusion Policy Specialist for ASCL after 20 years as a teacher and senior leader in mainstream, special settings and at UCL Institute of Education. She is an Honorary Norham Fellow at the Department of Education, University of Oxford, sits on the SEN Advisory Board for Challenge Partners and Whole Education, is a member for Liberty Academy Trust, fellow of The Chartered College of Teaching and was recently contributed to the Institute of Public Policy Research inclusion task force. She is a frequent media commentator on education as well as popular features on BBC Woman’s Hour and the One Show. Margaret works closely with schools & trusts across England as an advocate for inclusive practice and writes a regular column for Tes.

Mei leads the Reach Foundation’s cradle to career, place-based initiatives in Feltham, Hounslow. This includes the Feltham Convening Partnership, which brings together cross-sector individuals from different institutions to improve outcomes for babies, children, and young people in the local community. She now also leads the Foundation's C2C Accelerator programme, which helps clusters of schools develop models of support in their own communities. Prior to joining Reach, Mei was a headteacher and has experience in primary and secondary school leadership. She is a Governor for Capel Manor College and the Chair of Trustees for the charity Delight.

Pepe Di'lasio was most recently Headteacher at Wales High School, a 11-19 High school in Rotherham from September 2012 to March 2024.

Pepe began his teaching career in Doncaster before moving as Deputy Headteacher to an 11-19 outstanding school in Sheffield. Pepe has also worked as an Executive Headteacher of two high schools and more recently has been Assistant Director of Education for Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council.

Pepe is also a former Chair of ASCL Equality, Inclusion & Ethics Committee and ASCL President 2021-2022.  He was elected as ASCL General Secretary in 2023 and took over the role in April 2024.

Eunice Lumsden is Emeritus Professor of Child Advocacy at the University of Northampton and the former Head of Childhood Youth and Families.

Professor Lumsden has served on several government advisory groups and is a member of the Education and Early Years Route Panel advising Skills England on technical qualifications. She also led the development of the Early Childhood Graduate Competencies for the Early Childhood Studies Degree Network and is the Editor of the International Journal of Birth and Parent Education.  She has received several awards for her work, including a Lifetime Achievement award for services to Early Childhood.

Professor Samantha Twiselton, OBE is Emeritus Professor at Sheffield Hallam University. She is an independent education consultant and advisor for the English and other governments and other organisations. 

Sam’s expertise mainly focuses on teacher and school leader development. She sits on many government advisory groups.

In June 2018 she was a recipient of an OBE for services to Higher Education.

Simon has sat on the DfE panels developing both the Professional Standards for Teaching Assistants and the Standard for Teachers’ Professional Development and is currently representing SEND on the Teaching School Hubs Council. He has also supported the writing of the NPQ Behaviour and Culture, NPQ SENCO and DfE guidance on Initial Teacher Training: Special Schools and Alternative Provision. He regularly supports policy development, as well as contributing comment and content to a range of publications and events, on the theme of SEND. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Education by Brookes University for his work in SEND.

Simon Larter-Evans, a former Head of two very distinctive independent boarding schools, and one time chair of his regional IAPS group, is now enjoying a portfolio career at LifeNarratives© where he is a leadership coach, board reviewer, and celebrant. Simon is an independent panellist for school reviews and a trustee of three charities that support some of the most disadvantaged young people in the UK. Simon is an occasional contributor to the TES and other school management publications. Married to Dawn, who works in the tech sector, he enjoys cycling, gardening and long walks with their Airedale terrier, Parker.

Sinéad McBrearty is CEO at Education Support, the wellbeing charity for the education workforce across the UK.  She advocates for a systemic approach to wellbeing for the education workforce, attending to the individual, the workplace and the wider policy environment. 

Sinéad began her career at KPMG before moving to leadership roles in the not-for-profit sector. She has worked as an organisational development consultant and a lecturer and has been a school governor and a trustee at a number of charities including Kaleidoscope Trust and Groundswell.  

Sir David was the product of a comprehensive school in Cardiff and making a difference to the lives of dis-advantaged children has been a huge motivation for him. David studied music at Royal Holloway College, University of London and he became a music teacher in 1983.

In 1997 David became the headteacher of Cirencester Deer Park school and in 2003 the Principal at John Cabot City Technology College. David became the founding CEO of the Cabot Learning Federation in 2007.

David was appointed as the Regional Schools Commissioner for the South-West and later the National Schools Commissioner where his focus was firmly on building capacity so that the trusts that run our most challenging schools could sustain improvement over time.

Sir David continues to place family, music, golf and Cardiff City FC at the heart of his relaxation time and continues to be very proud of being awarded a knighthood for his services to education in the summer of 2013.

Steve Lancashire, founder and former CEO of REAch2, the largest primary academy trust in England, has over 35 years of educational experience, including 20 years as a headteacher in challenging settings. Knighted in 2016 for his contributions to education, Steve has influenced education nationally and internationally, including as lead adviser for the Department for Education’s London Challenge initiative.

In collaboration with Forum Strategy, Steve co-authored Reflections on Being the CEO, exploring leadership, public sector politics, and societal impact. Currently, Steve works as a consultant, coaching CEOs and helping leaders enhance their strategic, leadership, and organisational skills.

With 24 years of experience in education, I am deeply committed to helping young people achieve their full potential. My dedication is rooted in a belief that every student, regardless of their background or starting point, deserves the support and guidance necessary to thrive academically and personally. Drawing on both my expertise and personal journey, I frequently offer practical guidance on reasonable adjustments for autistic pupils in mainstream settings, reflecting on my family’s challenges and strengths to inform my approach.