Members and Trustees

Trust Biographies

Kim Earle (MA, FRSA), Chief Executive Officer:

Kim has over 30 years’ experience in secondary education and fully took over as CEO of the Achieve and Learn Trust in January 2024. She has the highest aspirations for all students across our Trust and a belief that all our children and young people deserve a sound educational springboard from which to leap into the most fulfilling next stages of their lives. These guiding principles inform all her work in securing school improvement through collaboration with and across schools. Kim has completed the ASCL Trust Executive Leaders Programme: a twelve-month course where she collaborated with CEOs and Trust Execs from over 20 other MATs, the CST, NGA and University of Nottingham.

Kim has been a senior leader in a range of large mixed ability settings across the north west, including 11-16 and 11-18 schools, an all-through 3-18 academy where the school was moved from Good to Outstanding in two years, and as Headteacher of an 11-18 academy graded Good in all areas. In all of these settings she has secured swift improvement at whole school level and supported students and staff in reaching their full potential.

Kim also has substantial experience as a school improvement consultant, working for seven years at Local Authority level across 25 secondary, primary and special schools to support Quality of Education and curriculum provision, and working with a local previously ‘stuck’ secondary school to support them in moving from Inadequate to RI in a year.

Kim has been part of two DfE Steering Groups, has written two Art education books for teachers of SEND students and more able students, is a former Primary School Governor and previously a Director of the Bluecoat Display Centre in Liverpool. She is an active volunteer for the One Day Project on the Wirral and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

Danielle Taylor, Chief Finance Officer:

Danielle has over 20 years’ experience in the educational finance sector, having worked both at Local Authority and school level. She is a member of the Trafford Schools Funding Forum and has previously been secondary representative for the Local Authority’s delivery review. Danielle was appointed as CFO for our Trust in 2017 and has led exemplary audit practice and internal assurance at the highest level ever since.

Danielle also led the Trafford Primary Schools financial management service for the local authority and once employed at Altrincham College, subsequently ran the Trafford Primary Financial Service for 25 primary schools in the borough.

Danielle is a SLE for Business and Finance and has supported other local secondary schools: refining systems, supporting schools in financial restructures and improving leadership and management of school Business Managers.

Members

Susan Wildman, Chair of the Trust Board:

Susan is a former theatre Chief Executive with a background in journalism, PR and Communications.  She held director-level posts in PR, Communications and Customer Services with local authorities, the Probation Service and TfGM.  She has extensive experience in written and oral communications, managing budgets, delivering presentations and chairing meetings, and more than 30 years’ experience of managing staff. 

Susan currently leads the casework team for a local MP, in which she uses high-level research, communications and interpersonal skills.  She is the PCC Secretary at her local church, taking detailed notes and recording decisions.  She is a regular speaker to community groups on the life of suffragette leader Annie Kenney.

Susan is an experienced community governor and Chair of Governors. She is a founder member of the South Manchester Learning Trust (now the Achieve and Learn Trust) and has served as Chair previously.  Given her experience in school governance, she was recommended to the Education Learning Trust and recently became a Member of this trust.

Robert Aubrey:
Robert is a retired Chartered Engineer, formerly Management Consultant/ Chief Executive of an engineering company. He has been a member of the Trust since it was established and was previously Chair of Governors at Altrincham College.

Margaret Lloyd

Trustees

Rachel Quesnel:

Rachel was a secondary headteacher in three north west high schools. In all three, she led and managed the school communities either towards or through conversion to academy status. She enjoyed bringing about transformational change in schools in challenging circumstances through redefining the ethos, vision and values and improving outcomes in all the schools she led.

Rachel has extensive leadership skills in creating strategic plans to further improve the successful trajectory of schools. In two local authorities, she represented headteachers on the In- Year Fair Access Panels and was instrumental in devising improved protocols which were adopted and are still being used by these LAs when discussing and deciding where permanently excluded students should be placed. 

Since leaving a full-time role as a headteacher, she has retrained as an executive coach and has also worked as an educational consultant training senior school leaders in resilience in the workplace. She is passionate about education and seeing young people achieve their full and deserved potential. She volunteers with two charities, Smartworks and Queen Bee Coaching, both of which support women into work and leadership positions respectively. 

Alison Hewitt (ACMA CGMA PGDipBA), Finance:

Alison is a Deputy Director of System Improvement in Greater Manchester. She has worked with Health and Care systems nationally.

Alison came to work in healthcare in 2012, moving away from large-scale public sector commissioning at the Northwest Regional Development Agency where, as Director of Finance and Procurement working with multiple stakeholders from public, private and third sectors across a wide range of businesses, she was annually accountable for the stewardship of £600m of Central Government and European programme funding streams.

Alison was formerly Chief Finance Officer for the Northwest Commissioning Support Unit serving Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside CCGs.  She is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant and has worked for KPMG, spending seven years in their Consulting arm, delivering Transformation and Enterprise Improvement Programmes across the UK, with specialist expertise in Value Based Improvement, BPI and Logistics solutions in a range of blue chip and SME businesses and sectors. 

Reflecting her continuing passion for lifelong learning and inclusive opportunities Alison is a Governor and vice Chair of the Resources Committee at Stockport and Trafford College and a Trustee of the Achieve and Learn Trust where she is also on the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee.

Nikki Patel:

Nikki is a Parent Trustee and relishes the opportunity to represent the parent body at board level.

She is the Deputy CEO and School Improvement Director at a Primary Multi Academy Trust in Greater Manchester. She is currently a fellow on the inaugural cohort with the National Institute of Teaching on their CEO Programme. She has also completed the National Qualification of Executive Leaders (NPQEL) and has had experience of being deployed to improve standards as a Specialist Leader of Education (SLE) at another school.

The vision of Achieve and Learn Trust is aligned to Nikki’s philosophy of education. Nikki believes that children should be given the opportunity to be the best they can be and for everyone to achieve their true potential. At Achieve and Learn Trust, children and young people are encouraged to believe in who they are and what they can achieve in the future and Nikki looks forward to supporting the Trust in continuing to deliver its vision.

Peter Brooks:

Peter Brooks has recently retired following a long career in secondary education. Starting out as a Physical Education subject specialist, Peter moved on to various leadership roles including Head of Department, Pastoral Leadership and Deputy Headship, before being appointed as Headteacher. Peter remained as Headteacher for 15 years until 2018, leading the transition to academisation, conversion to 11-18 status and establishment of the Multi Academy Trust. 

Peter was appointed as a National Leader in Education (NLE) in 2011, with Altrincham College named as a National Support School (NSS). Being appointed as the CEO of the then South Manchester Learning Trust was a natural and formal extension of his outlook and educational ethos.  Peter was also the Chair of Trafford Funding Forum up to his retirement and therefore has excellent knowledge and understanding of all aspects of educational funding. 

Suzanne Dickerson:

Suzanne is a Parent Trustee and is keen to take on this role on the Trust Board that supports schools to raise standards and challenges school and governance decisions which ultimately affect the educational outcomes and life chances of young people.

Suzanne is a former chief sub-editor with a background in consumer and B2B publishing. With a keen interest in education, she has worked at a number of Trafford primary and secondary schools; her current position is Admissions Officer at a local small MAT, which gives her an insight into educational, admissions and safeguarding issues.

Cara Afzal:

Cara is a Programme Director for Digital and Data working within Health and Care at Health Innovation Manchester, which is part of the Health Innovation Networks, bringing NHS, academic, and Industry partners together to transform the health and well-being of Greater Manchester’s citizens.

Cara's past roles have been within the NHS, academic, and local government sectors on large–scale research and innovative transformation programmes. Cara has an interest in health and the power of digital innovations to enhance health and care. Cara is a keen advocate of lifelong learning, having witnessed the transformative power of continuous learning, not just in acquiring knowledge but fostering personal and professional growth. She sees education as a journey of perpetual discovery and empowerment.

Chair of the Trust Board: Susan Wildman

Vice Chair: to be elected at the next Trust Board meeting on 28.01.25

Full Trust Board Meeting dates:

Tuesday 15th October 2024

Tuesday 26th November 2024

Tuesday 28th January 2025

Tuesday 18th March 2025

Tuesday 13th May 2025

Tuesday 24th June 2025

Trust Board Finance Meeting dates:

Tuesday 3rd December 2024

Tuesday 25th March 2025

Tuesday 6th May 2025

Tuesday 1st July 2025