WCSQM Associates

WCSQM Associates are exemplary World Class practitioners who share a passion for supporting students to interpret what World Class means for them.

Find out more about the WCSQM Associate role

Our network of WCSQM Associates

Halena Tovey, President Kennedy School

Halena Tovey is an English teacher at President Kennedy School in Coventry, the school which she attended herself during her adolescence. She completed her undergraduate BA in English at the University of Birmingham before moving onto completing her PGCE qualification at the University of Warwick. Halena was introduced to the WCSQM organisation in her training year, where she managed the annual essay writing competition and led one of her students to victory. Since then, Halena has been an active member of the charity. Above all, Halena believes that every student, no matter their context or circumstances, should have access to World Class opportunities, and that inclusion should be at the heart of everything we do as educators. The mission is to build brighter futures for students, focusing on their present, regardless of their past.

Caroline Sehested, St Anne’s Catholic High School for Girls

Caroline is a Lead Practitioner of KS4 at St. Anne’s Catholic High School for Girls. She is leading on World Class in her school and has supported students in successfully gaining the WCSQM. Caroline is Danish and spent the first 6 years of her career teaching in Denmark with additional responsibilities as a union representative and staff governor. Since arriving in the UK 8 years ago, she has worked in an East London school, taken an MA in Education Policy at King’s College where she achieved a distinction for her dissertation and is now at St Anne’s where she is a part of an extended SLT.

Ellen McHugh, St Albans Girls’ School

Ellen currently is working at the World Class St Albans Girls’ School (STAGS) as an Assistant Head Teacher for Personal Development and Enterprise.  She was part of the team that led the school through its first WCSQM assessment and has since then been the lead for World Class at the school taking it through a successful re-accreditation.  Ellen is a WCSQM Assessor and has encouraged a number of STAGS students to become Student Assessors over the past few years.  As a lead for both World Class and Personal Development, she  is able to not only promote whole school World Class initiatives but it also enables her colleagues to see the correlation between utilising the World Class Learner characteristics and the schools’ provision of a breadth of curriculum opportunities for STAGS students.

Mary Green, Babington Academy

Mary Green is Assistant Principal at Babington Academy in Leicester and is leading on WCSQM as part of her responsibility portfolio for Personal Development and Pupil Premium. Having graduated from University College London, Mary gained over 15 years’ experience of teaching and leadership in inner city schools in the East Midlands and Essex. She achieved an MA in Teaching and Learning from Leicester University and is a Specialist Leader in Education for Geography. She passionately believes in equity for all students regardless of background, enabling all to reach their full potential.

Michelle Morgan, King Edward VI Handsworth Wood Girls’ Academy

Michelle Morgan is the Director of Student Character and Personal Development at King Edward VI Handsworth Wood Girls’ Academy as part of the Extended Leadership Team.  Michelle truly believes that all students have the potential to be World Class, and that all students can achieve their full potential regardless of their background or starting points.   She has led a team of exceptional World Class Ambassadors to successfully achieve the prestigious World Class School Quality Mark in 2021.  Michelle is dedicated to ensuring that all students have access to World Class opportunities so they can access unique experiences beyond the classroom environment to allow them to thrive in an ever-changing world.   Our Values are Scholarship – Character – Community.

Aimee King, Sedgefield Community College

Aimee is an Assistant Headteacher at Sedgefield Community College, County Durham.  She is responsible for raising students’ aspirations and as part of this role, she leads on the World Class Schools programme.  Aimee led a group of outstanding students to achieve World Class School status in 2019 and is coordinating the school’s reaccreditation for 2022.  Aimee is passionate about equality of opportunity for all students – she believes that students’ engagement with ‘World Class’ initiatives empowers them to make inspired choices and be better prepared for their lives beyond school.

Helen Kay, The Holy Cross School

Helen Kay is an experienced Head of History and Senior Leader at The Holy Cross School.  She has been involved with WCS for over 5 years, guiding students to achieve World Class School status in 2017 and coordinating reaccreditation in 2020. She is committed to championing the opportunities World Class status offers and the values it promotes for our young people as well as for teachers, support staff and school leaders alike.  Holy Cross aims to ensure everyone is valued for their individual contribution to the school community, thrives on their own personal educational journey and takes pride as a lifelong learner and contributor to the school and wider society. By integrating the World Class Learner characteristics with the school’s distinctive values and mission statement, students have the best opportunity to ‘Learn joyfully, live fully’.

Sarah Megeney, Finham Park School

Sarah Megeney Is a Deputy Headteacher at Finham Park School in Coventry. She completed her BSc in Mathematics at the University of Sheffield and subsequently worked in the City. After a few years working in London she decided to pass on her love of Mathematics and contribute to making a difference to children’s futures. Sarah completed her PGCE and MA at Warwick University. During her time as a teacher she has been Head of Department, Mathematics Advisory teacher, National Strategy Consultant, qualified as an Ofsted Inspector and co-wrote a textbook.

Sarah has led Finham Park through two successful re-accreditations. The focus throughout her involvement with World Class Schools has been equality of opportunity for all. Recently a group of students undertook the roles of  assessors and project managers  at an assessment centre which allowed them to demonstrate their World Class values and characteristics. Sarah is very clear that at Finham Park School we believe it is their students who are World Class.

Shireen Sinem, Harris Primary Academy Coleraine Park

Shireen Sinem is a Vice Principal at Harris Primary Academy Coleraine Park and has achieved World Class status twice for her school. She has a passion for achieving excellence for her pupils and lives by the motto: exceedingly, abundantly, above all we can think or imagine. She works with some of the most disadvantaged pupils in the heart of Tottenham and is on a mission to ensure that their backgrounds do not put limits on their futures and that they believe in themselves to their full potential through the guidance of teachers, teaching assistance and parents that have the same passion, drive and commitment to changing families lives for the better.

Sarah Burnill, Morley Newlands Academy

Sarah currently works at Morley Newlands Academy as an Assistant Principal. She completed her BSc (Hons) in Sport and Exercise Science at Leeds Metropolitan University and a few years later trained for her PGCE at Leeds University. Later in her career, she supported the school through its first WCSQM assessment and has since then become lead for World Class at the school. This year, Sarah mentored their World Class School’s Ambassadors through a successful reaccreditation process – a fantastic representation of all the world class students at Morley Newlands Academy. Sarah is dedicated to ensuring that children receive a unique experience beyond the everyday teaching in the classrooms through a bespoke science curriculum aimed at breaking stereotypes and tackling inequality. These world-class experiences provide the children with the gift of choice to live their lives to the fullest. Sarah is eager to see where the next chapter in their WCSQM journey will take them.

Caroline Lewis, The Hertfordshire & Essex High School

Caroline is a Deputy Headteacher and the Director of Sixth Form at The Hertfordshire & Essex High School in Bishop’s Stortford.  She has been leading a school-based R&D group on Character Education and was delighted to support her students through the school’s Re-accreditation process.  Their success was impressive!  She believes passionately in developing the whole of a student’s character through their time at school and is looking forward to embedding the World Class Framework into school life this year and thus seeing many more students receiving their certificates and badges.

Joseph Dehdashty, Hillcrest Academy

Joseph is a primary school teacher from Hillcrest Academy in Leeds. He is leading the WCS project as
a way of displaying all of the incredible work and achievements his pupils obtain throughout their
time at the school. Since completing his teacher training, Joseph has played a part in enrichment
and academic opportunities, that have enabled his pupils to have a broad range of experiences. He is
passionate that all children can excel regardless of their background and aims to continue the WCS
legacy, which is already deeply rooted into the school curriculum.

Charlotte Hanton, Ivybridge Community College

Charlotte is an Assistant Principal overseeing Personal Development at Ivybridge Community College, a large mixed comprehensive school in Devon, which is part of the Westcountry Schools Trust. In her role, Charlotte leads on Character Education at the College, and has enjoyed the having opportunity to support Year 11 and 12 students in the second re-accreditation process for the College in 2022. She was incredibly proud of the College being part of the winning team on the Assessment Day. Charlotte is passionate about supporting students through the World Class Framework by utilising enrichment and student leadership opportunities to build cultural capital and develop the character virtues needed to flourish in modern society.

Best Practice Updates – Student Voice