Meet the Team

Hello, I’m Sonia Gill. I’m an educational leadership coach and I specialise in making Primary schools outstanding.

I’m a qualified teacher and was selected for the John Lewis leadership program where I led many multi-million pound business areas.

I’ve supported over a 100 school leaders and head teachers across the UK, enabling them to move to outstanding, creating the school they’ve dreamt of leading but haven’t yet achieved.

My mission is to make every Primary school in the UK outstanding; yes, in terms of Ofsted, but also in being centres of excellence in all of our communities.

Find out more in our story

Hi I'm Emma Webster, employment advisor.

I worked as an employment solicitor for 9 years and during that time I realised that many people who work within Education are expected to somehow just "know" the intricacies and pitfalls of complicated staff management and care issues despite having little or no training in these areas. Frequently, the problems I helped to solve on both sides of the fence arose because of a lack of understanding and communication around the difficult more personal aspects of our working lives, issues which if they are not dealt with effectively become a drain on the head's time, the school's limited resources and have a negative impact on the school's ability to educate the children. My goal is to try and help you deal with those problems promptly so that you can go back to focusing on education.

As well as working with Heads Up I work as an Employment Judge at London South Employment Tribunal and have been a school governor.

Hi I’m Steve Bassett and I’m a Heads Up trainer.

I have 39 years of working in education behind me, 23 of those in continuous, primary school headship as well as three interim headships of schools in very challenging circumstances.

In the last 6 years I have specialised, and am still specialising in ‘School Improvement’, recently, for example, working with a school by adding capacity to its Leadership and Management, they were RI and dangerously close to Special Measures and a year later moved to ‘Good’.

Hi, I'm Natasha Mann and I'm a Heads Up trainer.

I’ve worked in education since 1999 in a range of roles including a qualified teacher, a leader and specialist teaching and learning coach; I still work with teachers on their personal journey to become outstanding in a sustainable way that supports their well-being and enhances their creativity.

I spend most of my days in schools, either in the classroom supporting teachers or working with leadership teams like yours, all with the aim of creating excellence.

Hi, I am Sophie Bevan and I'm a communication coach.

I graduated from the Drama Centre London in 1992 and began a professional acting career in Theatre and Film. As time went on I became more interested in using my skills as an actor in the world of personal communication and development, helping businesses to expand their skills in communicating mainly with their ideas and themselves. This included working for businesses such as KPMG, Citi Bank and Barclays Capital.

Since bringing up 2 children and getting involved in their education I have become passionate about helping schools with the same process I have been helping the corporate sector with.

To get to outstanding, which is what Heads Up is all about, schools need to communicate their vision and values with the right energy and passion. I am here for Heads Up to help head teachers communicate verbally when under pressure with as much impact as is possible so messages are heard, resulting in another step closer to being outstanding.

Hi, I'm Shiraz Haq and I'm an actor.

I graduated in Psychology before working closely with special educational needs and teaching drama. To further refine my performance skills I enrolled at Drama Centre London, where I was elected to the school council of Central Saint Martins, undergoing a Master of Arts in Screen Acting.

Since drama school I work as a professional actor - my first feature "I Am Nasrine" won the Best Screenplay Award at Brooklyn Film Festival 2012 and continues to dazzle audiences internationally, recently having received a prestigious BAFTA nomination. Other credits include war drama "Jacob", BBC's Secret Defenders, and France2's "Blue Line", which won the Golden Horse at Larissa Mediterranean Festival of New Filmmakers and the European Short Film Award at Ravenna Corti da Sogni.

Working with Heads Up I help school leaders improve and hone their skills in dealing with different people, allowing them to examine their own behaviour and impact in these situations, whilst in a safe learning environment.

Hi, I'm Kay and I'm Sonia's PA.

My career as a PA has been as interesting and varied as the characters I've worked for. The Royal Air Force, the NHS, The Army, a travel company and John Lewis have all had the pleasure of my company! Working with Sonia at Peter Jones (the Sloane Square branch of John Lewis) was a real joy, and it's wonderful to be able to lend my support to her once again in her mission to make all of our primary schools outstanding.

Hi, I'm Nisha and I'm Sonia's Client Relations Manager.

I come from an events background and have over 10 years experience in sales and marketing working with well known brands as well as clients in the public sector. I'm very passionate about helping schools and it's a real privilege to be part of the Heads Up Team.