Leadership team
Headteacher: Mrs Gaynor Jones
Gaynor originally worked in the banking industry but retrained as a teacher, becoming an NQT in 2001. She then became Assistant Head of Year in her second year of teaching and from there progressed to Whole School Literacy Coordinator and then Assistant Head of Faculty for English. Her passion for teaching and learning led her to become an Advanced Skills Teacher in 2007, opening up opportunities to work with colleagues in other schools and allowing her the privilege of working with ITE and NQT colleagues.
She took up the position of Deputy Head at Silverdale School in Sheffield, subsequently becoming Director of the Sheffield Teacher Training Alliance (STTA), one of the largest teaching schools in the region, training hundreds of new and existing teachers every year. Whilst at the STTA, she established The National Modern Languages SCITT (the first national SCITT training teachers of modern languages), where she worked with state and independent sector to create new partnerships.
In 2019, Gaynor was appointed Principal at Hope Valley College in the Hope Valley, Derbyshire, which received an Ofsted 'Good' rating in October 2023.
Gaynor's qualifications include:
- Diploma in Banking and Finance (Loughborough University and HSBC)
- BA (Hons) Combined Studies (English and Business)
- PGCE English (Secondary)
- MA Education
Deputy Headteacher: Mr Dan Griffiths
Dan is currently Deputy Headteacher at Westfield School: a privileged role in which he is excited to help lead forward-thinking change and development under Chorus Education Trust’s pledge of Outstanding Achievement for All.
Dan’s formal education up to the age of 18, was in Ipswich, Suffolk. He moved to South Yorkshire in 1999 to study a BA (Hons) degree in Music, after which he completed his teacher training in Sheffield in 2005. As an NQT, Dan took on the role of Head of Music in a North London comprehensive girls’ school, where he remained for 10 years, later becoming Head of Performing Arts and Assistant Headteacher. Whilst there, he developed strong links between the school and the wider community, setting up and participating in a variety of community performance projects involving children from local feeder primaries, charities and other community organisations.
In 2015, Dan took up the post of Assistant Principal at Bottisham Village College in Cambridge, where he was later promoted to Deputy Principal. During his time there much of his work focused on improving outcomes for students from disadvantaged starting points: he is proud to have closed almost entirely the attainment gap between disadvantaged students and non-disadvantaged students after his first year in post. Dan was heavily influenced by Henry Morris’ philosophy of ‘roots-to-tips’ education which permeated the college’s ethos and the life of the school community.
Excited to return to Sheffield to further develop his practice, Dan was appointed to the leadership team at Silverdale School in 2018 and is seconded to Westfield School as Deputy Headteacher.
Assistant Headteacher: Mr Mark Clayton
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Assistant Headteacher: Mr Alex Davies
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Assistant Headteacher: Mrs Jess Halliday
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Business Support Services Manager: Mrs Sarah Newton
Sarah graduated from Sheffield Hallam University and, like many visitors to the city, decided she loved it so much she wanted to stay.
For over 20 years she worked for the local authority, including as Service Manager for Activity Sheffield. Sarah’s passion is supporting opportunities for people to be healthy and happy. At Activity Sheffield this ranged from teaching a 79 year old to swim who had never been in the water, to managing the team who took athletes to the Olympics, to accessing funding for play equipment for children and young people in the city. Sarah was instrumental in influencing government thinking regarding the impact of physical activity on health and has spoken at many conferences about this.
She has now brought her considerable expertise and experience into the world of education. As part of Westfield School's Senior Leadership Team she had responsibility for the operational (non-teaching) elements of running the academy, including finance, IT, HR, risk management and premises.