NAVSH Trustees

Carolyn Lawler

NAVSH Chair

Carolyn is a highly experienced educator with over 20 years in school leadership, specialising in improving outcomes for children with special educational needs, disabilities, and wider vulnerabilities. She has taught and led in primary schools across disadvantaged areas of the Liverpool City Region, playing a pivotal role in school improvement.

Since becoming Liverpool’s Virtual School Head in 2019, Carolyn has transformed services for children in care, working with schools and multi-agency professionals to enhance inclusion, improve achievement, and develop trauma-informed practices. A core focus of her work is supporting schools in understanding attachment and trauma to better meet pupils’ needs. As founder of the Liverpool HEARTS Project, she has led a nationally recognised initiative that strengthens school capacity through CPD, best practice sharing, and professional networks. The project won the 2023 Gold Pearson Award for ‘Impact through Partnership’ for advancing attachment-aware and trauma-responsive practice and continues to grow from strength to strength.

Committed to system-wide change, Carolyn is proud to serve on the NAVSH Board. She brings expertise, innovation, and an impact-driven approach to support Virtual School Heads in achieving their goals, collaborating with trustees to drive best practice across the sector.

Sarah Ann Clark

NAVSH Vice Chair

VSHT West Sussex

Sarah has been the Headteacher of the West Sussex Virtual School since 2017, following over 20 years working in secondary schools across Surrey and West Sussex.  Beginning her career as a RE teacher, Sarah has held a range of leadership positions in schools including Headteacher of a 5-16 Pupil referral unit.     Since becoming a Virtual School Head, Sarah has served as the chair of the Southeast regional group, and formally joined the NAVSH board of Trustees in 2022 as the Regional lead.  Sarah is delighted to be appointed as the Vice Chair of NAVSH at what is a very exciting time in the development of the role and scope of work being undertaken by Virtual Schools. 

Susan Owen-Johnson

NAVSH Immediate Past Chair

VSHT Salford

Sue Johnson is the Immediate Past Chair of NAVSH. 

Sue has been the Virtual School Head in Salford for a little over 6 years, having previously worked in a range of teaching and leadership roles in both mainstream and special schools, and under the National Strategies as a Behaviour & Attendance Consultant.  I feel very fortunate to have landed in the wonderful world of the Virtual School Head; a role that is unique within an LA, but for whom there are boundless amounts of peer support from fellow Virtual Heads across the country. 

Kate Louise Leyshon

Honorary Secretary

VSHT Sutton

Kate Leyshon has been Headteacher at Sutton Virtual School since 2018 and joined the NAVSH Board as Honorary Secretary in 2022. Kate has 15 years’ experience working as a Physical Education teacher and senior leader in the South East of England as well as being a Governor for a Federation of schools. Kate has a passion for working to support the most vulnerable children through education and believes in the power of sport and the arts to help young people further develop their strengths. Kate hopes to see NAVSH continue to grow and develop as a charity so the Virtual School network can reach more children and have a positive impact on their future lives.

Lynsey Burridge

Honorary Treasurer

VSHT Trafford

Lynsey began her career as an MFL teacher in Secondary Schools in Salford and Manchester, taking on various management roles over the years before moving into a post in a Safeguarding Children Unit where she supported schools with Child in Need and Child Protection processes. She moved over to Trafford in 2007 to take on the role of education lead at the Youth Offending Service. In 2014 Lynsey was asked to pick up the role of Virtual School Head in addition to her role at the YOS but it quickly became clear that setting up a new Virtual School was a full time job! Lynsey found it an exciting opportunity to start work as a Virtual School Head at a time when the role was made statutory and Virtual School Heads were given responsibility for the management of the Pupil Premium Grant. Five years on her team has grown to double figures with specialists such as an Educational Psychologist, Speech and Language Therapist, Careers Adviser, Mental Health Practitioner and Education Welfare Officer as well as primary and secondary school teachers. In this time the role of Virtual Schools has also grown from overseeing the education of Looked After Children to an extension to oversight of the education of Previously Looked After Children and Children in Need which means any child who has been open to Social Care in the past 6 years.  Lynsey has also been involved in the work of the National Association of Virtual School Heads for a number of years, first as North-West representative on the Board, then as Vice Chair and Chair and now as Honorary Treasurer. This work has given her the opportunity to meet senior leaders in Ofsted, School Commissioners, colleagues in the DfE and even Ministers to promote the education of looked after children. Lynsey is a proud Corporate Parent and believes passionately in the life changing potential of a good education in its widest sense.

Tina Henley

Membership and Regions Lead

VSHT Portsmouth

Jennie Davies

CPD Lead

VSHT Oldham

Eghele Eyituoyo

Research Lead

VSHT Haringey

Calvin Kipling

Communications Lead

VSHT Darlington

Calvin Kipling, is headteacher of Darlington Virtual School.  He has been awarded an MBE for his services to education. With nearly a decade of experience in the VSH role, he has been a passionate advocate for children in care, overseeing their educational journeys and ensuring they receive the support they need. Under his leadership, the percentage of care leavers in Darlington engaged in education, employment, or training rose from 45% to 80%, surpassing national and regional averages. Prior to this he was a senior leader in three secondary school, notably, he was headteacher of Branksome Science College, where he transformed the struggling school into one of the top-performing in England. Calvin’s dedication extends beyond his local work; he serves on the expert advisory panel for the Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation. He is also chair of the local governing body at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College in Darlington.

Jancis Andrew

Extended Duties Lead

VSHT Leeds

Jancis has been the Virtual School Head (VSH) in Leeds since 2014 and was privileged to be chair of the National Association of Virtual School Heads (NAVSH) in 2020. As the current NAVSH trustee leading on our Extended Duties including Previously Looked After, Children with a Social Worker and Kinship Children, Jancis uses the role to work with the DfE and national organisations such as Adoption England, Coram Baaf and Kinship Charity to ensure that our partnerships support our charitable aims to the benefit of all the children for whom we hold responsibilities.

Jancis has a keen interest in how schools and settings need to be empathetic to the experience of all children who have not grown up in their birth family or who have needed a social care intervention to keep them safe. Likewise, social work practice needs to embrace learning and education as protective factors and that this goes beyond the simple mechanics of attending a school. A Virtual School is an enabler, working ‘with’, not ‘for’ and we facilitate and promote good outcomes in attendance, attainment, achievement and progress for all our cohorts by improving practice and raising aspirations in schools, settings and services. Our role extension for children with a social worker has been an incredible opportunity, alongside the National Social Care Standards framework to support practitioners bring that aspiration to life in practice and planning. Within the context of a local authority, there is probably nobody better placed than the Virtual School to be bringing together the worlds of education and social care. 

Matthew Cooke

Policy Lead

VSHT Suffolk

Matthew is the policy lead for NAVSH, having previously helf the position of Chair of NAVSH and Membership and Regions Lead. He is a well known figure amongst the Virtual School community having facilitated many NAVSH websites and contributed to a number of regional conferences. Matthew is also a member of the secretary of state's Attendance Action Alliance.

Matthew knows the depth of knowledge and expertise that is held within our Virtual School community and is passionate about building networks that allow this expertise to be shared. However, Matthew also acknowledges the responsibility this year to navigate the additional demands being placed upon Virtual School Heads. This year he looks to strengthen the NAVSH team, adding capacity so that we can improve upon the membership benefits available to you. Our national and regional networks are such a font of knowledge and NAVSH will continue to support and facilitate opportunities to share excellent practice as well as commissioning additional resources to further support the invaluable work you all do.

Mary Holder

Race, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Lead

Deputy VSHT Camden

Mary is the Deputy Head and Post 16 Education, Employment and Training Manager of Virtual School at Camden Council, bringing over 25 years of experience as a Senior Leader in education and qualified teacher. Mary is an innovator of educational change sharing a wealth of knowledge and experience through continued work at local and national government levels. Her work centres around collaborating with communities and organisations on access to education, addressing issues like racial equity and equality through sustainable strategic cultural change. Mary embodies a "can do" attitude, consistently working to support and encourage greater access to opportunities through integration and investment to ensure equality for all.