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Professional Development Team

CPD Programme 2026/27 – Trainer Pen Portraits

Art Subject Leader : Laura Nichols - Art Education Consultant 

Background and experience

Laura spent fourteen years teaching in a Southwark primary school, leading on English and Art. She champions an inclusive, creative culture in schools where every child feels confident expressing themselves. In 2017 she founded the Southwark Art Network, working with schools and cultural organisations to enrich art education in primary schools. In her role as an Art Education Consultant, Laura coordinates and delivers the Southwark Art Subject Leader CPD programme, creates curriculum resources and builds partnerships between schools, local Arts organisations and universities. Laura now works as a specialist art teacher at a Southwark primary school, keeping her practice grounded in the classroom alongside her borough-wide consultancy work.

Areas of specialism / interest

  • Primary art curriculum design, progression and subject leadership
  • Building partnerships between schools and cultural organisations to deliver high quality enrichment
  • Using art to build children's oracy skills, confidence, and sense of achievement
  • Art as a tool for social inclusion, reflecting the diversity of Southwark's communities
  • Designing and delivering CPD that translates into real classroom practice

Most influential book or website in this area

  • Access Art - drawing on its ethos as much as its resources: a belief in art as an essential, exploratory part of every child's education, giving children time and space to develop skills, take risks and nurture creative confidence. This underpins how she designs CPD and shapes the network's approach to teaching art.
  • NSEAD (National Society for Education in Art and Design) - used for national standards, policy updates and research, helping keep the network's CPD aligned with best practice and current thinking in art education.

 

English Subject Lead : Pippa McGeoch (she/her/hers) Literacy Consultant - Literacy Tree

 

Background and experience

After completing her BEd Honours Degree in Primary Education at The University of Edinburgh in 2000, Pippa went on to teach in inner-London primary schools across the age-range, becoming an English Subject Leader then Deputy Head (amongst other things!) She moved into a Local Authority Senior Consultancy role in the London Borough of Merton before managing a private nursery and pre-school while her own daughter was little. Then, in 2013, Pippa joined Literacy Tree as their first consultant, delighting in sourcing the newest in children’s literature; running in-person and online inset and CPD as well as consultancy, shared-planning, team-teaching, resource-creation and a plethora of other activities. She has almost 30 years of experience in primary education and has 17 years of KS1 and KS2 Writing Moderation under her belt, too!

Areas of specialism / interest

  • Children’s Literature
  • Evidence-informed pedagogy for the teaching of reading and writing
  • Drama in education

Most influential website in this area

  • Book: Drama for Learning by Dorothy Headthcote
  • Website: Education and Endowment Foundation

SACRE and RE Subject Lead : Claire Clinton – RE advisor to Southwark SACRE and schools

Background and experience
Claire has been an advisory teacher for over 20 years working in Essex, Redbridge, Newham, Barking & Dagenham, Camden and Southwark, as well as nationally for the DfE, QCDA and TDA. She is passionate about children and young people being given the tools to be able to learn about and from religions and beliefs. Before this she was a secondary RE teacher in schools in Essex and Newham.

In Southwark Claire supports SACRE, as well as facilitating the secondary and primary RE network meetings for teachers in the borough.

Claire is the lead director for RE Hubs for England and Wales – a project that provides a one stop website for links to everything a teacher needs in RE. This project is run collectively by all the main RE bodies in England and Wales.

She is the NASACRE executive as vice-chair with a brief for SACRE training and professional development. Claire was a primary writer and editor for Oak National Academy, working with a team of 6 writers creating free lessons for all teachers in England for RE which launched in September 2025.

Claire believes that an education in religious and non-religious beliefs is a fundamental foundation enabling pupils to develop skills of critical evaluation and dialogue so they can live & contribute well in a pluralistic society and the wider world.

Areas of specialism / interest
List 3–6 clear bullet points such as:

  • Religious Education
  • Collective Worship/Assembly
  • SACRE
  • Interfaith dialogue
  • Philosophy for Children

Most influential book or website in this area

  • High Challenge, Low Threat: How the best leaders find balance: Mary Myatt
  • The Adult Learner by Malcolm S. Knowles

 

Science Subject Leader : Naomi Hiscock, Director, Primary STEM Education Consultancy

 

Background and experience

After graduating from Imperial College, London with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Naomi worked briefly for Rolls-Royce, who sponsored her degree, before retraining as a primary school teacher and teaching in inner-city London schools, leading Science and Maths. Subsequently, she became a local authority Primary Science Consultant before setting up Primary STEM Education Consultancy, a specialist primary science and D&T education consultancy, in 2011.

Naomi has more than 20 years’ experience as a consultant working with national and regional bodies, local authorities, education partnerships, multi-academy trusts and federations devising and implementing strategies for primary science, as well as working directly with schools to develop their curricula and provide CPD tailored to their needs. She is a Primary Trainer and Content Developer for The Ogden Trust, a Professional Learning and STEM Improvement Lead for STEM Learning, an accredited Focus4TAPS Facilitator, and a Development Lead and Professional Learning Partner for Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM).

Naomi leads the team of consultants responsible for developing the award-winning PLAN primary science resources which are used by over 50,000 teachers each year to support their planning and assessment. She is also an author of primary science teaching and learning resources, including Collins' Snap Science, Hodder Education's Cambridge Primary Ready to Go Lessons for Science and Millgate House's Science Meets English.

She is a trustee of the Association for Science Education and a member of its Education Group, and a former chair of its Primary Science Committee. She is a member of the Science Expert Group for Oak National Academy.

Areas of specialism/interest

  • Primary science subject leader support and development – curriculum review, monitoring planning, monitoring evidence, lesson observations, auditing resources, planning science events
  • Primary science planning support
  • Primary science INSET
  • Adaptive teaching and assessment in primary science
  • Assessment and moderation of assessment in primary science

Most influential book or website in this area