Meet the Leadership Team

For more information on the role and work of the Directors, see FET Directors

Our experienced Trust leaders bring a wealth of quality, expertise and talent from across the education and other sectors, and share a joint goal to raise standards, continually improve performance and ensure the very best possible education and life chances for the children and young people in our schools. 

The Executive Team

The Forward Education Trust Executive Team work together to ensure the smooth day-to-day running of all FET schools, at an individual level and across the family of schools.  Working alongside the Board of Trustees, Trust Extended Leadership Team, Central Support Team, Local Academy Councils, school leaders and staff teams to serve their school communities, their focus is to maintain rigorous standards and lead further improvement to make our schools better than they have ever been. 

Simon Dilkes

Chief Executive Officer

Simon joined Forward Education Trust in September 2021 as Director of Operations and moved up to his current role from January 2022.

Following an early career in finance & banking and owning his own business for over a decade, Simon came into education (school business management) in 2014, joining a Solihull primary school to take them through an academy conversion.  He then joined The Polesworth School, Tamworth (part of Community Academies Trust) as School Business Manager, during that time taking on responsibility for The Wilnecote School which joined the Trust.  Simon moved to Academies Enterprise Trust (one of the largest multi-academy trusts in England) in 2017 as part of their centralisation of functions into clusters of school, looking after schools in Leicestershire, Derbyshire & Staffordshire.  He then joined Equitas Academies Trust, Birmingham as Chief Operations Officer in December 2019.

Simon joined FET to bring his breadth of experience to make a difference for the children and our staff and tremendously enjoys the variety and challenge of his role.

Simon is married, with two grown-up children and loves to play tennis in his spare time.  

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Debbie Bailey 

Deputy CEO/Director of Education

Debbie is thrilled to have joined Forward Education Trust as Deputy CEO / Director of Education. She has been the Headteacher of special schools (and alternative provision) for the last fifteen years, working across the Midlands and the South East. In addition, she has recently completed her PhD research exploring how the Headteachers of special schools maintain school effectiveness through periods of change. 

Debbie has particular expertise in leading staff teams through rapid school improvement and in meeting the needs of students with behaviour that challenges us. She has worked with students with moderate, severe and complex learning difficulties, ADHD, ASD and SEMH, from nursery, primary, secondary and post 16 age-groups. Her goal is always to support students towards greater independence.

Debbie grew up in South Birmingham and has a younger sister with complex and severe communication needs. This has given her an insight into how family life is affected by a child with disabilities, with all its joys and challenges. She also understands how a good special school can have a positive impact on the whole family. Debbie continues to support her sister in adulthood, liaising closely with her care providers. 

Debbie is passionate about providing high quality education for students with additional needs. She believes that those students who need extra help are entitled to the very best teaching and learning opportunities and that learning itself can be a therapeutic process. Debbie has experience of managing multi-agency support teams, including therapists and family support workers. Debbie believes that well-led staff teams feel safe and happy – this enables them to create schools where students feel safe and happy too.

Debbie has a very spoilt Staffordshire Bull Terrier who is the apple of her eye. She and the dog love to potter in the garden and wander around the woodlands of Solihull. She is part of an active Pilates community who seem to spend as much time chatting as exercising, but they are an important part of her relaxation strategies. 

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Emma Arnott

Director of Governance and Development

Emma has been involved in education in Birmingham throughout her career to date.  After coming to the city to study English at the University of Birmingham, she went on to train to be a Secondary English teacher, and taught and held leadership roles in English in three Secondary Schools across the city.  She then moved to Birmingham Local Authority, initially as a Secondary English Consultant then later a School Improvement Advisor across both the Primary and Secondary phases.   

Emma next went into Teaching School Management and School Improvement roles: in the first Primary Teaching School in Birmingham and a cohort 1 Secondary Teaching School, prior to the role of Manager of City-Wide School Improvement Projects at Birmingham Education Partnership.   

In September 2021, she joined Forward Education Trust as the Director of Quality Assurance and Development, which then became her current role.  She enjoys the wide-ranging nature of the role, and the opportunities it provides to learn more about and get to know the Special Educational Needs sector more generally and the Forward Education Trust family of schools specifically.   

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The Extended Leadership Team

Karen Clarke

Head of Human Resources

Karen joined Forward Education Trust in April 2023.

She has over 20 years’ experience of working as a Senior HR Professional as well as at Director level, working for prestigious brands within the hospitality and entertainment sectors such as Warner Bros and The Hilton Birmingham Metropole. Most recently, she worked at Twycross Zoo (Conservation Charity) as a member of the Executive Team, supporting the development of their ‘masterplan’, prior to taking up her current role.

Karen is passionate about managing and delivering an effective and efficient People function, driving culture change to deliver organisational purpose. Her unique ability to identify necessary improvements and implement strategic development plans such as organisational restructures, resource and performance management, has led to significant business development and dramatic reduction in companies’ overheads.  In applying her breadth of commercial knowledge and business acumen within the industry, her responsibility to manage Human Resources at Twycross Zoo also included employing initiatives to implement partnerships with catering, maintenance and health & safety into the Zoo business structure.

In addition, Karen is a member of the CIPD and the Institute of Directors (IoD), has completed the Certificate in Company Direction with the IoD and was selected as a Finalist in the IoD Director of the Year for Innovation in 2019. She has also been the Chair of a Single Academy Trust in Solihull and a Governor for over 10 years.

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Mandy Winfield

Trust Business Manager

Having a personal interest in Special Educational Needs, Mandy joined Forward Education Trust in February 2023 to expand her knowledge and to support the Trust family of schools.

Mandy has over 10 years’ experience in School Business Management, which has encompassed Operations, Health & Safety, Premises, Finance and HR. Mandy’s educational career began in a large mainstream Secondary school, working within the pastoral team.  She then worked in mainstream Primary schools in Birmingham and Tamworth, prior to moving to her current role.

Outside of work, Mandy loves to spend time with family and friends and to travel, exploring new countries and cultures.  Family is extremely important to her: she has five children, three grandchildren and two cats! Mandy feels working at Forward Education Trust enables her to balance her professional and personal life in a really positive way.

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Cavelle Burris

Trust Safeguarding Lead

Cavelle joined Forward Education Trust in November 2022. Prior to this, she held various family support and safeguarding roles, supporting parents and carers with children from the antenatal stages through to young adulthood. Her career to date has spanned working in a children’s centre, schools, youth work and with adults (18+) who are deafblind displaying behaviours of concern.

Cavelle’s desire for supporting others through education comes from the experiences and barriers she faced on her own personal journey through the education system.

As Trust Safeguarding Lead, Cavelle makes sure that as a Trust we are collectively ensuring that we are keeping our pupils safe, having a positive impact through improving pupil outcomes, and striving for them to achieve the very best according to their individual abilities.

Cavelle enjoys her role, in particular the opportunities it provides to collaborate with our pupils, their families, her colleagues, and the rest of the Forward Education Trust community.

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Our Headteachers