Sir Jon Coles

Since January 2012, Jon Coles has been Group Chief Executive of United Learning.

Darran Ellison-Lee

Darran has a wide range of achievements in Education, including leadership in both Primary and Secondary phases as well as in Special Education.

Darran was a National Leader of Education, leading one of the first national teaching schools and a federation of primary schools in the North of England. The teaching school under his leadership provided a wide range of school improvement work and was one of the first schools providing training for Schools Direct.

Darran has overseen growth of our primary schools, which now includes over 35 schools. Darran’s leadership of improvement work has secured enhanced quality of teaching, resulting in schools moving from Special Measures to Good, at times requiring him to step in as Exec Head or acting Principal to support. In addition,

Darran is Director with responsibility for the Trust’s support, challenge and accountability on Safeguarding, ensuring that United Learning meets Statutory requirements and that Safeguarding processes across the Group are robust and effective.

Ben Antell

Ben Antell is the recently appointed Director of Secondary Academies in United Learning. Before taking up this role, Ben was a Regional Director in the trust and previous to that an Executive Principal with a responsibility for schools in Bournemouth and London. Ben is passionate about school improvement and the belief that education is the key to social mobility and future success. Ben also works as an Ofsted inspector in the south-west and counts himself fortunate enough to have worked with some of the leading educationalists in the country through both his Regional Director, Executive Principal and Ofsted roles.

Fiona Boulton

Fiona became Director of Independent Schools in September 2022. She originally joined the organisation in 1995 when it was the Church Schools Company; it later became United Learning. She was Head of Guildford High School from 2002 – 2022. Guildford High became a Teaching School in 2013 and Fiona was appointed an NLE, leading the United Learning Teaching School Alliance from 2013 - 2020.

She has a variety of Governance roles; she is an Associate Director of Cumbria University (since 01.06.21), she is on the Governing body of Epsom College (since 01.11.09) and she is a member of the ‘Learning Partners Academy Trust’. Fiona is on the Advisory Board of the School Partnerships Alliance and she has helped to establish the West Surrey Partnership of all the state and independent schools in the Guildford area. She was Chair of HMC in 2019-2020, and on the Advisory Council of the Institute for Ethical AI in Education (IEAIED) (2018 – 2021). In 2023, Fiona was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours list for services to education.

Kyle Bestley

Kyle has a strong background within the Education and Sports Coaching sector, working within mainstream Primary Schools and a Secondary SEND school setting in a number of support staff roles working with a variety of needs. On top of this, he has spent three years within a previous Apprenticeship Training Provider delivering across several different standards in the apprenticeship sector, with the main area of expertise being the Level 3 Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship Programme.

One of Kyle’s most memorable professional achievements within Apprenticeships was his support of an apprentice who faced numerous barriers to learning coming from a specialist SEND school who then went on to win Oxfordshire Apprentice of the Year along with gaining national nominations as well. This opened up opportunities for this learner to go back and support learners like themselves to show what’s possible.

Jennifer Reynolds

Jen joined United Learning in 2018 and has worked in Primary Education for over 30 years, much of the time combining teaching with other roles. Jen is a former English Advisor for the CAM Academy Trust and facilitated writing moderation with large clusters of schools throughout Cambridgeshire sharing her work at Beyond Levels conferences. She is also a former English Adviser for Cambridgeshire and tutor on the PGCE and GTP at the Faculty of Education, Cambridge University. Jen has researched several areas of children's literacy, including gender differences in responding to texts and has written guest blogs for The Chartered College and No More Marking on the use of Comparative Judgement to assess writing. She was a researcher on the Cambridge University government funded project, ‘Raising Boys’ Achievement’, specifically researching the role of drama and talk to develop writing.

Jill Todd

Mark Stephenson

Mark joined the Primary team at United Learning in September 2019 as Maths Advisor supporting schools mainly in the South and the Midlands. Prior to joining the Primary team, Mark was a primary school teacher and maths subject lead for over 10 years in schools in Westminster and Hammersmith & Fulham, one of which was Langford Primary School, which is also part of the group. Mark has completed the NPQSL and is accredited as both an NCETM Professional Development Lead, and School Development Lead.

Laura Dawson

Laura joined United Learning in 2007 working in Salford as an English teacher. With over a decade of experience as Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo), she also held the position of Senior Assistant Principal for Inclusion before moving across to the Central Team as Secondary SEND Adviser in 2024.

Laura works collaboratively with schools to embed high expectations and inclusive practices that empower students with special educational needs to thrive. She is dedicated to building strong relationships and understanding the unique contexts of families and communities, ensuring that all stakeholders contribute to a supportive and inclusive school culture.