Meet The Team

The right people, in the right jobs

Michael has extensive experience of leading professional development in ITT providers and schools. He has been a Subject Course Leader for MFL, an Assistant Headteacher, a Specialist Leader of Education, SCITT Manager and a German teacher at Barr Beacon School for 11 years. Supporting trainee teachers was the focus of his Master’s degree. In 2016 he was a member of the Department for Education’s Independent Teacher Workload Review Group focussing on reducing teachers’ marking workload.

As SCITT Director, Michael has overall responsibility for ensuring the vision of excellence and high-quality offer of the primary and secondary SCITT programmes. Michael is passionate about ensuring that all colleagues receive expert support at the right time to realise their full potential and build successful careers in education. In 2024 Ofsted noted: ‘The dedication and expertise of centre staff, particularly the SCITT Director, ensures that the goal to equip local schools with well qualified early career teachers is fully realised.’

Mr M Eszrenyi – Director

Anjali is an experienced educator with 10+ years of experience in the classroom, specialising in supporting trainee teachers on their journey to becoming confident and successful practitioners. She has worked with a range of teaching providers such as Barr Beacon SCITT, City Year, Teach First and Straight to Teach, mentoring trainees with varied classroom experience. She has also supported the SCITT, for over 5 years, as Subject Course Lead for English.

Having previous additional roles as Lead Practitioner and Induction Tutor for Early Careers Teachers (ECTs), she is astute in preparing trainee teachers for long-term success and confidence in teaching. She is passionate about mentoring and training new teachers, providing the guidance and expertise needed to navigate the challenges of teaching.

Alongside this, she is an accomplished English teacher with experience as Head of Department and examiner for AQA, offering a wealth of knowledge in curriculum design, assessment, and classroom management.

As SCITT Manager, she looks forward to nurturing the talent that new trainees offer and supporting new mentors in developing their trainee’s teaching pedagogy and expertise.

Miss A Parshotam – Secondary Course Manager

Mrs K Vaughan – Primary Course Manager

Lindsey is a highly experienced SCITT Administrator dedicated to supporting all aspects of the teacher training programme. Lindsey has a strong background in administration roles and project management roles. In her role she is responsible for overseeing the administrative functions of the SCITT programme, which include:

  • Coordinating communication between trainees, mentors, and partner schools.
  • Helping with the application and enrolment process for prospective teachers.
  • Maintaining trainee records and providing administrative support throughout their training journey.

Mrs L Haywood – SCITT Administrator

Lou has been in education for over 29 years and joined Manor Primary School as a class teacher in 1998. Since then, she has been a Year Leader, progressing to Assistant Head and the strategic Lead for Maths. She went on to gain a maths specialist qualification as well as becoming an SLE (Specialist Leader of Education) which enabled her to support specific areas of school improvement across many schools. She is now the Director of Manor Teaching School Hub and Lead Mentor for Barr Beacon SCITT.

In addition, she has gained an NPQSL (National Professional Qualification Senor Leadership), NPQLTD (National Professional Qualification for Leading Teaching Development).

She was honoured to be one of the first members of staff at Manor to be trained as and become a facilitator and coach leading to extensive experience in facilitating on many highly successful projects, including, leading on Initial Techer Training, the Early Career Framework and Appropriate Body services across South Staffs, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

Her experiences as a teacher and school leader, her subject and pedagogical knowledge and her passion for teaching and learning, gives her the integrity and drive to ensure all teachers receive the very best training, from the moment they start their ITT, though their early career induction and beyond, to support the improvement of the future life chances of all children and young people.

Mrs L Wedge – Lead Mentor for Manor Primary Partnership

Lucy has been dedicated to primary education for over 20 years, focusing her career on establishing positive, nurturing classroom environments where children truly flourish, thrive, and develop a lifelong love of learning. She joined Ryders Hayes School 12 years ago and throughout her time in the classroom, she has served as a class teacher mentor, gaining extensive expertise in supporting and guiding new educators throughout their SCITT placements with Barr Beacon.
 
In addition to her classroom leadership, Lucy has held the role of Subject Lead for RE, shaping the school’s curriculum and learning and delivering subject-specific training to trainee teachers. To further support her professional growth and leadership in education, she successfully achieved the NPQLT (National Professional Qualification in Leading Teaching), which has enabled her to design and facilitate impactful professional development sessions on curriculum development and effective instruction.
 
Lucy’s vast classroom experience, coupled with her strong pedagogical knowledge and deep-seated enthusiasm for education, fuels her commitment to teacher preparation. She is driven by a passion to ensure that the very best educators enter our classrooms fully prepared to inspire the next generation into passionate, confident learners.

Mrs L Claye  – Lead Mentor for Manor Primary Partnership

Alex is an educator with 10+ years of experience in the classroom. Over the course of this tenure, Alex has specialised in the teaching of English and has held multiple positions of leadership within English departments across the West Midlands, including lead practitioner, second in department and director of English.

Alex is driven with a zest and enthusiasm for pedagogical research and holds a keen interest in how this can cultivate the skills necessary to create expert practitioners and students. In addition to this, Alex is an experienced examiner for AQA and believes in quality-first teaching that emanates from a position of knowledge.

Alex’s role as the SCITT Head of Curriculum and Research is to oversee the secondary ITT curriculum and the research underpinning this. He heads up our Professional Studies programme.

Mr A Elsmore – SCITT Head of Curriculum & Research

Snita is an experienced educator and has worked in schools in Sandwell and Birmingham. Her roles have included Faculty Director of Computer Science, successfully leading a team and focusing on curriculum development ensuring that the students receive an outstanding education in Computer Science.

Snita has a breadth of experience and an enthusiasm for all aspects of education. She has worked with trainees and ECTs supporting them on their teaching journey and continues to do this as part of the SCITT team.

Snita’s role is to manage the day-to-day operation of our Internships, SKEs and Assessment Only provision.

Mrs S Kaur – SCITT Co-Ordinator