Our Team

As Director, Unity oversees the delivery of Advisory, Delivery and Academy Ambassadors programmes. Unity is responsible for NSN's strategic development, policy work and stakeholder relationships. 

During her time as NSN, Unity has led the Advisory team and has led the organisation's work on Special and AP free schools. Prior to joining NSN, Unity worked for a further education college coordinating the delivery of vocational training programmes across the South East to clients including such as BMW and Rolls-Royce. 

Unity holds a BSc (Hons) in Politics from the University of Bristol and an MA (Hons) in Contemporary British History from King’s College London. During this time, she conducted research into the history of the academies policy in England.

Since graduating from the University of Chester in 2009, David has worked across a range of sectors, including education, agency, local authority and latterly sports with British Cycling, as Partner Marketing Manager for the ‘Sky Ride’ recreational cycling campaign, in conjunction with Sky and Sport England. This was the biggest sports participation campaign the UK had ever seen, aimed at getting people on bikes for fun and recreation; it received a prestigious ‘Partnership Marketing’ award from The Chartered Institute of Marketing in 2015. With a strong communication thread running through his career, engagement and communication forms a central part of his approach to projects. Having previously worked with large stakeholders including Hewlett Packard, Vodafone, The British Heart Foundation, Ordnance Survey and Transport for London across various roles, David has enjoyed success in delivering high-value campaigns. David maintains a strong interest in and passion for volunteering, holding roles with parkrun UK, formerly as an Area Ambassador for the North West, as well as with local social enterprises with an environmental focus near his home in the North West.

After finishing secondary school, Ben went into Field Hockey Coaching at club level for Bradford Hockey Club, and at regional level with a variety of Junior West Yorkshire Teams. Ben realised much of the reason he enjoyed coaching so much was the reward of helping children reach their potential in hockey.

Keen to continue helping children develop, Ben joined NSN to ensure a bigger impact on bettering the lives and opportunities of young people.

Sally joined NSN as Executive Assistant to the Director in May 2019 following a short career break. Prior to this Sally worked for the Metropolitan Police Service for 17 years, the majority of those years providing administrative support to Directors within Business Support Services.

Melanie graduated in 2014 with an honours degree in Law and Business Studies from Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick. Since then, she has worked as a marketing assistant in the legal sector – producing creative marketing copy, conducting in-depth research and analysis of target markets, and organising large-scale projects and events. Melanie has worked with children, as a volunteer, from a young age, and enjoys using her professional skills and experience to engage with qualified business people, and develop academy boards, in order to improve the quality of education throughout the UK’s Northern regions.

Elliot graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2019, and joined NSN as an intern shortly after. During his studies he volunteered in schools with a number of children’s charities in Uganda and Tanzania. With these charities he took the lead on disability sports projects.

Additionally, Elliot worked on a number of charity fundraising events and a large scale social media campaign. He holds a BA in International Relations and an MSc in Policy Studies.   

Sam joined NSN in 2018 as an Adviser in the Delivery team and was interim Head of the Delivery Programme covering maternity leave. During this time, he was responsible for NSN’s support for all open and approved free schools. He now oversees NSN's development work, managing the scoping and launch of new products and services, fundraising and parterships.

Prior to joining NSN, Sam took on a wide array of roles within the education sector: as a teacher, tutor and course facilitator at the Harris Federation; as an external examiner for OCR; and, as a Leadership Fellow at The Schools, Students and Teachers network (SSAT). Sam has also undertaken multiple research roles within the political, social and economic spheres, including his role supporting the research and events of non-partisan think tank ResPublica, as well as working on audience research and analysis for NBCUniversal.

Emma is Head of the Academy Ambassadors Programme at New Schools Network, a role which combines her expertise in executive search and corporate recruitment with school and trust governance. After graduating from the University of York, Emma joined Marks and Spencer’s graduate training programme as a merchandiser, before moving into executive search and recruitment at consultancy Penna, followed by corporate recruitment roles at global engineering firm Siemens and, later, the HR SaaS company Lumesse.

Discovering an interest in education governance when volunteering as a Chair of Governors, Emma led Buckinghamshire Learning Trust’s Governor Development Programme for c.3000 governors across the region. She continues to volunteer in school and trust governance and is passionate about the sector impact of connecting highly skilled business leaders and professionals to voluntary non-executive director/trustee roles on academy trust boards.

Sophie joined NSN in 2015 and is responsible for oversight and delivery of NSN’s free schools support services, as well as wider programmes and services for schools and trusts.

During her time at NSN, Sophie has led the Delivery team and led the development and launch of new services for pre-open free schools.

Sophie is a qualified secondary English teacher and a Teach First Ambassador. Prior to NSN, Sophie worked as a teacher in both London and Barnsley; she also has experience of working in other third sector organisations, including other education charities.

Graeme graduated from the University of St Andrews with an MA (Hons) in English, and from the University of Edinburgh with a PGDE.

Before joining NSN, Graeme worked for other education charities focusing on alleviating disadvantage and promoting equity. Previously he worked as a teacher.

Graeme joined NSN in 2020, and as events manager is responsible for the smooth delivery of all events across NSN’s suite of programmes.

Tim graduated in 2017 from the University of York. During his studies, Tim undertook an internship with a free school trust, supporting the construction of what was a successful Wave 12 application in his home town.

Tim supports free schools groups across the country.

Hajira graduated from The University of Sheffield with a degree in History and then completed an MSc in International History from the London School of Economics in 2019.

Prior to joining NSN, she facilitated access education workshops for disadvantaged pupils in Islington. She also contributed to widening participation research and data collection for higher education departments in Sheffield.

Annabel joined NSN as a business administration apprentice in July 2020.

Prior to this she had worked in the catering and hospitality industry in some of London’s finest hotels, before using these vocational and organisational skills in an office-based role. Annabel enjoys travel and has volunteered in a Malaysian orphanage and promoted primary English in The Gambia. A keen advocate of social enterprises, she enjoys fundraising and has been involved in the regeneration of a care home garden.

Alison joined NSN in 2020 and is responsible for the financial control, human resources and operations of NSN.

Alison is a qualified accountant and HR specialist who also has a Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry from Glasgow University.

Prior to joining NSN, Alison worked with a variety of charities and not for profits. She started her career in practice and after a period with British Rail she worked in the city. She enjoys working with charities where she feels she can make the most difference.

Tom works with free school groups and is motivated by a passion for social justice and diversity in the education system. Alongside supporting free schools, he has overseen a pilot programme that pairs MAT CEOs with senior mentors from business.

Tom joined NSN as a member of the Academy Ambassadors Programme, where he led on the recruitment of MAT trustees across three regions in Southern England.

Prior to joining NSN, Tom graduated from the University of York in 2016 with a degree in Education before going on to study for an MA in Global Development and Education at the University of Leeds.

Alexandra graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Biology from the University of Sheffield in 2013. Following this, Alexandra completed a Secondary PGCE in Science and taught Key Stages 3-5 in Sheffield and High Peak schools.

After accepting a role in middle leadership as an Associate Head of Faculty, Alexandra completed a masters in Educational Leadership exploring motivational factors and the development of resilience in underachieving pupils.

Alexandra supports free school groups and maintains a keen interest in the delivery of STEM across the curriculum.  

Rhiannon graduated from Loughborough University in 2018 with a degree in Politics and International Relations.

Before joining NSN, she had experience at a Graduate Recruitment Agency in Manchester working with Technology companies and aspiring graduates, conducting interviews, helping candidates reach their potential and establishing relationships with clients. Alongside this, she has experience as a British Heart Foundation volunteer in her community. She also has experience volunteering in primary schools in her hometown of the Wirral.

As a Recruiter for the Academy Ambassadors Programme, Rhiannon combines her passions for recruitment, education and governance.

Prior to joining NSN, Samuel managed Marketing and Admissions at London Academy of Excellence (LAE), a 16-19 free school in East London. During this time, applications rose to 3,000 for 240 places and LAE was named Sunday Times Sixth Form of the Year 2015. He was also Head of House, responsible for the pastoral wellbeing and academic progress of 104 students. 

Samuel joined NSN as Campaigns Officer, becoming Communications Manager in 2017 and Head of Content and Communications in 2019. Samuel is a primary school Governor. 

Sarah studied psychology at the University of Newcastle and worked in education research at The University of Manchester and Loughborough University. Following this, she completed a PGCE and worked as a primary school teacher and PSCHE lead before going on to manage a community project which raises aspirations for children in a deprived part of Manchester through providing CPD for teachers and delivering projects on diversity and inclusion.

Sarah joined New Schools Network in 2018 and specialises in the early years foundation stage, primary education and in free school local authority presumption competitions. She is also a trustee for a multi-academy trust in the North West.

Prior to joining NSN, Fallon was a support worker, helping disabled and vulnerable adults in their place of work.

Fallon has many years experience within adminministrative and education roles, having worked in a primary school as a teaching assistant and member of support staff.