Meet the Team
Meet the Team
Bev Farrell – Director
Bev is an Executive Vice Principal at The Canterbury Academy Trust. Bev was the Principal of The Canterbury Primary School from 2010 to 2020. In 2012 the school was identified as one of the 100 most improved schools nationally and the school has since secured two consecutive ofsted ‘Good’ judgements.
In 2017 The Canterbury Primary School was recognised as a Teaching School and Bev became a National Leader of Education. Bev has considerable experience of working within The Academy Trust and she currently oversees the three Specialist Resourced Provisions within it. She has recently overseen the planning and delivery of a new purpose-built Cullum provision for children with Autism, which is the first Cullum and National Autistic Society provision in Kent.
Bev also oversees the running of a private nursery on The Canterbury Academy Trust site and has a passion for research into smooth transitions across all key stages.
Bev has been a facilitator on the NPQ programmes for 10 years and she is also currently the chair of the Kent and Medway Teaching School Network as well as a Director of The Concordia Learning Alliance.
Richard Dalton- Director
Richard became Headteacher of St Nicholas School in September 2022. St Nicks is a district special school for children and young people from 4 to 19 years old with a wide range of special educational needs. Prior to this Richard was the head teacher of satellite provision at Five Acre Wood school, the largest special school in the country, and was part of the team that obtained three consecutive Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ judgements. In 2018 Richard was a founding director of Grow 19 Ltd, a post 19 specialist provision established in Kent which provides further education, work experience and work placements for learners with an EHCP. Grow 19 prides itself on enabling young people to discover new ways, new skills and knowledge that engage them, develop them and lead to them being exceptionally well prepared for their next steps and a positive, meaningful future. A level 2 qualified cricket coach, Richard coached the Kent Learning Disability cricket squad and received national recognition from the Chance to Shine charity for the volunteer work to develop inclusive cricket in Kent. Richard is passionate about his work and creating opportunities for disadvantaged learners to maximise their potential and engage within their communities in their adult lives.
Ken Moffat – Director
Ken is the Headteacher of Simon Langton Boys’ Grammar, a position he has enjoyed since 2017. The school is renowned nationally for its open-ended academic research programme, which is unique to the institution and has seen the school link closely with CERN, NASA and the Wellcome Trust. Ken worked previously as a Deputy Head (Pastoral) and led on work on the student voice with the University of Cambridge Education Department, speaking at international conferences.
He is currently the Vice-Chair of the Canterbury Inclusion service and has a keen interest in helping school leaders manage the media.
Jon Watson – Director
Jon is the Executive Principal of the Canterbury Academy Multi-Academy Trust. Jon began his teaching career in Wembley, North West London; before returning to Canterbury and joining The Canterbury High School in January 2003, initially as Head of Sixth Form.
Jon has 20 years of leadership experience; ranging from Head of Department and Head of Faculty, through to various whole school responsibilities, Head of School, Headteacher and, since January 2018, in his current role. The Trust currently includes City View Pre-School and Nurseries, The Canterbury Primary School, The Canterbury Academy, The Canterbury Academy Sixth Form, The City and Coastal College (a KCC commissioned area wide ACP for KS3 and 4); three, and soon to be four, Specialist Resourced Based Provisions (two for Autism, one for Speech, Language and Communication Need, and has been recently commissioned to deliver a Hearing Impairment SRP). The Trust also has a responsibility for two District wide Youth Commissions sitting across the Canterbury and Ashford Districts, commissioned by KCC and under the umbrella of the Trust’s Youth, Community and Extended Services Team.
The Canterbury Academy Trust consists of ‘schools for all the talents’ and is driven by some simple key beliefs; that every learner matters and that every child is good at something – that all children walk with genius – and that school should be the place where children discover and build upon their own individual talents.
The Trust aims to provide ‘as much as possible, as often as possible, for as many as possible’ enabling its students to become happy, positive, confident individuals, proud of what they have achieved, prepared to be life-long learners and ready to play an active and constructive part in society.
Kylie Farrer – Operations Director
Kylie is a recognised teacher with over 13 years of leadership experience and has, since 2016, worked as Vice Principal for Training and Development for The Canterbury Academy Trust. In this role she has worked across both Primary and Secondary settings to support the development of ITT and early career staff, as well as supporting teacher development and training at all levels and career stages, including engagement with leadership development programmes (NPQs).
In 2010 Kylie was seconded to work with the KCC EBITT as a member of their executive board and as a professional tutor for their School Direct Programme, supporting leaders and trainees in schools across Kent. In 2018 she was appointed as the Teaching School manager for the Canterbury Coastal Teaching school and was seconded to work with a local teaching school alliance, as their School Direct Coordinator, overseeing cohorts of trainees, both primary and secondary. This role has enabled her to work closely with the accrediting body, Canterbury Christchurch University (CCCU), as a member of their operational group, but also with school leaders across the alliance.
In 2014 Kylie was designated as a Specialist Leader of Education (SLE), specialising in Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) development.
A passionate believer in the importance of developing all professionals in education, Kylie has a strong commitment to training excellent practitioners, equipping them to deliver the best education possible, to ensure the learning and progress of the young individuals within our care.
Leticia Santana – Operational Lead
Leticia is Assistant Headteacher, responsible for Teaching and Learning and CPD at Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys. She has worked at SLB since 2011, which has afforded her with the knowledge and understanding of working initially as a Middle Leader as Head of Department to her current leadership position. In addition, Leticia has just completed a CMI Level 7 in Strategic Management and Senior Leadership Programme and she is currently delivering the NPQLT programme.
Having already undertaken a number of senior management and leadership roles, Leticia has developed an in-depth understanding of how to develop others as practitioners by continuous training. She has extensive skills in curriculum development as well as on improving the quality of teaching and helping both teachers and students to fulfil their potential through personal leadership of the CPD programme.
Stephen King – Operational Lead
Stephen is Deputy Headteacher at St. Nicholas School, Canterbury. He has worked at the school since 2003, as KS4 teacher and as Teacher-In-Charge of the Sixth Form provision. This is Stephen’s 3rd Specialist SEND teaching position in his 27-year teaching career; he also has considerable experience of working as a KS2-4 teacher in a MLD school and a Learning Support Centre Manager (Mainstream Secondary) from 1997-2003.
Stephen is a lead staff trainer at St. Nicholas School in SEND programmes. He is a Mental Health First Aid Instructor (Youth & Adults), Positive Behaviour Support (PROACT-SCIP) Instructor Trainer, Child Handling & Risk Assessment (with Inanimate Load Handling) trainer, Makaton Regional and Safeguarding tutor, CEOP ThinkUKnow Internet Safety Ambassador (trainer trainer), Prevent Instructor, Safeguarding and Equality & Diversity trainer (as a Stonewall Champion).
Stephen has been a facilitator on the NPQ programmes over the last 3 years and he is also currently the chair of the Kent PROACT-SCIPr-UK Network, which is part of the KSENT Research steering group. Stephen is also an operational lead for The Concordia Learning Alliance.