Who are we?

Louise has been CEO of The 1590 Trust since its formation on 18 July 2018 and is also Headteacher of Conyers School. A successful leader with 20 years senior leadership experience, Louise was awarded the Lord Glenamara Most Inspiring Headteacher Award for her work at Conyers School. She believes that excellence is achieved through collaboration and partnership and as such has chaired the Stockton Secondary Heads Group, is a member of the Stockton Strategic Education Board and Tees Valley Combined Authority Education Group. An English teacher by background, Louise knows that improving literacy will improve the lives of children and young people.

John Downs was appointed to the post of Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Standards in March 2022. Prior to this appointment John was Deputy Headteacher at Conyers School. As well as holding a variety of leadership roles John has taught mathematics in three Teesside Secondary schools for 30 years.

Headteacher at Bewley Primary from 2015. The school joined the trust in September 2019. As a Headteacher Maria has led 2 schools in Stockton, one of them to outstanding. She is a National Leader of Education and supports schools across the Tees Valley and North Yorkshire. She sits on the strategic board and is a founder member of  Campus Stockton Teaching Alliance and Chairs the Workforce Development Group.

Mr Chris Coleman joined the Senior Team in 2015, progressing from his role as Lead Practitioner.  Chris is Deputy Headteacher at Conyers and he has embedded digital technologies across the Trust, and leads in quality assurance at Secondary level. 

David was appointed as Head Teacher of Bader Primary in 2018. He is an experienced educationalist with over 27 years within education, half of those at Senior Leadership level as Deputy Head or Headteacher, either in Stockton-on-Tees or Redcar and Cleveland.

Sheona was appointed Head of School at Bewley Primary School in January 2020. She has worked in education for over 25 years and has been a senior leader for over 15 years. Sheona has extensive experience in the field of inclusion; particularly in relation to special educational needs, attachment and looked after children.

Helen Owen was appointed as Headteacher of Layfield Primary School in 2011 and has been part of the Executive Team since the school joined the 1590 Trust in September 2018. Helen has extensive experience in education, including 25 years in Senior Leadership and Headship.

Mrs Joanne Lewis was appointed as Headteacher of Levendale Primary School in April 2023. She was previously Head of School at Kirklevington Primary School. She has over 18 years of experience across the primary age range and eight years at Senior Leadership level. Her specific responsibilities have included leading in whole school improvement and pupil progress. She has completed her NPQH.

Claire was appointed as SENCO at Conyers School in 2008. She took the role of  Trust SENCO in 2019. She is an experienced teacher and practitioner of SEN , with Specialist teacher status in Specific Learning Difficulties.   Claire has over 26 years of experience in the field of education, teaching previously in York, USA, Australia, Darlington and Hartlepool. 

Kyle has been teaching for 14 years with experience in both KS1 and KS2, and has been a senior leader for 8 years. Kyle is responsible for English and assessment across Bewley Primary School, and over the last 3 years has led the writing working party to improve standards across the trust primaries. In addition, he has acted as a KS1 moderator for the local authority. Since 2020, Kyle has been an alliance lead for Campus Tees Schools Alliance supporting new teachers into the profession. 

Natasha Healy FCILEX is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and was a practising lawyer in the private sector for 12 years, before joining The 1590 Trust in September 2020. Natasha assists the Trust Executive Team with matters relating to Governance and Compliance, is PA to the Chief Executive and is the Trust Data Protection Officer, dealing with GDPR compliance and queries.

Miss Shellena Hussain Assoc CIPD was appointed as Trust HR Manager on 1 September 2020. She has over 10 years’ experience in a number of HR roles, predominantly within the public sector working with schools. She is a member of the Local Government Association’s Multi Academy Trust Heads of HR Northern Group and the North East Schools Academy Forum.

Liz Williams ACCA joined The 1590 Trust in January 2019 and was appointed Finance Manager in September 2020.  She is a qualified accountant and has worked mainly in the private sector prior to joining the Trust as a management accountant/analyst.

Scott Hudson has over 20 years experience of working with school IT systems. Scott is a Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator and has a vast knowledge of IT network and infrastructure, mobile device management, wireless systems and VoIP telephony systems.

Jacqueline Hudson has been a member of Conyers’ IT Support team since 2004. When the Trust expanded in 2018 Jacqueline became the Trust’s Digital Media & E-Learning Officer.