Teaching Staff


STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP TEAM

Mr Andy Mitchell

Head Teacher responsible for strategic direction and performance and standards

Andy has been a head teacher for the last 21 years of a 30+ year teaching career. He believes passionately, that every child can succeed with the right level of challenge, support and determination. He is very committed to system leadership and collaboration and was responsible for successfully opening the new Heathcote Primary School on behalf of the Community Academies Trust in 2017. Andy leads a new Initial Teacher Training Partnership (ITTP) with several other local schools and Warwick University and is looking forward to welcoming new graduate teachers to the partnership.
When he is not in school he likes to be in the mountains or hiking in the Lakes. He is a keen cyclist and has ridden the first stage of the Tour de France course in Yorkshire, the Birmingham velo and the 312 in Majorca. More recently he has taken his bike to the French Alpes and rode up several iconic climbs including Alpe d'Huez.

Mrs Laura Morris

Deputy Headteacher

Laura has recently joined the Woodloes team as the Deputy Headteacher and is so pleased with how welcoming everyone has been - she feels like she's always been here! She joined Woodloes after teaching in Coventry for thirteen years and is really looking forward to embracing new opportunities here. Laura is passionate about teaching and learning and enjoys working alongside children, staff and parent and carers to celebrate the successes of every child.

In her spare time, Laura loves to spend time with her family. She has a husband, two daughters and an extremely grumpy cat! Her favourite things to do are family bike rides and picnics at the park and if she's really lucky, a trip to the theatre to see a musical as a special treat. She loves all things music; she plays the piano and violin and can often be found singing along to her Spotify showtunes playlist in the kitchen!

Mrs Sarah Barlow

Assistant Headteacher and Year 4 class teacher

Sarah has been teaching at Woodloes Primary School for 24 out of her 30 year teaching career. As well as being the Assistant Headteacher (who is responsible for curriculum design and assessment throughout the school), she is also a Year 4 class teacher who is committed to achieving the highest possible social and academic outcomes for pupils.

Sarah is a very proud member of the Woodloes Team and of the school curriculum which aims to 'Develop the all round potential of the child through a dynamic, rich, broad and balanced curriculum which is responsive and reflective to the learner'. Linked to this, during this academic year, she is particularly looking forward to seeing the children celebrate and share their successes with others.

Outside of school, Sarah enjoys spending time with her family, including her pet dog called Oakley (the newest addition to the Barlow family). She also enjoys reading, cooking (but prefers to eat out!), travelling and supporting Nottingham Forest.

TEACHERS IN RECEPTION

Ms Justine Valentine

Class teacher and EYFS Leader

Ms Valentine is our EYFS leader. She enjoys working with her friends and colleagues creating a full and rich learning experience for the children at Woodloes. In her spare time you will find her in her trusty T5 campervan 'Rodney' with dub dog Beryl driving out to open spaces for a cuppa and a walk no matter what the weather. She also tries to spend as much time with her beloved son, Jack, who has just left to join the Royal Marines at the age of 17.

Miss Julia De Araujo

Class teacher in Reception

Miss De Araujo will be forming a new teaching team in Reception with Ms Valentine and is very excited to be joining the Early Years team. She has an interest in special educational needs and modern foreign languages (Portuguese is her first language!). She is also a keen musician who loves teaching music /singing, playing the piano and is learning to play the Ukelele.

TEACHERS IN KEY STAGE 1

Mrs Emma Connelly

Year 1

Mrs Connelly works from Tuesday to Friday in Year 1 with Mrs Astley. They formed a wonderful new team in January following Mrs Shardlow's departure on maternity leave. A keen traveller and nature lover, she tries spend as much time teaching in the great outdoors as possible.

Mrs Joanna Astley

Class Teacher in Year 1

Mrs Astley has just returned from maternity leave and took over from Mrs Shardlow in Year 1 in January.
Mrs Astley has been teaching at Woodloes for several years but some of the older children might be used to calling her Miss Younghusband. She loves hiking and in her spare time can also be found playing tennis, running and cooking for friends and family.

Mrs Jas Madan

Part time class teacher

Mrs Madan works two days per week teaching across the school providing valuable flexibility to enable our school to run efficiently. She enjoys spending time with her family and baking with the children. She also likes yoga and going to the theatre.

Miss Ingrid Hancox

Class teacher in Year 2

Miss Hancox worked in Year 2 last year and has formed a new partnership with Miss Gabel. Miss Hancox is our wonderful music subject leader and she recently took our children to Young Voices, which was amazing. At the weekends, Miss Hancox enjoys visiting friends and family across the UK. She enjoys listening to all types of music and playing anything she can on her guitar.

Miss Sophie Gabel

Class teacher in Year 2

Miss Gabel is working with Miss Hancox in Year 2 and she is also our subject leader for Design Technology.

TEACHERS IN KEY STAGE 2

Mrs Helen May

Class teacher in Year 3 and English Subject Leader

Mrs May has been teaching within the primary sector for over 20 years and has been the English subject leader at Woodloes since 2015. She is incredibly passionate about teaching and feels privileged to be able to inspire and motivate children and to enable them to realise and exceed their potential.
Mrs May loves to introduce her pupils to amazing children's authors and strives to instil a love of reading in all pupils and adults across the school. She enjoys the escapism of reading at home too and is also very keen on 'being creative' which usually results in her constantly changing room interiors!
During this year, Mrs May is looking forward to continuing the work with local charity Kissing It Better in school - the children have produced poetry and artwork for Warwick Hospital, as part of our links with this charity, and will be working on more community projects throughout the school year.
Mrs May works 4 days per week in Year 3 and shares her class with Mrs Lambert, the SENDCo who teaches on the other day.

Mrs Alison Skirvin

Class Teacher in Year 3

Mrs Skirvin teaches in Year 3 for 4 days per week, with Mrs Mitchell (initially) covering the extra day. Mrs Skirvin has a responsibility for the development of the maths curriculum with Mrs Khaira. In her spare time, she is also a keen swimmer and she regularly competes in Masters galas.

Miss Ellie Goodrick

Class teacher in Year 4

Miss Goodrick is new to Year 4 and is looking forward to seeing some familiar faces. She is looking forward to forming a high performing team with all the Year 4 pupils and the rest of the teaching team.

Mrs Tracy Cirin

Class teacher in Year 5

Mrs Cirin is working with Miss Lyons in Year 5 and is also our subject leader for PE. All Mrs Cirin's children attended Woodloes and her husband was a member of the governing body so she has a long standing association with the school and it is great to see her in a new role.

Miss Natalie Lyons

Class teacher in Year 5.

Miss Lyons, also known as DJ Lyons, is a class teacher in Year 5, forming a new teaching team with Mrs Cirin. Miss Lyons has responsibility for writing across the school, the computing curriculum and online safety at Woodloes. She is also a member of our DSL team. In her spare time, she enjoys travelling the country seeing her friends, going to the cinema and singing along to the latest music (some might say out of tune!) She loves anything that makes her laugh - especially her own jokes!

Mrs Sunny Khaira

Class teacher in Year 6 and maths subject leader

Mrs Khaira teaches in Year 6 and leads Maths and is the Senior Mental Health lead across the school.
She thoroughly enjoys teaching and thrives for all pupils to reach their potential in a fun and engaging way. Mrs Khaira likes to share news every morning through her 'Khaira Chronicles' podcast in 6K!
She has two pet gerbils called Lemon and Lime (chosen by the class!) who are always up to mischief in her classroom.
In her spare time, she enjoys keeping fit at the gym, reading books - she loves a gripping psychological thriller, and listens to a range of music. Mrs Khaira enjoys spending time with her family and playing board games such as Trivial Pursuit where she is determined to beat her son one day!

Miss Ella Tresadern

Class Teacher in Year 6

In her spare time, Miss Tresadern loves adventuring and exploring new places and finding out if there are any fascinating historical facts or artefacts to explore, as history is her passion. Miss Tresadern also adores a good book and has a large library at home, which she delves into regularly. She also has a love (small obsession) of bees or bee related items, you may spot some around her classroom!

Mrs Tina Lambert

SENDCO

Mrs Lambert works part time and will be leading our provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities. She will also be teaching for 1 day per week in Year 3 with Mrs May.

She enjoys cycling, walking and camping (preferably glamping) with her family.

Mr Keir Mitchell

Year 3 and Year 4 teacher and Forest Schools Leader

Mr Mitchell wears lots of hats at Woodloes and is currently teaching in Year 3 with Mrs Skirvin and Year 4 with Mrs Barlow.. He is an experienced teacher who delivers tutoring sessions as part of the NTP in addition to running the all-age forest school programme at Woodloes. He has published articles on his work and prides himself on the levels of personal responsibility, safety, self-fulfilment and social development that the children are able to achieve through child initiated learning in the sessions and the consequent benefits to their self esteem and future well being

Mrs Claire Shardlow

Currently on maternity leave