Our Staff

Our staff are our most valuable resource. Each one of them appreciates the privileged position they have in being entrusted with your child. They take very seriously the shared responsibility they have in ensuring that your child is happy, safe and developing the skills they need for life. At The Orchard’s we truly believe that every child needs a champion and work very hard to build highly trusting and mutually respectful relationships with all our children. The success of our focus on relationship building between children and staff is evident in the calm, respectful and enaged learning which happens across the school.

Our staff team are highly trained and are able to deliver a bespoke, child focused curriculum for each individual. Our classroom teams have training in a wide range of communication systems such as: Signalong, PECs, alternative communication, objects of reference and touch cues. They are also trained to manage a wide range of medical needs such as gastrostomy feeds and the management of epilepsy and have regular first aid, safeguarding and positive relationship training.

Senior Leadership Team

Helen O’Brien	Head of School
Jane Cawood	Assistant Head for Quality of Education
Imogen Bosmith	Assistant Head for Personal Development and well being

Extended Leadership Team

Naomi Shin	EYFS Leader
Amy Tatton	Communication Leader
Sophie Lane	Complex Needs Leader

Teaching Team

Dawn Layfield (Outdoor learning lead)	Nikki Caley (Medical lead)
Rabia Ali	Geri Foley (maternity cover)
Naomi Shin (EYFS leader)	Gemma Marshall (My care lead)
Lauren McGarry	Emily Irlam (Play lead) / Amber Watson (My world lead)
Amy Tatton (Communication leader)	Naomi Anderson (My thinking – reading & phonics lead)
Lauren Price	Claire Graham (My Body Lead)
Antigoni Mastrogianni (ASD / transition lead)	Caitlin Barker
Sophie Lane (Complex Needs / My thinking – maths lead)	Emily Gardiner

Maternity Leave – Emma Davies, Emily Frost, Olivia Barker, Abbie Williams

Teaching Assistants

Michelle Fletcher
Emma Parsonage
Justine Alegado
Lynda Cawley
Hilary Lonergan
Harriet Langford
Jamie – Leigh Davies
Jack Meredith
Sophie Singleton
Victoria Furio
Lex Iliuta

Sarah Douglas
Aisha Shaikh
Olly Gray
Sidra Riaz
Amy Hawley
Olivia Weston
Mia Oliver
Amy Routledge
Manisha Anand
George Amponsah
Diana Patterson

Claire Wilson
Lavina Best
Tanya Gasmi
Stephen Tomlinson
Pui Fong
Grace Cooke
Georgia Glynn
Keosha Lewis
Kieran Sherlock
Caitlin McHugh
Rebecca Tighe

Maternity Leave: Sophie Singleton