Meet the Team
Our Trustee Board
Aidan Thompson
CHAIR OF TRUSTEES
Aidan has nearly 15 years’ experience in the Higher Education sector, managing research and grant lifecycles. He was the first Centre Manager of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham (2012-2017), before becoming its Director of Strategic Initiatives (2017-2023). He has led research projects, managed and developed significant partnerships and published articles and books in the field of character education. He led a project called Flourishing From the Margins (2015-2017) which worked with young people on the margins of mainstream education and educators in Alternative Provision in trying to better understand how marginalised young people view living a good life and how developed their sense of purpose is. He has worked with UNICEF, #iwill campaign, the Prince William Award, CIPD and many other non-academic partners. He has a BA(Hons) in English from Loughborough University (2015), a MPhil in Literature and Modernity from the University of Birmingham (2015). He is a PhD Candidate at Birmingham under the title 'The Ethical Value of Pop Lyrics'.
Peter Voisey
TRUSTEE
Peter, a solicitor practising as a partner in a major City law firm, has an active interest in the educational sector, working on a voluntary basis as a tutor for disadvantaged pupils in a London school academy under the Action Tutoring programme. He serves as vice chair and non-executive director of a housing association run as a charity, has worked as a mentor for secondary schools pupils in Tower Hamlets and has served as trustee and treasurer of a north London community law centre. He has worked with Alex Hanratty in the development of the ReconnectEd business plan and is very committed to supporting its successful roll out and implementation.
Esther Ujah
TRUSTEE
As the recipient of a boarding school bursary, Esther has experienced first-hand how education and opportunity can transform the trajectory of one’s life. Having completed her studies in Theology and Philosophy of Religion at the University of Cambridge (2022), Esther accepted an offer to work at BlackRock in their Fundamental Equities business. Esther is committed to equipping the next generation of young people with essential life tools and believes that education is one such tool that is crucial for achieving success. Her dedication to improving the opportunities available within the educational sector has seen her take on several ambassadorial roles throughout the years, including most recently serving as an advisor on the Children & Schools Committee for the Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation (2019-2023). In her capacity as a Trustee at ReconnectEd, Esther is invested in supporting the charity's growth, through delivering its mission and impact.
Dr. Katy Granville-Chapman
TRUSTEE
Dr. Katy Granville-Chapman, a Deputy Head at Wellington College, began her career in the Army. After completing a Master’s and Doctorate at Oxford, she co-authored Leader: Know, Love, and Inspire Your People and co-edited Leadership for Flourishing (OUP). At Oxford, she has lectured on education, leadership, and wellbeing. As a Senior Fellow of the Flourishing Network hosted by Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program, she co-chairs its Leadership Group. Katy co-founded Global Social Leaders (which has empowered children in 105 countries to lead social action projects). Katy is a coach and delivers coach training to teachers and students. Katy lives with her husband, Jeremy, and two sons, as well as a poorly trained golden retriever who eats anything he can get his paws on (edible or otherwise).
Our Leadership Team
Alexandra Hanratty
CEO & CO-FOUNDER
Alex has nearly 20 years’ experience as a senior leader in not-for-profit organisations helping children and young people facing adversity to achieve their potential. She also has 10 years' governance experience, serving both as a charity Trustee and a Governor of Westside School (Alternative Provision). She is currently a Governor of New River College Pupil Referral Unit which includes a medical, primary and secondary school.
Alongside her work at ReconnectEd, and complementing it, Alex works part-time for a charity which helps vulnerable men to break the cycle of addiction and crime. She has a Postgraduate Diploma in Psychological Coaching from Metanoia Institute and founded the Coaching programme at an award-winning employment and education charity in inner London earlier in her career.
Belinda Logan
DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION & CO-FOUNDER
Belinda has successfully led a Special School and Alternative Provision School and has valuable experience as an OFSTED inspector, School Governor and Trustee of a Multi-Academy Trust. Belinda has also trained as a Coach through the University of Manchester and for the NPQH programme and has worked as an Achievement Coach for the charity Achievement for All. More recently she has worked as a Programme Director for a reducing exclusions project with Right to Succeed.
Georgia Score
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS & CO-FOUNDER
Georgia has valuable experience supporting young people facing adversity to achieve their potential in roles at Barnardo’s, NSPCC, Missing People and Royal SpringBoard. These roles have involved delivering early intervention programmes to young people at risk of Child Sexual Exploitation, as well as developing and growing a programme supporting Looked-After and Vulnerable young people to gain life-changing educational opportunities. Georgia also received a First-Class Honours degree in Psychology from the University of Birmingham and an MSc (with Distinction) in Forensic Psychology.
Our Coaching Team
Rachael Hindley
RECONNECTED COACH
Rachael has worked within the education sector all her working life, starting in nursery, then moving into primary school. Rachael’s roles have been focused on delivering targeted interventions and behaviour management, and it is this pupil support that Rachael enjoys the most. Rachael went to Yewlands Academy herself, where she is now a Coach, and therefore knows the community well. Rachael has seen vast changes over time in the community, ranging from social housing issues, cultural changes, crime rates and deprivation. Rachael has also seen the immense impact that COVID has had on the children and parents’ mental health in the community. Rachael’s key strengths include being an empathetic person who advocates for the families she supports, building a strong relationship with them. Rachael told us she applied for the role as she is “passionate about children’s social emotional and mental health needs”.
Kimberley Rowe
RECONNECTED COACH
Kimberley has valuable experience working with challenging behaviour in a variety of settings, including a mental health home, nursing home and primary school. Kimberley has attended many training sessions covering ADHD, ASD, medication, eating disorders and mental health. This is what Kimberley says about her experience, “my experience comes from my own life choices. I was a child that was failed in school and this experience has led me to the job that I’m doing now, and of course my own children. I have two children both with additional needs.” Before Kimberley’s role as a ReconnectEd Coach at Yewlands Academy, she worked as a lunchtime supervisor at the school, as well as being an alumna of Yewlands Academy, and so knows the school community very well.
Ryan Suckley
RECONNECTED COACH
Ryan brings a range of experiences both from his previous career and his lived experiences growing up on the Parson Cross estate. In his work life Ryan has been the head trainer and manager of a well-known national chain of hair salons. More recently Ryan has found his life experiences have helped him to move into working with children and young people who are struggling to engage positively in education. This is where his passion lies and he is very positive about becoming a ReconnectEd Coach.
Ryan celebrates diversity and takes an optimistic view of what can be achieved using his own experiences of adversity to think positively but differently and feels no-one should fall through the gaps in education.
Bhavika Sahiri
COACH SUPERVISOR
Bhavika holds a BSc degree in Psychology (University of Leicester) and an MEd in Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (University of Birmingham). Bhavika is currently a PhD student researching the criminal exploitation of children through County Lines Drug Networks and facilitates county lines awareness training to children, parents and professionals. Her research complements her professional background and experiences of working with vulnerable children, adults and families at frontline and strategic levels within services such as Child Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), Forensic Mental Health, Youth Offending, Education Welfare and the Southwark Virtual School. As an Emotion Coaching Trainer Practitioner, Bhavika facilitates train to promote emotional literacy and regulation.
Our Central Advisory Group
Ellie Garraway
Ellie is Chief Executive of national youth charity Grit Breakthrough Programmes and has worked with Grit in delivery, management and strategic roles since 2000. She has a passion for seeing people liberated from their limitations and it is this that continues to fascinate and motivate her in the transformational work that Grit does with both staff and students in schools, colleges and universities across the UK. It is also this passion that sees her joining the Central Advisory Group for ReconnectEd.
Ellie has gained distinctions in both an MSc in Positive Psychology (2016) and an MBA from Warwick University Business School (2019). She is also a Level 5 qualified Transformational Coach.
Emily Unwin
Emily works in the field of substance misuse and the criminal justice system. Through her personal experiences and several years of working with this marginalised client group, Emily truly believes that with the right interventions and support in place, we have the ability to address our own negative behaviours and heal. She has studied counselling with the CPCAB and has co-written and facilitated a CBT recovery programme to encourage self awareness and positive change.
With a depth of understanding around the issues young people face and why things can go wrong, Emily is very excited for this opportunity to work with ReconnectEd.
Patrick Finegan
Patrick is a qualified teacher with extensive experience in all phases of education. He has been a highly successful Primary Head Teacher, School Adviser and Lead Ofsted Inspector. He is an experienced Virtual Head for Looked After Children (8 different Local Authorities across the country) and was an adviser for 5 government ministers and the Department for Education. He was the Executive Head Teacher of Sandwell Transition Education Partnership Service (STEPS) which is a unique school for international newly arrived children. He was the treasurer and trustee of the National Association of Virtual School Heads (NAVSH) as well as a trustee of the Institute for the Recovery of Childhood Trauma (IRCT) and a founding trustee of the Attachment Research Community (ARC).
Between 2020 and 2022 he led a highly successful DfE project to place vulnerable children in state and private boarding schools. He has recently returned from Dubai where he inspected and advised schools for the Dubai government.
Angela Stokes
Angela has over twenty-five years as a global Executive Search/Human Capital Consulting specialist and business developer. She has worked successfully across many disciplines including organisation strategy, executive coaching, talent acquisition, leadership & professional development, assessment & succession, career transition and change management. She previously worked in Financial Services for various organisations.
Angela was a volunteer fundraiser for one of the longest serving charities in London which supported disengaged, vulnerable and disadvantaged children and young people living locally. The aim was to help bring about positive change where opportunities were created for young people to learn, grow, and develop, realising their full potential. She currently is a Trustee with an Africa based educational charity focused on children from undeserved communities working to eliminate barriers to quality education for promising young people.
Katie Halfhead
Katie has 10 years of comms experience across a mixture of B2B, B2C, and not-for-profit organisations, and in rapidly growing start-ups. Katie is also a Mental Health First Aider and equally passionate about culture and promoting mental health. She will be supporting us to spread the word about our work at ReconnectEd.
Ayisha Adedeji
Ayisha comes from humble beginnings; being raised in West London and graduating from Warwick university with first-class honours, Ayisha is a Leverage Finance lawyer in the City of London. Focussing on transactions relating to funding of acquisitions of businesses and companies supported by cash-flow revenues and debt, Ayisha works with mainstream lenders and credit funds, as well as sponsors on an international basis.
Ayisha has a keen interest in encouraging the "next generation". Having sat on the board of trustees of her local charity for over 10 years, working with Alex Hanratty in the past and mentoring a number of different candidates (both now and then), there is a keenness to continue developing and helping those who may have "mis-stepped" earlier on in life.