Biography

John Rees

In a career of over 25 years, John has provided leadership, management, training and coaching to a wide range of professionals who work with, and for, children and young people; with evidence of increased health and educational improvement.

Having taught in an economically deprived, culturally diverse, community in the West Midlands, John was promoted to a Devon secondary school, where, as member of SLT, he was responsible for curriculum and staff development, at a time when results improved significantly.

John led Devon’s ‘Healthy Schools’ team before being invited to lead a health education programme based at Exeter University.  From 1996 – 2005 he managed the development of a 2-school research project to successfully engage with 200 schools across the UK and overseas. This demanded developing effective relationships with national decision-makers, Children’s Services Commissioners, academics, clinicians and school leaders, to ensure that key performance indicators were met, on time and within budget.

The quantitative and qualitative research processes, for which John was responsible were used to refine programme content, enhance training and used to produce more than twenty peer-reviewed academic articles.  These data were also used for innumerable presentations at national and international conferences.  External verification confirmed evidence of health improvement and academic achievement, which were unique in Europe. 

In 2006 John became a freelance consultant and has enjoyed a number of repeat commissions with Health and School Improvement Services, providing consultancy, training and coaching across the UK and overseas.

As Regional Advisor for the national PSHE CPD programme, John was responsible for successfully leading a range of experienced professionals, including Health Promotion specialists and Local Authority Advisors. Through enhanced performance management, participant feedback improved significantly and successful accreditation increased by 27% over three years.

John regularly provides training for senior and middle leaders on a range of curriculum and leadership development courses, which have been consistently rated by participants at 4.5 / 5.

John has worked in the UK and overseas for the British Council; written a ‘Life-Skills’ programme, created web-support, devised and delivered training.  More recently he has been ‘Training Manager’ for the Doncaster Graduate Teacher Programme, leading a team of ‘Liaison Tutors’ to support the in-school mentors for ITT trainees.  During 2012, Ofsted graded the programme as ‘Good’ with outstanding features.