Meet the Staff
Robert Wilne
Robert Wilne
Principal
Mr Wilne has a 1st class Mathematics degree from the University of Cambridge. He has taught A-level Maths and Further Maths for over 25 years, most recently at King’s College London Maths School, the most successful sixth form in the UK and the winner of The Sunday Times’ “Sixth Form of the Decade” award. In his role as Lead Teacher of Outreach he has taught enrichment lessons to students in local secondary schools who are aiming for a top grade in their GCSE Maths, and he has led highly regarded professional development programmes for maths teachers. More about Mr Wilne’s career can be read here. Away from school, Mr Wilne loves Japanese films, Harris tweed and Spanish tapas, though not usually at the same time.
Jonny Sherwood
Jonny Sherwood
Vice-Principal, Operations & Partnerships
Mr Sherwood studied Mathematics at Warwick University, from where he graduated with a 1st. He trained on the Teach First programme at Goole High School, before moving to the Caribbean to teach in the Dominican Republic. He taught Mathematics from Y9 to Y13, he coached both the Maths Olympiad team and the girls’ football team, and he was also the guidance counsellor. Since 2019 he has been Subject Leader of Mathematics, Director of STEM Faculty, and Director of Social Sciences Faculty at Elliott Hudson College in Leeds. He is currently Director of Outreach at LMaS, leading our Masterclass and Maths Circles programmes for students in Years 7 to 11. Mr Sherwood enjoys playing football, walking his excitable Labradoodle Daisy, and productively struggling with a complicated board game.
Joanna Rhodes
Joanna Rhodes
Vice-Principal, Students & Outcomes
Not only does Dr Rhodes have a master’s degree and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Oxford (where she won the Unilever Prize for Practical Physical Chemistry), but she also qualified as solicitor (and won Hammick’s Legal Prize) while working at the prestigious London law firm, Slaughter and May. She was Head of Science and then Assistant Principal at Shelley College, and currently is Director of Sixth form at Wakefield Girls’ High School. In this role, she supports students pastorally and academically towards aspirational achievements and inspirational destinations. Dr Rhodes is also co-author of Oxford Chemistry Primers Foundations of Science Mathematics, she is a regular contributor to Teach Secondary magazine, and in 2021 she was one of 523 women (out of 22,500 applications!) invited to participate in astronaut training. She hasn’t travelled into space … yet.
Fleur Siswick
Fleur Siswick
Lead Teacher of Physics
Miss Siswick achieved a 1st class degree in Natural Sciences then Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge, and then qualified as a Science teacher through the Teach First programme. She has over eight years teaching experience in Leeds schools, specialising in teaching Physics. She joins LMaS from Dixons Trinity Chapeltown, where she has been has been Head of Science for five years. Miss Siswick especially enjoys creating challenging curriculum resources and crafting powerful explanations that support students to master difficult concepts. In her spare time, Miss Siswick runs, rows and walks in the Yorkshire countryside, and reads and solves puzzles if the weather’s too grim!
Andy O’Hara
Andy O’Hara
Lead Teacher of Computer Science
Mr O’Hara is a graduate of Sheffield Hallam University, with a 1st in Computing and a PGCE in Computing Education. He has over 17 years’ experience teaching A-Level IT and Computer Science, first at Outwood Grange Academy and currently at Elliott Hudson College in Leeds. He is an examiner for OCR A level Computer Science, specialising in the programming content on Paper 2. For the GORSE SCITT he trains future Computer Science teachers, leading a course he wrote himself. Mr O’Hara is a keen software developer: he has built systems to support all aspects of teaching and learning and student progress, and he has created over a hundred coding challenges to develop his students’ programming competence and logic skills. Students from Elliott Hudson College have twice reached the final of the BAFTA Young Game Developers national competition. Mr O’Hara enjoys rambling in the Yorkshire Moors and along coastal paths, and is also an enthusiastic player of detective board games.
Cathy Kelly
Cathy Kelly
Lead Teacher of the Leeds Mathematics Certificate
Dr Kelly studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge: first Physics and then Chemistry. She completed her PhD at Sheffield University in Organic Chemistry, and then qualified as a Chartered Accountant. She worked in senior business modelling roles at First Direct and Nominet before re-training as a Maths teacher, after which she taught in Dorset and Devon, most recently at the extremely successful Exeter Maths School. Dr Kelly is passionate about supporting all young people to have access to the best university education, particularly in STEM subjects, and she is very excited to be developing the Leeds Mathematics Certificate because she knows this will give LMaS students unique opportunities outside the classroom. When she herself is outside the classroom, she loves running, skiing and orienteering.
Christian Marriott
Christian Marriott
Teacher of Mathematics
Mr Marriott went to school and sixth form college in Sheffield, and then studied Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Oxford. He is a keen programmer, and in his degree course he especially enjoyed learning about Statistical Inference and Computational Statistics. He has stayed at the Oxford for his PGCE in Secondary Mathematics and he will qualify in June. He has been a volunteer with the UK Mathematics Trust for the past five years, which has involved mentoring GCSE and A level students and giving mathematics talks at summer schools. When Mr Marriott was in the sixth form, he taught himself how to programme robots, and then he and a group of friends qualified for the VEX Robotics World Championships. He is a huge fan of Formula One, and he attended the 2022 British Grand Prix: the proximity of Silverstone to Oxford is a very happy geographical coincidence!
Gemma Coward
Gemma Coward
Business & Operations Manager
Mrs Coward has a Business Studies degree from Leeds Metropolitan University, where she also studied for her postgraduate degree in People Management. She has had a very successful career in HR for eighteen years, culminating in a senior role in an international energy company leading and managing large-scale organisational change. She then decided to start a family and look for a new professional opportunity, and so joined the GORSE Academies Trust in May 2022. Mrs Coward has been fully involved in all aspects of the pre-opening phase of LMaS, and is very excited that her role will now be Business & Operations Manager. Mrs Coward has a life-long love for the theatre, and she still regularly acts and sings with her local Amateur Dramatics Society, even though her young family keep her very busy!
Luke Free
Luke Free
Site Manager
Mr Free joins us from Elliott Hudson Sixth Form College, where he has worked as a core member of the site maintenance team since the college opened. He therefore has invaluable knowledge and experience as LMaS gets established in our stunning home. The opportunity to help set up a brand-new school in a brand-new building, and to make it safe and secure for everyone, was unmissable for him. In addition to his practical and construction skills, Mr Free is also an accomplished designer; he studied Fine Art and Photography before joining the EHC team. Away from work he enjoys hiking, bouldering and kayaking, and he loves a DIY challenge: if there’s ever a PhD offered in DIY, he’s sure he’ll graduate in record time!
Bethany Alexis
Bethany Alexis
Personal Progression Tutor
Miss Alexis brings to LMaS a wealth of experience in supporting students pastorally and academically so that they thrive emotionally and achieve their personal goals. She is a graduate of Nottingham Trent University, and draws on the skills and knowledge she developed through her studies to ensure that all voices, but especially those of marginalised and under-represented persons, are heard and respected and listened to. Miss Alexis has worked in pastoral roles in schools and colleges across Leeds, and this, coupled with her own ongoing training as a counsellor, gives her very great empathetic depth: this is invaluable to LMaS and our students as we make our brand-new community strong and safe. Miss Alexis enjoys the Performing Arts, and is also accomplished in sewing and crochet: we’re looking forward to seeing her designs for a LMaSpring / Summer capsule collection!
Jemma Barrass
Jemma Barrass
Receptionist & Administration Support
Miss Barrass attended Notre Dame Sixth Form where she achieved A-levels in History, Health and Social Care, Philosophy and Theology. With these she began a degree in Sociology and Criminology at Leeds Beckett University, but paused her studies in 2020 in order to take on a key worker role to support the fight against Covid-19. Miss Barrass joins us with considerable experience in retail and customer services, and so has exactly the skills and qualities to give students and visitors the warmest of welcomes to LMaS. She enjoys going to swimming classes with her young daughter and she loves any David Attenborough series – though not the ones with ferocious carnivores if the little one is around!