Angela Barry OBE
BA Education, 1985
CEO, WOODLAND ACADEMY TRUST
“When I walk into Avery Hill now to interview prospective students, I remember my own interview in 1981 and how much I loved being there.”
Angela Barry is a National Leader of Education, one of the government’s team of headteachers who support schools in challenging circumstances.
As Chief Executive Officer of the Woodland Academy Trust, a group of four schools in Bexley, and with over 30 years teaching experience, Angela has exceptional expertise to share with others. Only those judged an outstanding serving headteacher by Ofsted are allowed to be a National Leader.
“I love sharing my passion for leadership, because it translates into good outcomes for children and staff,” she says. “The scheme is not about spoon-feeding the school team but increasing their capacity to raise standards themselves.”
Angela applies her leadership in a host of ways: she sits on her regional Headteacher Board, part of the structure to support and oversee academies; she carries out Pupil Premium reviews to help schools optimise the additional funding they get for vulnerable pupils; she oversees teacher training, and directs an alliance of schools and teacher training institutions to improve children’s life chances.
Having trained at Avery Hill College, now part of the University of Greenwich, her career has come full circle: today the Woodland Academy Trust provides placements for the university’s trainees and also sends its teachers who are on the ‘school-centred initial teacher training’ route to study at Avery Hill.
“That’s where I feel I became an adult, where I learned to be independent and responsible for my own learning. And that has stuck with me ever since.”
Angela Barry OBE
BA Education, 1985
CEO, WOODLAND ACADEMY TRUST
“When I walk into Avery Hill now to interview prospective students, I remember my own interview in 1981 and how much I loved being there.”
Angela Barry is a National Leader of Education, one of the government’s team of headteachers who support schools in challenging circumstances.
As Chief Executive Officer of the Woodland Academy Trust, a group of four schools in Bexley, and with over 30 years teaching experience, Angela has exceptional expertise to share with others. Only those judged an outstanding serving headteacher by Ofsted are allowed to be a National Leader.
“I love sharing my passion for leadership, because it translates into good outcomes for children and staff,” she says. “The scheme is not about spoon-feeding the school team but increasing their capacity to raise standards themselves.”
Angela applies her leadership in a host of ways: she sits on her regional Headteacher Board, part of the structure to support and oversee academies; she carries out Pupil Premium reviews to help schools optimise the additional funding they get for vulnerable pupils; she oversees teacher training, and directs an alliance of schools and teacher training institutions to improve children’s life chances.
Having trained at Avery Hill College, now part of the University of Greenwich, her career has come full circle: today the Woodland Academy Trust provides placements for the university’s trainees and also sends its teachers who are on the ‘school-centred initial teacher training’ route to study at Avery Hill.
“That’s where I feel I became an adult, where I learned to be independent and responsible for my own learning. And that has stuck with me ever since.”
