The team is made up of three former teachers (Elaine Crotty, Sheila Loughlin and Brian Padgett) with extensive school experience at all leadership levels, school inspection, and deprivation intervention. This team works in partnership with the network of Forgotten 40 headteachers and regularly reports to INEOS regarding the progress of the project and impact of the funding.
Sheila Loughlin
Sheila began teaching in the mid-1970s. She was a headteacher in Macclesfield and Stockport. She was involved in setting up the British School in Tokyo, was a local authority advisor for Cheshire, and worked as school consultant for Chester Diocese. She also spent 10 years working as a school inspector with Ofsted. She has chaired and sat on IEBs and currently serves as Achievement Director of the Rural Church Schools Academy Trust (RCSAT).
Elaine Crotty
Elaine has 27 years teaching experience, originally in key stage 2 before specialising in early years education. Elaine was instrumental in getting the Forgotten 40 team together.
Brian Padgett
Brian began teaching in inner-city Salford in the 1970s. He spent 14 years as a headteacher of two schools, in Salford and Whitehaven in Cumbria. He became a school inspector with Ofsted in 1995 and one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors for Schools (HMI) in 1999, serving for 15 years. Brian has been active in research into educational disadvantage since 1985 and currently works with Manchester University’s Institute of Education and Chester Diocese as a consultant.
Five headteachers from the original 100 schools have been chosen as ambassadors to help us champion the project.
Katie Barry, former headteacher, St George’s Primary, Gainsborough
Paul Sanchez, headteacher, St Thomas’ Primary, Stockport
Helen Woodward, headteacher, St Martin’s Primary, Oldham
Kerry Coe, headteacher, St John the Baptist Primary, Stockton
Louise Hill, headteacher, Grimes Dyke Primary, Leeds
Following the success of this model, we would like to encourage other Headteachers to be involved in different aspects of the project.
Core Principles
Forgotten 40 aims to empower the headteachers of primary schools serving some of the UK’s most deprived communities, giving them additional and flexible funding to meet the well-being and learning needs of children growing up in particularly challenging circumstances. The aim of the project is to improve the experience of childhood and remove barriers to learning, rather than directly targeting academic attainment.