Our Leadership Team

The Trust has an established Shared Services team that supports all schools within the Trust. The link to the right contains more information on the core shared services that our schools benefit from.

Jonathon Peck, Chief Executive Officer

BSc (Hons), MBA, FCMA CGMA, CMgr FCMI

Jon is the Chief Executive Officer of Maiden Erlegh Trust following his appointment to the role in 2022.  Previously he was the Chief Financial and Operations Officer and Company Secretary of the Trust from 2017.

He joined Maiden Erlegh Trust and was instrumental in the development of central services and the growth of the Trust including the award of two new Free Schools, River Academy and Oak Tree School. 

He is a Business Economics and Finance graduate from Loughborough University, holds an MBA in Education Management, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA CGMA) and also a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI). Prior to moving into the education sector, he had an extensive career in the Aerospace and Defence and Global Professional Services sectors where he held various financial and operational leadership roles. 

Jon is also an experienced school governor having held governor roles at Cove School in Farnborough, he was Vice-Chair of Governors at All Saints CE (Aided) Primary School and Nursery in Wokingham and Vice Chair of the Management Committee at College Hall in Bracknell Forest. Additionally, he has sat on a number of Interim Executive Boards to support schools on their improvement journey.

Andy Johnson, Director of Education

BA (Hons), MSc (Managing School Improvement), PgCert, QTS, NPQH, SLE, FCCT

Andy is Director of Education for Maiden Erlegh Trust.

Following an earlier career in youth and charity work, Andy joined the profession as a trainee RE teacher at Maiden Erlegh School and has been with the organisation for eighteen years. He held a variety of middle and senior leadership positions before joining the team to lead the Trust’s first free school in east Reading in 2015. He was appointed Headteacher in 2018 and led the work to sustainably grow the school to 900 students and to provide high quality education within a vibrant and successful community. In 2020 Andy was appointed to the Principal Designate role for River Academy and asked to lead the Trust’s exciting new school project to serve communities in north and west Reading. He carried out this role alongside directing the provision of high-quality education and care across the schools in our Trust until June 2023 when a new Principal Designate was appointed allowing Andy to focus on his role as Executive Director of Education. 

Andy has extensive experience in leading and developing highly performing teams and has provided school to school support as a Specialist Leader of Education (SLE) to a number of schools. He has also presented at national conferences and DfE roadshows and is a serving Ofsted Inspector.

Sylvie De Groote, Chief Financial Officer

Sylvie is the Trust’s CFO and leads the central finance team in all aspects of financial management. Joining the Trust in 2017, she is an experienced school and Trust finance practitioner and holds a Level 7 qualification in School Financial and Operational Leadership and is continuing her professional development by undertaking the ISBL Certificate in Strategic Educational Leadership.

Julie Foster, Chief Operations Officer

Julie is our Chief Operations Officer, with effect from September 2024. 

Mal Fjord-Roberts, Director of Special Education

Mal has a wealth of experience within SEND schools in Local Authority and Independent sectors as well as within Multi Academy Trusts, occupying all levels of leadership in a variety of settings including primary, secondary, straight-through and residential schools across London and the South East. 

Mal was appointed as a Headteacher within 10 years of starting his Career and gained leadership experience across a range of SEND settings.  Mal has managed several schools through Ofsted inspections, gaining or maintaining “Good” outcomes. 

Mal started his educational career in PE and outdoor education, developing and raising standards and inclusion in sport for SEND pupils across Surrey, including managing the Surrey U18 disability football team and developing players who have represented England.

Mal is passionate in his pursuit to build better futures for all pupils and is dedicated in his pursuit of supporting SEND pupils, families and schools to ensure the best possible outcomes are reached for all. 

Alison Walker, School Improvement Director: Culture and Safeguarding

Alison oversees and leads on all matters of safeguarding, behaviour, and inclusion across the Trust. She works with school leaders to ensure that they act fairly, proportionately and within the law. In addition to this she supports schools with their approaches to personal development, behaviour management and child welfare. She also is a strong advocate for trips and visits and leads on this area for the Trust. 

Alison is a maths teacher and prior to taking up her current role she held various roles in pastoral leadership up to and including Deputy Headteacher. She is an accredited safeguarding trainer and regularly delivers training for Designated Safeguarding Leads across the area, as well as bespoke inhouse training for non-Trust schools. 

Rob Buck, School Improvement Director: People Development

Rob is responsible for Maiden Erlegh Institute and Trust Professional Learning across our family of schools, alongside teacher training and development, school to school support and our wider system leadership work.

Rob joined the profession as a trainee Business Studies and Economics teacher at Maiden Erlegh School and has been with the Trust since 2009. He has worked in a number of different middle and senior leadership roles both within Maiden Erlegh School and at Trust level. In 2018, he was appointed Assistant Headteacher and then also Trust Lead for Careers, Destinations and Higher Ability Provision.

He then oversaw Berkshire Teaching School Alliance in 2020 (now Maiden Erlegh Institute) and in 2022 was appointed Director of Maiden Erlegh Institute and Trust Professional Learning. As part of this role, Rob ensures that the Trust has a clear strategy for professional and career development so that colleagues across all functional areas of the organisation can identify clear development pathways and are supported to achieve their professional goals, from Initial Teacher Trainees through to Chief Operating Officer. He oversees areas such as Initial Teacher Training and our Early Career Teacher Programme, school to school support commissioning, the Trust Annual Conference, Thames Valley Challenge Partners Hub network, the Trust apprenticeship-levy funding and NPQs, the Behaviour Hub designation and is one of the local leads for Appropriate Body on behalf of Teaching School Hub Berkshire.

Rob has also presented at national conferences for both Careers Education and provision for More Able Learners and is a serving Associate for NACE (National Association for Able Children in Education), a Careers Ambassador on behalf of Berkshire.

Sara Elliss, School Improvement Director: Quality of Education

Sara is responsible for ensuring that all schools within the Trust offer a high quality appropriate curriculum which meets the needs of all learners, and leads the Trust's Continuous Improvement Strategy. 

Sara is a geography teacher and an experienced curriculum leader who previously held the positions of Assistant Headteacher – Standards and Outcomes at Maiden Erlegh School, and Deputy Headteacher – Curriculum, Standards and Outcomes at Maiden Erlegh School in Reading.  She has led both schools to secure the Basic Skills Award and Maiden Erlegh School the NACE award for More Able provision.  She has experience of timetabling, admissions and recruitment and is a specialist in Curriculum, Assessment and Closing the Gaps, and Geography. She successfully completed the NPQEL qualification with UCL during 2023.

Kelly Nash, School Improvement Director: SEND

Kelly is responsible for ensuring that all schools within the Trust offer high-quality SEND provision. Supporting schools to offer highly ambitious learning and wider opportunities for SEND learners so they become resilient and independent individuals who achieve their best potential and transition effectively.

Kelly has been a primary school Senior Leader and SENCo and more recently worked for RBWM as the Area SENCo. She has experience of building a SENCo community of practice with inclusion, collaboration and consistency at the center and developing systems and resources to support the SENCos' work. Kelly has conducted school-based and MAT wide SEND reviews as well as quality assurance of resource bases, AP and outreach providers.