The Team at Appleford
Leadership Team
Ms Stella Wilson is the Headteacher. Stella Wilson lead the school through two double outstanding Ofsted awards. After a spell away from the school, she has returned to the fold for this academic year.
Mr Richard Caley
After spending four years in the state sector, Richard Caley joined Appleford in 1990 when he was appointed Head of PE and Games. During his 12 years in charge of the department he set up many national award programmes and introduced the Outdoor Education Programme. Under his guidance Appleford won seven consecutive National Dyslexia Schools rugby titles, a record which he is understandably proud of.
In 2002 he relinquished the Head of PE role and took over the running of the Humanities department. In 2004 he was then asked to take over as Head of English, a role he has carried out for the last eight years. In September 2008 he was promoted to Deputy Head Teacher.
Coral Wedd is the Head of Care. Before taking up her appointment at Appleford Coral had been working in a residential setting for twenty years, eight of which were as a Senior Support worker. She and her husband Andy ran one of Appleford's boarding houses for four years prior to taking up this post.
Clive Gutteridge is the Bursar; he served in the Army in the Infantry and Royal Army Pay Corps for 26 years. He joined us 6 years ago having been Bursar at another school. He is a member of the British Institute of Facilities Management.
In the classroom
All morning English lessons are delivered by qualified SpLD teachers supported by LSAs; some of the Maths lessons are supported by LSAs as well. There are 8 LSAs in total, of which 6 have an NVQ2 as a Classroom Assistant.
The remaining National Curriculum lessons are delivered by specialist teachers in the afternoon.
In the Shrewton and Elston (boarding houses)
The care team is lead by Coral Wedd, qualified to NVQ 3 Level 3 but moving towards NVQ Level 4. Coral and her husband Andy are supported by Gabby Morris the Assistant Houseparent who also lives in Shrewton House. Under the supervision of Coral, the girl's house, Elston is run by Houseparent, Val Shaw. Both Houses are suported by 9 other part-time Care staff of which 5 have NVQ Level 3 in Care.
Orcheston (day children’s house)
Orcheston is run by Tom Lynn (Teacher of English and Head of Art) and provides a home for the day pupils at the beginning and end of the school day.
In the kitchen
Wayne Harris leads a team of 6 staff in the kitchen. All the kitchen staff have passed a basic Food Handling Course and 4 of them have an NVQ2 in Catering.
Our cleaning and laundry staff
Zena Bulling leads the cleaning and laundry team that keeps the school and clothing clean and fit for use. Two of the current staff have NVQ2 in Cleaning; a further two staff will be embarking on training in the near future.
Our admin staff
The admin staff provide the accounting, personnel, facilities management and secretarial support, IT management and a school clothing shop function. The management of the grounds is outsourced to a local contractor.
Assessments are conducted by some of the leading practitioners in their fields in the U.K.
Dr. Peter Gardner
B.A., DipPsych., M.A., Ed.D., A.F.B.Ps.S., M.I.Mgt., F.Inst.D.
Chartered Psychologist
Peter Gardner is a Chartered Educational Psychologist, a Chartered Forensic Psychologist and a Chartered Counselling Psychologist of the British Psychological Society. He is a Full Practitioner Member of the British Psychological Society Division of Neuropsychology. He is a registered Psychotherapist (United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy) and was a committee member of the Psychology and Psychotherapy Association.
Much of his work is legal work, including the preparation of detailed court reports and submission of oral evidence, working for Crown Courts, Magistrates Courts and Guardian ad litem panels. He acted as an expert witness in the precedent-setting Phelps v London Borough of Hillingdon education negligence case in the High Court in July 1997 and was described by Mr. Justice Garland as “particularly well qualified, careful and fair.” His legal work is split roughly 50:50 between Claimant and Defendant work.
He is a founder of both Appleford School and of Daneswood, Shipham, near Cheddar, a care home for young adults with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties, which is registered with and approved by CSCi.
Josephine Hutchinson
Specialist Speech and Language Therapist.
Josephine joined the Appleford staff in September 2009. She provides assessment with accompanying reports and programmes, individual and group work. Most of her work takes place in the classroom working alongside teachers and assistants. There is also joint working with Helen Twentyman, the Occupational Therapist, in Lifeskills and Social Skills groups, as well as the Lunch Club which provides support to children who need help with cutlery skills and dining ettiquette. The Appleford caseload includes, apart from the primary difficulties encountered by children with dyslexia: Dyspraxia, Dysarthria, Speech sound difficulties, Language Delay and Disorder, Social Communication difficulties, Pragmatic difficulties, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Social Skills problems and Life Skills needs. Most of the children are seen in groups with individual work undertaken where appropriate.
Helen Twentyman
Occupational Therapist
Helen Twentyman is an Occupational Therapist with 20 years experience. She has completed post graduate training in Sensory Integrative Therapy.
Elizabeth Hatton
Child Psychotherapist, M.A.
After working for 7 years with children who had behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, Elizabeth decided to retrain as a Child Psychotherapist at the Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education in London.
Elizabeth joined the team at Appleford in March 2009.
staff list and qualifications (PDF file - 42kb)