Assistant Principal Apprenticeships and Employer Engagement

Helen has worked in further education, with a particular focus on apprenticeships, since 2004 and has held leadership roles since 2010. She is passionate about the transformative impact of apprenticeships and committed to ensuring consistently high standards of teaching, learning and assessment.

Helen's career began as an apprentice hairdresser, giving me first-hand experience of the opportunities that apprenticeships can provide. After 15 years in the hairdressing industry, she moved into management and education and led the education provision for a prestigious chain of high-end salons. She used initial years in her transition to the education sector to develop her own learning, securing degrees in both management and lifelong learning alongside a wide variety of professional development qualifications to enhance my knowledge and professional capacity. 

Helen brings extensive knowledge of the apprenticeship landscape, spanning compliance, curriculum development and quality improvement. Education and learning have always been at the heart of my career, and she is particularly passionate about further education's ability to develop talent, widen opportunity and help individuals achieve their potential.