We are proud of our Team at Raise, which has been hand-picked to provide a unique blend of highly qualified, caring, experienced professionals, from a multi-disciplinary background.
Always looking to improve the services that we offer to our children and young people, Raise now employs over 50 full and part-time staff, which includes: Education; Health & Wellbeing; Educational Psychologists; Speech and Language Therapists; Criminal Justice; Social Care and the world of Business.
Board of Directors
Jason Steele
CEO & Proprietor
Elaine Bowes
Director, Quality of Education & People Development
Mike Abram
Financial Director
Elaine Bowes
Chair and Quality of Education and Outcomes
Jason Steele
CEO and Proprietor
Mike Abram
Governor for Finance and Information
Suzanne Watson
Headteacher
Gilly Ford
Deputy Headteacher
Karen Ainsworth
Professional Clerk of the Governors
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Jason Steele
CEO & Proprietor
Qualifications
- Restorative Justice in Schools
- Governor Leadership Programme for Governors and Chairs of Governors Edge Hill University 2016
- Level 3 Award In Education and Training 2016
- Diploma in Mindfulness – Centre for excellence 2016/17
- SEN-Level 3- ABC Awards, Quality Licence Scheme- 2014-2015
- Diploma in Social Work- The University of Salford- 1995-1997
- BTEC Social Care Diploma- Oldham College- 1993-1995
- Certificate in Social Sciences- The Open University- 2008-2009
- Extensive professional qualifications including: – Specialist Practitioner YP substance misuse/Dual Diagnosis
Background
As the Founder of Raise The Youth, I have met many children and young people who are talented and passionate, but their history and circumstances have affected their confidence, self-belief and motivation. I have extensive experience of working with troubled young people and those experiencing crises. As a youth worker and social worker, I managed cases of the highest complexity and risk within residential settings, Criminal Justice, and then creating and managing the Bolton Youth Offending Team’s Resettlement and Aftercare Provision. I too was a reluctant learner with a range of challenges in life and learning and that experience has allowed me to empathise with the situations that our young people face.
I bring leadership through my vision, passion, energy and a total and absolute commitment to improving the life chances of young people. I have an unwavering faith in humanity and believe that the Raise team can give the love and support that our children and young people need, to enable them to make good choices and achieve better life chances.
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Elaine Bowes
Director – Quality of Education and Staff Development
Qualifications
- Restorative Justice for Schools
- MA- Voluntary & Third Sector Management- Edgehill University- 2012
- ILM-Level 7 Post-graduate diploma-Executive Coaching & Leadership Mentoring- 2010
- ILM Level 6 Certificate- Business Advice and Development- 2009
- Levels A & B+ Psychometric Testing (Aptitude and personality profiling)- British Psychological Society- 2008
- MSc- Applied Psychology- University of Manchester- 1993
- Diploma in Insurance-Chartered Insurance Institute – (9 exams inc- Quantitative Methods, English legal system, Insurance Law, Risk Management &
- Investigation, Liabilities- contract & tort)- 1993
- BA (Hons) Economics- University of Manchester – 1991
Background
I joined the Board at Raise in 2012, having had a career background which combined psychology, legal investigations, management and business, which enables me to take an active leadership role in shaping our educational and wellbeing offer, to meet the needs of our complex young people. My mission as a Company Director and Chair of Governors is to make Raise a safe, positive and outstanding provision for children and young people, by employing the best team of specialist professionals to meet individual needs.
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Mike Abram
Financial Director
Qualifications
- BA (Hons) Accountancy Studies – Huddersfield University – 1983 to 1986
- PGDE Skills for Life – Numeracy Specialism – University of Bolton – 2009 to 2010
- CMI Level 5 Certificate in Business Support – 2009
- 4 A-Levels – Thornleigh Salesian College – 1981 to 1983
- 9 O-Levels – Thornleigh Salesian College – 1975 to 1981
Background
I have worked with Raise for over five years, after many years’ experience as a Finance Director in the IT industry, including having previously worked in an educational environment. As Finance Director at Raise, my role is to ensure that all finances are well managed, as well as keeping the organisation legally compliant to help it develop and grow. As a not-for-profit business, finance impacts everything we do at Raise and I am determined to help create an organisation that is nimble enough to adapt to any financial challenges, so that it can realise its ambitions for future growth.
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Suzanne Watson
Headteacher
Qualifications
I have studied for five years for my Doctorate PhD and although not yet published, I have embedded much of my research into my everyday practice.
I have a Master’s Degree in Organisational Management and Inclusive Education. My first degree subject was Conceptual Art. I hold a National Distribution Certificate for Business Studies and Art as well as Cert Ed Teaching Certificate. I also have a Level 5 English Specialism.
I was a critical reader for the Government’s Learning and Skills Council and for NIACE, and my works contributed towards the Whitepaper ”Learning for Living and Work Framework 2007.”
I also contributed to OFSTED’s Employability and Enterprise initiatives and my practice was shared with all FE providers. In 2011 my area won Highly Commended Association of Colleges Beacon Award for excellence.
Background
I joined Raise as Deputy Headteacher, following extensive experience which included SEN teaching and managing large post 16 provisions.
My passion for many years has always been to enable vulnerable young people to achieve their full potential. Now, as Headteacher at Raise, I am delighted to continue supporting the educational attainment and progression of our young people, sharing my knowledge of SEN approaches and strategies, as well as developing our whole area of teaching and learning.
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Gilly Ford
Deputy Headteacher
Qualifications
I have worked as a Hairdresser, Barber and Beauty Therapist all my career and have City and Guilds qualifications up to level 3 in these subjects. I completed my Certificate in Education in 1992 and have been teaching in FE since then. I achieved a Level 5 teaching English Subject Specialism in 2004. I have Assessor Awards and Internal Verifier Awards, with 25 years’ experience of assessing and internal verification. European Computer Driving License. Gaining QTLS status, Common inspection framework, RARPA good practise, child exploitation and online protection, Virtual learning environment – Moodle 1 and 2, safeguarding children and vulnerable adults, working with learners with autism, Neuro linguistic programming, CEOP, legal framework for SEND law, Mindfulness, First Aid at Work, Exam invigilation training, Reading, scribing and prompting in exams training, Oral language modification training, Prevent training, FGM training.
Background
I joined Raise as Vocational Curriculum Lead to develop its vocational offer, in particular to meet the needs of our 14+ young people. Before joining Raise I had many years’ experience in educating young people with SEN, within a college setting. In addition, my experience included curriculum development and embedding functional skills across the curricula. Now, as the newly appointed Deputy Headteacher, I look forward to supporting and helping Raise develop a robust and diverse curriculum that will challenge and engage our learners every day. To offer our learners to achieve great steps in personal development and growth as an individual, with positive opportunities to progress and reach their full potential.