Linda NeillDirector
Di ReevesBusiness Support Executive
Allison RileyConsultant and Operations Manager
Sian CollinsonConsultant and Sales & Marketing Manager
Louise StokesConsultant
Kirsten AidleyConsultant
Jo GaskellConsultant
Christine YallandConsultant
Nicole WrightBusiness Manager
Sally MeyerBusiness Support Executive
Georgia BellisMarketing Executive
Sarah RichardsonAccounts Administrator
Jamie MaguireBusiness Services Administrator
Izzy GrahamAdministrative Assistant
Kerry WilliamsAssociate Writer
Lynne DanielAssociate Writer
Emma NicholasAssociate Writer and Consultant
Sue WilliamsAssociate Writer
Catherine Richardson Director
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Catherine has had extensive experience both in school and working as a lead literacy teacher and local authority adviser in the Northwest. She has many years of management and teaching experience across years 1-6 in a variety of settings. Catherine has extensive experience of both KS1 and KS2 moderation processes and practice and is a lead moderator for KS2. Catherine has gained a wealth of knowledge and experience completing her MEd in English, working on projects at her time with local authorities and supporting a wide variety of schools including many vulnerable schools.
Catherine loves to walk, travel and to spend time with family and friends. As a passionate reader, Catherine loves to visit independent bookshops across the UK and abroad and will often return to The Literacy Company team with a little gem that can be used as part of Pathways Literacy programmes or as part of training sessions.
Linda Neill Director
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Linda has had extensive experience both in school and working for a local authority. She has many years of experience teaching across years 1-6 in a variety of settings including working internationally and has worked as a senior leader and English lead in several schools. Linda has worked as a leading literacy teacher and adviser in the North West of England and is a lead moderator for KS1. These roles have enabled Linda to gain a wealth of experience working with a wide variety of schools including many vulnerable schools.
As a passionate reader, Linda is always searching for engaging high-quality texts to share with teachers and pupils and to use as a platform to inspire writing. Linda’s love of words and the English language has also inspired her drive to learn further languages.
Di Reeves Business Support Executive
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After working in the nuclear industry for a number of years, Di retrained to become a teacher. As a former Assistant Head at a large primary school, she has enjoyed 14 years of working particularly in Year 6, supporting children through their KS2 SATs and in their transition to high school. Her particular passions are science, maths and the natural world and instilling that natural curiosity within the classroom. Di has many years of first-hand experience using Pathways to Write and associated products so is now very excited to be joining the Literacy Company business support team and using her experience now to support teachers from ‘the outside’!
In her spare time, Di loves nothing better than being up a mountain in North Wales walking with her family and trying to tire out her rather energetic puppy. Her obsession with the outdoors recently took her to Iceland with her eldest daughter to trek to an erupting volcano; quite an experience.
Allison Riley Consultant and Operations Manager
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Allison taught in schools for 17 years across the primary age range with a particular focus in KS2 and year 6. Her in-school leadership involved senior leadership and leading an English team in a large primary school. As an English consultant, Allison has several years’ experience of supporting schools with planning, moderation, subject leadership and curriculum planning. Her passion is developing effective curriculums, creating engaging resources for teaching English and introducing pupils to a range of inspirational books. Allison is part of the KS2 local authority moderation team and has gained both experience and expertise which she uses to support schools.
Allison has a natural thirst for knowledge and a love of the world. She enjoys travelling and taking trips with her family; she can often be found in independent bookshops or museum shops looking for the next great book to use (or maps and postcards!).
Sian Collinson Consultant and Sales & Marketing Manager
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Sian has many years of teaching experience across the primary age range with a particular focus in KS1 and SEND. She has a vast range of leadership experience in CLLD, phonics, English interventions and literacy. Sian also has experience in supporting schools as an SLE for English and phonics. This passion for early reading skills has been developed into a phonics specialism as Sian supports a wide range of schools through her involvement with English Hubs and validated SSP programmes. Sian is part of our KS1 team and uses her role as a county moderator to support work in schools.
Sian has a passion for drama and performing, having previously worked in theatre in education. She enjoys using her creativity in the units of work she has produced. She loves getting out and about to see staff in schools and will never say no when offered a cup of tea.
Louise Stokes Consultant
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Louise has many years teaching experience across the primary age range with a particular focus in KS1 and EYFS. Louise is a former Deputy Headteacher and Acting Head of School with a number of years’ experience as a subject leader for Literacy. Louise has worked as an SLE for English, supporting curriculum development, middle leadership development and improving communication and language skills in Early Years. Louise is also an experienced KS1 moderator for Warrington Authority. Louise has a passion for Early Years and supports a range of schools in implementing their Literacy curriculum and provision.
Louise enjoys walking and spending time with family and friends. She has a young daughter, and they enjoy reading new books together. Having a pre-schooler helps with understanding Early Years development through the eyes of a child. Louise loves the opportunity to visit new schools and meet new people.
Kirsten Aidley Consultant
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Kirsten is excited to have recently joined the team in February 2023. She is looking forward to working with teachers and supporting schools. Kirsten has taught across KS2 over the last 10 years in diverse settings. For many years, Kirsten has worked as part of SLT and has enjoyed leading KS2, as well as being KS2 Maths and English subject lead. Kirsten has a particular passion for driving the improvement of writing using high-quality and engaging texts.
Kirsten enjoys spending time walking her dog, listening to audiobooks, and having family time with her two young children. She loves to take her children to local libraries to pick out new and exciting texts to share at home.
Jo Gaskell Consultant
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Having started out as an English specialist in a middle school over 20 years ago and has since gained classroom experience across KS1, 2 and 3, she now splits her working week between consultancy and teaching at a local primary school. Jo has acted as an SLE as well as Pupil Premium and English Lead and enjoys working with schools to develop their English curriculum. She has led GDS workshops in association with NWGT and enjoys directing trainee teachers and ECTs as they embark on their teaching careers.
Jo is a busy mum of two young boys, but when she has time, she likes to read and loves to travel. Weekends are spent pitch-side at her sons’ football matches, enjoying a coffee, film or show or going for a stomping walk in the countryside.
Christine Yalland Consultant
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Prior to joining The Literacy Company, Christine was a Deputy Headteacher responsible for implementing change across schools, monitoring and improving standards and supporting staff. She has many years’ experience as a subject leader for English and a member of SLT. Her teaching experience ranges from EYFS – year 6 in a range of settings and across different authorities. Christine is an experienced KS2 writing moderator for Cheshire West and Chester and has much experience of mentoring trainees and ECTs.
Currently, Christine is studying for her MEd at Chester University on a part-time basis.
Nicole Wright Business Manager
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Following a 10-year break to spend time with her 3 children after 20 years of experience as a buyer, within retail and local government, Nicole joined The Literacy Company right at the start in 2013 and has loved seeing the company grow and develop its award-winning Pathways programmes.
Her wide range of commercial experience in both the public and private sectors is put to good use providing business support at The Literacy Company.
Nicole loves to spend time walking with her 2 dogs. The forest and the beach are her favourite places to be, especially if there is a place to stop and have tea and cake! She also loves to curl up with a good book and to spend time creatively either sewing or crocheting.
Sally Meyer Business Support Executive
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Sally joined our team in 2021 as administrative support for Nicole. She has experience of many years in customer service roles as well as having spent a year in Japan teaching English to 3-12 year olds. She received a BSc in Environmental Science, and during her time at university, she was an academic mentor for disadvantaged high school pupils. She has been recently working to get us implemented on a new CRM system, and I’m sure you’ll be hearing from Sally at some point through some emails.
As someone who tends to pack her time full of plans with friends, Sally has taught herself to crochet for when she has free time at home. She’s currently making a jumper as an experiment, and she’s excited to have more free time to make quicker progress with her projects.
Georgia Bellis Marketing Executive
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Georgia came on board during 2020 to help with our marketing and social media. Georgia has marketing experience across multiple sectors including beauty and dental. She really enjoys seeing customer feedback on social media and finding new ways to engage our audiences in projects and product launches. Georgia currently works across our social media, campaign planning, events and helped facilitate the development of our new website which she loves!
In her spare time, Georgia is training to be a yoga teacher and loves to practise. When Georgia is not on her mat, you will find her with a non-fiction book in hand or hiking through the woods with her family.
Jamie Maguire Business Services Administrator
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Jamie had many years of experience working in customer service and sales before joining the team at the end of 2022. He has a degree in English Language and Linguistics so was thrilled at the opportunity to work in a role related to his study. Jamie may be the first voice you hear on the phone when you give us a call.
Jamie loves to get out of the house. At the weekend, you’ll find Jamie at the cinema, on a hike in nature in pursuit of a lovely view, or at a café having brunch with friends. He’s the best person to talk about new TV shows with, too!
Izzy Graham Administrative Assistant
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Izzy joined us in our new office in Chester in 2022 as administrative support for the team. Her assistance has been paramount to the organisation of our online courses and in-school support. She has been working on formatting our recently released Pathways to Write Exemplifications and also working on uniformly creating our product images in preparation for our brand new website! She is working with us alongside working towards getting her degree in Archaeology at the University of Chester.
In her spare time, Izzy enjoys getting outdoors and going for a walk. As well as exploring nature, she also loves to get creative and capture the essence through photography.
