CSM Directory

Biography:

Gillian Lovatt-Young is a primary school headteacher with extensive senior management and leadership experience having led two schools and worked as an executive headteacher for three schools. Gillian is a qualified teacher and has completed the National Professional Qualification for Headship. She is also a Local Leader of Education, the Chair of the Sevenoaks Partnership of Primary Schools CIO and has supported headteachers within in her local authority with leadership development. Gillian is a facilitator or the NPQSL programme, a Leadership Coach and has been an Ofsted Inspector for four years.

I have been using a coaching style in leadership for 18 years and completed two separate coaching training courses. I have coached specific staff in my schools eg senior leaders, middle leaders and ECTs through planned coaching sessions, and over the past three years, I have coached the Senior Leadership Team of a large secondary Grammar School who have been through a challenging Ofsted experience (this has been paid work).

I have created and facilitated a coaching programme at the same large secondary Grammar School, working with the Head and Deputy Head to create a coaching culture and leading a coaching training for all Heads of Department that involved termly facilitation sessions across an academic year.

I have facilitated the NPQSL programme for LLSE for the past six years, using a coaching approach with participants as well as modelling coaching as part of the programme. I will be facilitating NPQH for LLSE this year.

I have been coached myself for the past ten years as I value the process for my own professional development.

Coaching is an opportunity for the trainee to reflect on the professional challenges they are facing and to be empowered to solve them in confidence and without judgement or bias. In my role as a coach, I listen carefully to the apparent issue and then use considered questioning to dig deeper, to ensure that the real challenge has been identified. I will then adapt my coaching style to suit the trainee, the context and the situation, to be supportive and empathetic, whilst enabling them to develop their thinking and be solution-focused so that clear outcomes can be achieved.