Lisa joined The Woodlands School in October 2020 as The Head of School, following a successful 18 month secondment in the role, from Milton Keynes Council.  

Lisa has worked in Milton Keynes for the past 12 years, having several roles within the 'Special Educational Needs and Disability service area' of Milton Keynes Council. Whilst working for the council Lisa specialised in the area of Autism and Communication and Interaction. 

Her role prior to joining The Woodlands School was the Inclusion and Intervention Manager; within the role she managed a large team of specialist teachers and inclusion and intervention workers. She had the strategic responsibility for communication and interaction departments including quality assurance, mentoring and admissions as well as Deputising for the Head of Delivery for SEND as required. Through this she contributed to the strategic planning of SEND services in Milton Keynes. 

Other roles included Locality manager, managing a team of professionals including SEN caseworkers and Communication and Interaction specialist teacher, where she supported children with social communication difficulties and Autism in mainstream schools. She has been a member of the diagnosis process in MK, as part of a multi-discipline team, as well as leading parent and professional training. 

Prior to entering the specialist sector in 2007, Lisa worked in several outstanding mainstream primary schools after qualifying in 2000 with a Bachelor Arts (Hons) in Primary Education with Qualified Teacher Status in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, in her last post she held the middle leader role of ‘Primary Strategy Leader’ and was a member of the senior leadership team.

Lisa holds several qualifications including; National Professional Qualification for Headship, National SENCo award and National Professional Qualification for Middle Leader.

Mike Russell joined the Woodlands School as Deputy Head in January 2019. He holds responsibilities for whole school assessment and curriculum.

Mike joined us from the Redway School where he spent almost five years as Assistant Head leading on the curriculum and assessment. During that time he introduced the app Evidence for Learning which has been highly commended externally. Since that point he has worked closely with the app developers and has successfully introduced it at the Woodlands. 

Mike has been a teacher for over 15 years with a mixture of mainstream and special education experience. His first leadership role came five years into his career as a Lower KS2 leader for a mainstream primary and he has completed a number of professional development courses such as Advanced Team Teach, Rebound Therapy, Halliwick Swimming, Restorative Justice and more recently becoming a trainer for Positive Behaviour Support.

Karen Thomson joined The Woodlands School as a class teacher in February 2010.  In September 2016 she became the Senior Teacher at our Hertford Place Campus and joined the Senior Leadership Team in September 2020. As Head of Department for Middle School she has responsibility for pupils in year five to year nine at our Hazeley Campus.   

Karen is currently working towards her NPQML qualification, and having undergone her DSL safeguarding training is a Deputy Safeguarding Lead.  Karen has led much of our parent training at The Woodlands School, including NAS Early Bird Plus.  She was responsible for introducing the NAS Healthy Minds parent training at The Woodlands School, being one of the first trainers to be trained in the country.  Karen has also led parent training on supporting phonics, reading and writing at home.  In her time as a class teacher at The Woodlands School Karen has taught in our Lower, Middle and Upper school departments.  Karen’s mainstream teaching also reflects this wide range of experience as she has taught in a variety of primary, middle and secondary schools in Suffolk, Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes.  Karen was part of two outstanding Early Years Ofsted inspections at Oxley Park Primary in 2007 and Tickford Park Primary in 2008.  In 2015 Karen took time away from The Woodlands School to be one of the advisory teachers for Autism in Bedfordshire, further expanding her knowledge of autism.  

Sara Tunnicliffe joined The Woodlands School in September 2010 as a class teacher and joined the Senior Leadership Team in January 2014. As Head of Department for Upper School she has responsibility for years 9 to 14 which includes our Sixth Form and Transition Year. In 2017 Sara achieved an MEd in Autism from Birmingham University. She is Deputy Safeguarding Lead, Careers Lead and Exams Officer for the school. Sara was part of the School LeadershipTeam involved in the 2016 OFSTED where the school was judged to be Good and the bespoke training needed to transition into the adult world provided by the school was mentioned.

Sara is an experienced classroom practitioner, having spent 14 years in mainstream primary settings, where she developed a passion for Special Educational needs, becoming the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator and having responsibility for Looked After Children in the school.

Sara led the introduction of The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme to The Woodlands School and has developed relationships with other local providers and organisations to increase the number and range of Work Experience opportunities for older students in preparation for adult life.

As Assistant Headteacher for Lower School Ruth has responsibility for year groups R to 4 and is based at the Hertford Place campus. Ruth Joined the Woodlands School as a Teaching Assistant where she developed her passion for educating young people with Autism. Ruth pursued her career in teaching and gained a First Class Honours in Education Studies at the University of the West of England, followed by a Postgraduate Certificate of Education. Ruth then returned to the Woodlands School as a teacher in 2015. 

Ruth joined the leadership team in 2018 when she took on the role of Planning lead and Humanities lead. She was a member of the curriculum working party where she helped to design the new Aspire Curriculum. Ruth has completed a number of professional development courses including SCERTS, TEACCH, and has also completed her National Professional Qualification for Middle Leaders which focused on the importance of Transactional Supports as a tool for regulation. Ruth is also a Positive Behaviour Support coach and has contributed to developing the schools positive approach to behaviour. 

Ruth was actively involved with the successful introduction of the SCERTS approach to the school, working closely with the therapy team to embed it into the school and has continued to be an advocate of SCERTS since. 

Ruth has taught across the Lower School and Middle School Departments and In 2020 Ruth joined the Senior Leadership Team as Lower School Assistant Headteacher.

As Pastoral Deputy Head Nikki has responsibility for Behaviour, Mental Health and Wellbeing at the Woodlands School. She is also one of the deputy designated Safeguarding Lead. 

Nikki joined the Woodlands School in 2008 as a Higher Level Teaching assistant while completing her BA hons degree in Learning and Teaching part time. In 2011 Nikki gained a place on Two Mile Ash’s Initial Teacher Training course which she successfully passed with the grade ‘outstanding’ before returning to the Woodlands in September 2012 as a Qualified Teacher. 

Nikki always had a keen interest in Behaviour and gained her CACHE Level 2 certificate in Challenging behaviour and her level 2 certificate in understanding Children’s and Young people’s Mental Health before studying for her Master’s Degree in Autism and Children passing with a merit in 2017. 

During her time at the Walnuts Nikki has continued to develop professionally attending many courses including developing middle leaders, an introduction to sensory integration, TEACCH and SCERTS. She is also a Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) coach and trained in PBS functional analysis and has been instrumental in developing the school’s positive approach to behaviour. 

Throughout her time at the Woodlands Nikki has taught in all three departments and joined the leadership team in January 2018 when she began the role of Behaviour/Well-being lead.

In January 2020 Nikki became a mental health first aider then went on to complete the Senior Mental Health Lead training at intermediate level.  In 2021 Nikki successfully gained her National Professional Qualification in Senior Leadership and is now half way through her National Professional Qualification in Headship.

As Head Teaching Assistant Kerry has responsibility for ensuring the classes across the school are safely and adequately staffed on a daily basis, selection and recruitment of Teaching Assistants, and manages a team of HLTA’s that plan and deliver cognition and learning interventions.

Kerry joined the Woodlands School in 2010 as a Higher Level Teaching Assistant and supported across the departments.  In January 2020, she took on the role of Lead TA at the Hazeley campus, before securing the role of Head Teaching Assistant in April 2021.

Prior to joining the Woodlands Kerry has spent the majority of her career working in education supporting young adults with additional needs. Kerry completed her Certificate in Education (Post Compulsory Education) in 2000 and spent many years teaching Independent Living in a specialist FE college, and also taught across the curriculum at SENSE for young deaf/blind adults. Kerry spent a short time supporting and teaching apprentice plumber and electricians key skills which later changed to functional skills across the East Midlands, but her heart was drawn back to supporting learners with additional needs.

In December 2019 Kerry became an Adult Mental Health First Aider in school.