Meet the Team
Meet the Team
Central Team Roles
- Chief Executive Officer – Rachel Goodwin
- Chief Operations Officer – Mel Wright
- Chief Finance Officer – Sofia Palios
- Director of Education – Paul Lindley
- Director of Education – Karen Lynskey
- Director of Education – Helen Tantouri
- Estates Manager – Nick Kearsey
- Management Accountant – Jodie Gates
- Finance Manager – Shaun Morrow
- Governance Professional – Jacqui Crampton
- Community Liaison Officer – Matt Swash
- HR Officer – Sophie Lynch
- Executive Assistant – Jane Cavanagh
Our Headteachers
- Chesterfield High School – Jon Lawes
- Forefield Infants and Nursery School – Beverley Roberts
- Forefield Junior School – Paul Swift
- Rowan Park Schools – Katie Jones (Acting Headteacher)
- Valewood Primary School – Danielle Parr
- Waterloo Primary School – Sarah Maciver
Central Team Profiles
Rachel is currently the CEO of MVLT.
- A qualified secondary English teacher, Rachel has extensive teaching and senior leadership experience across a range of schools.
- Rachel has also taught and supported the development of leadership in the primary phase.
- Rachel gained significant school improvement and leadership experience across all phases as an independent school improvement consultant and then as a senior school improvement officer for a local authority.
- Prior to joining the trust in August 2025, Rachel has spent a number of years working for Ofsted as a Senior His Majesty’s Inspector. Rachel is continuing in her role as a lead Ofsted inspector.
Career summary
- Business Manager just under a year in a large secondary academy leading the finance, HR, estates and compliance functions; programme leadership role for the development and implementation of governance, core service offer, systems and processes for an emerging multi-academy trust.
- Fourteen years in the NHS leading a range of system and infrastructure transformation programmes.
- Twenty years’ experience in senior administrative roles and business management across a range of sectors including legal, construction, manufacturing and racing.
- Skills, knowledge and experience
- Programme and project leadership specialist.
- Held several senior programme management roles within the NHS, working in complex systems and across multiple organisations developing, implementing and embedding strategy, governance, policy and risk management.
- Extensive experience in corporate governance, leading the corporate governance function for statutory NHS bodies and has led the internal processes in relation to authorisation of two NHS statutory bodies, as well as forming ‘place partnerships’ between NHS, local authority and voluntary sector as mandated in national guidance.
- Leadership of regulatory assurance processes in relation to large scale transformational change and public consultation.
Sofia joined Mersey View Learning Trust in July 2025. She is a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) with over 10 years of leadership and strategic finance experience across both the private and public sectors. Her background spans audit, financial control, organisational strategy, and complex multi‑stakeholder environments, giving her a broad perspective on effective financial stewardship.
As Chief Finance Officer, Sofia leads the trust’s financial strategy, compliance, and long‑term resource planning, ensuring effective stewardship and sustainable growth across the organisation. She is committed to building strong financial capability within schools, supporting leaders to make informed decisions, and ensuring that resources are aligned to the trust’s mission and values.
Paul has spent over 25 years at Chesterfield High School, holding senior leadership responsibility across the full range of school functions, including curriculum, inclusion, pastoral care, behaviour, attendance and safeguarding, sixth form, and whole‑school improvement.
Progressing through roles from classroom teacher to Head Teacher has given Paul a deep, practical understanding of how schools operate at every level and how leadership decisions impact directly on students’ outcomes and experiences.
Throughout his career, Paul has focussed on holistic development of young people — removing barriers to learning, setting high expectations, and driving sustained improvement to enhance life chances. In his current role as Director of Education, he utilises this breadth of leadership experience to coach and mentor senior leaders, strengthen systems and processes, and improve organisational efficiency, enabling schools to focus relentlessly on high‑quality teaching, learning, and student success.
Career summary
Karen has been Headteacher in her current school for over 12 years. Moved the school from good to Outstanding; and maintained this for a further two inspections. During this time, she has served on a number of Boards for the Sefton LA, including SEND Forum and Sefton LA School Improvement Board. She led the Teaching School and ran an ITT programme for QTS Primary with SEND.
Karen has extensive experience of working in the SEND field and supports schools across the North West in her work as a NASEN SEND Reviewer and Trainer. She regularly contributes to the work of Whole School SEND School report.
Karen Chairs the Sefton Special Schools network leading a number of School Improvement Projects currently on the curriculum; especially Maths and English. Karen has Chaired the Merseyside Special Schools Forum. In this role she coordinated CPD for 18 Special Schools and led projects on CEIAG/Enterprise and Peer reviews. She is currently supporting new MATs develop their SEND work in the Salford Diocese area.
Helen has been seconded to the role of Director of Education, since autumn 2025. She has been the headteacher at Valewood Primary School for over 16 years. The school has been the most oversubscribed primary school in Sefton for many years.
Before becoming a headteacher, Helen worked as a local authority primary consultant and steered leadership support in Sefton schools judged to be causing concern. She also provided support to senior leaders ahead of Ofsted inspections.
Previously, Helen has held a number of leadership positions in schools across the country- including deputy headteacher in London.
Helen has led Sefton’s deputy headteachers’ & assistant headteachers’ termly forums, organising and hosting annual conferences. She has also led on developing the art curriculum, across the Crosby cluster of schools, as well as engaging schools in community art projects, regionally.
Helen is now working within MVLT’s school improvement team, as a full time Director of Education
To Follow
Jodie is a qualified MAAT Accountant with extensive experience across both public and private sector organisations. She has also achieved two Level 4 Diplomas in School Business Management (CSBM and SBPA) through the apprenticeship scheme.
Jodie spent the past nine years working at a Secondary Grammar School as Senior Finance Officer, where she developed substantial expertise in school finance, compliance, and financial operations. In this role, she also mentored and supervised finance assistants, providing ongoing guidance and professional support.
Sophie started her role at Chesterfield High School one of our Trust high schools working in admin/finance before moving into HR within the central team, where she discovered her passion. She now supports recruitment, streamlines HR processes, and creates positive experiences for employees.
Her background is in customer service, handling complaints, and training new entrants to the organisation during her time at Scottish Power, giving her a strong foundation in understanding and supporting colleagues.
She is a qualified AAT and CIPD professional, bringing both financial expertise and HR knowledge to her role.
Jane brings a wealth of operational excellence and strategic planning experience to her role as Executive Assistant at Mersey View Learning Trust.
Prior to joining the education sector, Jane worked as an Operations Manager (Quality and Service) for a legal firm, where she was responsible for quality and service delivery across the business. In this role, she established the ‘School of Excellence’ – an accreditation and assessment system for staff development and led on process improvement, compliance management and client service innovation. Her expertise in managing complex stakeholder relationships, developing training programmes and using data to drive performance improvements has proven invaluable in her education career.
Jane transitioned into education as an Attendance and Enrichment Manager at one of the Trust’s high schools, where she supported student welfare and engagement. In this role, she was responsible for safeguarding and worked closely with students and families to improve attendance outcomes. During her time in post, attendance levels improved, demonstrating her ability to build positive relationships and implement effective strategies that make a real difference to young people’s educational experiences.
Jane then moved to the Trust’s central team, taking on the Executive Assistant role where she now provides comprehensive business support to CEO Rachel Goodwin, the Chief Operations Officer, Chief Finance Officer and the Directors of Education. In her current role, Jane manages diaries and coordinates meetings for senior leaders. She leads on the production of high-quality meeting packs for Board and governance meetings and oversees the Trust’s policy management. She is responsible for maintaining effective governance records and ensuring compliance across all Trust documentation, applying her strong quality assurance background to maintain the highest standards. Jane also helps organise school council events, supporting student voice and engagement across the Trust.
Outside of work, Jane is training to be a professional photographer, pursuing her creative interests alongside her commitment to professional excellence.
Our Headteachers
Jon is the Headteacher of Chesterfield High School, a law graduate and values‑driven leader who is deeply committed to the school’s vision of “for everyone the best.” A passionate advocate for inclusion across the education system, he brings 13 years of leadership experience spanning a wide range of strategic and operational roles. He has served as both Deputy Headteacher and Senior Deputy Headteacher in previous schools, where he led on key areas of whole‑school improvement and culture.
Jon’s previous responsibilities have included serving as Designated Safeguarding Lead and leading whole‑school work on behaviour, attendance, personal development, equality, diversity and inclusion, sixth form, careers, and raising achievement at both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. He has contributed to the wider education landscape through his work as a primary school governor and his involvement with local safeguarding and behaviour boards. He has also been commissioned to deliver training on behaviour and values across multiple schools, including working with trainee teachers through SCITT programmes as well as qualified staff.
Before joining Chesterfield, Jon played a key role in moving his previous school from Good to Outstanding as part of the senior leadership team and as DSL. With deep family roots in the local area, he is motivated by a culture of high expectations for all pupils, coupled with a strong belief in the power of positive relationships. He is committed to working closely with pupils, families and the wider community to ensure every young person is supported, challenged and inspired to achieve their very best.
Career summary
Newly appointed as Headteacher at her current school, however Beverley has previously worked in the same school as Snr Assistant Headteacher since 2012 with responsibility within that period for EYFS and more recently KS1. Within that period, as snr assistant headteacher, Beverley has led on Teaching, learning and assessment and Curriculum design and development.
Previously worked for Knowsley LA in 2 different schools. Worked as a Children’s Centre Teacher, supporting PVI’s in providing high quality Early Year’s provision across different Children Centre sites and PVI’s within the borough.
Beverley has worked as an EYFS Moderator for both Sefton and Knowsley and has supported schools with provision, assessment and moderation outcomes.
Skills, knowledge and experience relevant to trustee role
Experience and knowledge in EYFS – working across both the private and maintained sector with children from birth to 5 with a wide range of training, qualifications and experience in this area.
More recently Beverley has focused on leading on primary curriculum design and development.
Career summary
Paul has been a Headteacher for over 14 years in schools across the North West. In his current role he has been actively involved in the development of the Mathematics Curriculum across the local area Teaching & Learning partnership.
Paul has been a Headteacher for ten years and a senior leader for over twenty, in schools across the North West. He represents other headteachers on Sefton’s SACRE and has a keen interest in developing provision for well-being – for pupils, staff and families. As part of his Senior Mental Health Lead training he has introduced the principles of therapeutic classrooms at FJS. The impact is now being shared with Sefton schools.
Katie is a highly experienced education professional with over 20 years of dedicated service in special education. She has worked across Key Stages 1, 2 and 3, with particular expertise in the Early Years. Katie holds a postgraduate certificate in Autism from the University of Birmingham, underpinning her strong commitment to inclusive and specialist practice.
Throughout her career, Katie has taken on a range of leadership roles, with over 10 years’ experience in senior leadership. She has successfully chaired literacy coordinator groups and deputy networks across Sefton Special Schools, demonstrating her ability to lead collaboration and drive improvement across settings.
Katie has worked extensively beyond her own school, contributing to a number of working parties within the Merseyside SLD (Severe Learning Difficulties) group. In this role, she has collaborated with colleagues from 15 special schools across the region to share best practice and support system-wide development.
As a Specialist Leader of Education, Katie has supported mainstream schools in developing inclusive practice, helping to ensure that all pupils can access high-quality education.
Katie also currently working as an Ofsted Peer Inspector, further reflecting her expertise, credibility and commitment to maintaining high standards in education.
Danielle has worked at Valewood Primary School for 25 years, starting her career there as a newly qualified teacher and progressing to Deputy Headteacher in 2013. Danielle has taught in EYFS, KS1 and KS2 and as a senior leader has led on curriculum, assessment and attendance.
As a qualified Forest School practitioner, Danielle is passionate about outdoor learning and ensures it is embedded as an important part of the curriculum for pupils at Valewood.
Previously, Danielle has worked as a Key Stage 1 moderator working alongside and supporting colleagues across Sefton.
Danielle is an advocate for children’s rights and drives the Rights Respecting School agenda at Valewood. She is also a member of UNICEF’s Standards and Accreditation committee who support the members of the RRSA team in reviewing gold reports nationally.
Sarah has nearly 30 years experience in education across Sefton and Lancashire teaching from EYFS to Y6 and for the past 25 years has held senior leadership roles across three schools
In Lancashire, Sarah worked alongside the PE Advisory Team to write and launch an local authority PE & Dance scheme of work and linked in with the Youth Sport Trust to support in writing the Top Sport programme
In Sefton, she has been an Early Years and Y6 Writing moderator
Sarah currently sits on the Strategic Board and Primary Steering Group for the Education School of Liverpool John Moores University and has previously untaken work as a liaison tutor, quality assurance assessor and course deliverer for ITT for the university and two teaching schools in Sefton and Liverpool
Sarah is also a Primary school representative at Sefton’s Early Help and Ready to Learn partnership forums
