Esther Dias-Patel

Strategic Leadership & Whole-School Impact

• Strategic Planning: Worked closely with the Headteacher to develop the SDP, translating vision into actionable priorities and leading INSETs to ensure consistent implementation across phases.
• Staff Development: Mentored teachers, including ECTs, through coaching and feedback, resulting in 100% successful programme completion and improved teaching quality and retention.
• Assessment & Pupil Progress: Oversaw Year 1 and 2 assessments, identifying gaps and implementing targeted interventions; achieved over 95% pupil progress last year.
• Operational Management: Managed daily operations, staff cover, and rotas, ensuring smooth provision and high staff morale.
• Performance Management: Led school-wide appraisal cycles with rigorous targets and coaching, raising teaching standards and staff confidence.
• Safeguarding: Maintained a strong safeguarding culture, ensuring full compliance with procedures and pupil safety.
• Partnership & Community Engagement: Attended Parent Councils, led workshops and created newsletters, significantly increasing parental engagement and trust.
• Governance & Accountability: Communicated SDP priorities and pupil performance to governors, facilitating feedback and oversight.
• SEND Leadership: Supported teachers in removing learning barriers, improving access and progress for pupils with diverse needs.
• Standards Monitoring: Conducted learning walks, book looks and planning audits to ensure consistent, high-quality teaching.
• Curriculum Enrichment: Coordinated educational visits and experiences, enhancing engagement and real-world learning.
• Culture Setting: Promoted and upheld the school’s core values, placing staff and pupil wellbeing at the centre of our practice.

EYFS & Year 1 Leadership

• Federation Collaboration: Partnered with Nursery leaders to standardise phonics and early English provision across the newly federated Nursery, aligning staff approaches and delivering training to ensure consistency.
• Transition Management: Collaborated with EYFS teams to lead the EYFS-to-KS1 transition, enhancing pupil confidence and readiness.
• Curriculum Innovation: Introduced Continuous Provision in Year 1, boosting wellbeing, motivation, and engagement in learning.
• English & Early Writing: Developed Year 1 MTPs with carousel-style activities and implemented structured dictation, accelerating transcription skills and phonics application.
• Mathematics: Redesigned Year 1 MTPs to prioritise CPA methods, improving conceptual understanding and progress.
• Foundation Subjects: Shifted delivery to practical, inquiry-based learning, increasing engagement and knowledge retention.
• Early Reading: Refined benchmarking to match pupils to appropriate texts, improving reading fluency and confidence.

Phase-Wide Contribution

• Learning Environment: Worked as part of a team to oversee the KS1 playground redevelopment, reducing behaviour incidents and improving pupil wellbeing.

• Strategic Reporting: Provided data-driven updates to the Governing Body on English attainment and SDP progress, ensuring accountability and informed decision-making.
• Policy Implementation: Implemented Writing Framework Guidance and structured dictation in EYFS and KS1, improving transcription skills, phonics application, and writing standards.
• Team Management: Led the English team in developing the curriculum, integrating AI tools to provide feedback and assess writing, adapting Medium-Term Plans, and embedding oracy across assemblies and lessons. This enhanced pupil confidence and communication, culminating in the Silver Oracy Award 2025 from the Oracy Hub.
• Library Commissioning: Oversaw the design and launch of a new school library, managing budgets and resources while involving pupils as reading ambassadors, creating a dynamic, central space that promoted engagement, enjoyment, and a love of reading.
• INSETs & Staff Development: Delivered targeted professional development, enhancing the teaching of independent writing, reading, and creative planning, which contributed to Year 6 SATs results consistently in the mid-80s percentile for expected and above.
• EYFS & KS1 Phonics: Directed THEP phonics adoption 2022, leading training, modelling, and monitoring to ensure high-fidelity delivery; pupils consistently achieved pass marks in the high-80s in phonics screening. Recognised by the English Hub in 2025 for building a skilled, passionate phonics team.

• Interventions: Taught targeted English sets for Years 4, 5, and 6, significantly aiding student progress and attainment.
• Teaching Support: Supported teaching staff through lesson modelling and collaborative planning sessions to improve teaching quality.
• EYFS Phonics support: Led targeted phonics groups for reception pupils, contributing to increased attainment in early reading.

• Data-Driven Attainment: Analysed pupil progress data to identify learning gaps and implemented interventions that improved SATs results.
• Staff Mentorship: Coached the Year 6 teaching team through regular moderation and planning support to ensure consistent delivery.
• SATs Management: Directed the strategic planning and rigorous administration of end-of-key-stage national assessments.
• Transition Leadership: Led the secondary transfer process, liaising with KS3 coordinators to ensure academic and pastoral continuity.

• KS1 Attainment: Directed the delivery of the Key Stage 1 curriculum with a focus on national standards in reading, writing, and mathematics.
• SATs Administration: Managed the preparation and delivery of Year 2 SATs, ensuring accurate teacher moderation and reporting.
• Phonics to Fluency: Led the transition from phonics-based decoding to reading fluency using targeted comprehension strategies.

• Enviroment: Modernised classroom reading environments and home-reading systems to increase pupil engagement.
• Strategic Collaboration: Liaised with London Challenge consultants to provide targeted teacher support and meet school action plan targets for writing.

• Staff Training & Support: Provided ready-to-use lesson plans and facilitated external agency training to build teacher confidence.
• Resource Coordination: Managed the annual budget to ensure all Spanish language resources were organized and effectively utilised.

• Curriculum Excellence: Planned and delivered high-quality, scaffolded lessons meeting diverse learning needs (SEND/EAL/G&T).
• Classroom Leadership: Cultivated a high-expectation learning environment focused on positive behaviour and pupil wellbeing.

• Creative Partnership Management: Orchestrated collaborations between professional artists and teachers to enrich classroom creativity,
• Project Leadership: Developed and led the multidisciplinary “Sense of Place” program (poetry, music, model making) to support pupils’ transition into a new school building.