Kirsty has worked in primary education for twenty years in schools across South, East and North Yorkshire. Previous roles have included being a Year 6 teacher, acting Senco, English Hub lead and headteacher of two schools in rural villages.

She is currently the headteacher of a coastal primary school with a targeted mainstream provision for children with social, emotional and mental health needs. Kirsty is a keen advocate for inclusion and nurture, having worked with Nurture UK to secure the National Nurturing accreditation for schools in the multi-academy trust. Kirsty is also the safeguarding lead overseeing compliance practices across the MAT.

Kirsty is passionate about the work of Nurture UK and feels privileged to be at the forefront of collaborative decision making which will positively impact the lives of children and young people on a national scale.

In her free time, Kirsty loves to spend time with her family taking long coastal walks and is also studying for a Masters in Education.

Ian joined the board of nurtureuk in 2024. He is currently employed as Director of Policy, Strategy and Communications for the legal arm of the health service, NHS Resolution. Previously he has worked in a variety of communications and marketing roles, including for the BBC and Capita. He is a former Westminster City Councillor and served as Lord Mayor of Westminster in 2017/18.

Today Ian serves on a number of charity boards concerned with promoting social inclusion and combatting homelessness. He was inspired to become involved in nurtureuk having seen the benefits of targeted support for children and families during his time as Chair of Scrutiny of Children’s Services at Westminster Council.

Aidan is Director of Partnerships at Faculty AI – who specialise in enterprise AI and data solutions – and has worked in the technology sector for almost two decades, across a range of commercial and leadership roles. Aidan is a strong advocate for the benefits of partnerships, ecosystems, and networked scale – all achieved through genuine and meaningful collaboration.

Aidan began his career working in a school that specialises in helping severely dyslexic and dyspraxic children – so he experienced first hand the difference that early intervention could make to children’s lives, and is therefore deeply passionate about nurtureuk’s mission to affect positive change.

For Aidan, an important part of leadership is developing others.  He is experienced in coaching and mentoring at all levels – and he is particularly proud of the time he spent providing business mentoring to members of his local community in the south London area.

Aidan lives with his wife in central London – but they love nature and the great outdoors, so they try to spend as much time in the countryside as they can.

Jenni is a specialist in consumer research and publishing and has been a member of the leadership team at Which? the UK’s not-for-profit consumer champion, since 2014.  In her current role as Content Director, Jenni oversees Which?’s editorial operation, leading a 160-strong multi-disciplinary team responsible for the independent research, testing and wide-ranging journalism that it publishes across print and digital channels. She also sits on the Board of the International Consumer Research and Testing body, which undertakes joint testing of products for independent consumer organisations around the world.

Jenni has held a wide variety of roles during her career, spanning research, journalism, digital product development and consumer advocacy.  She spent two years as People Director, overseeing all aspects of human resources, including the recruitment and remuneration of non-executive directors and charitable trustees.

Jenni is thrilled to bring her commercial and charitable experience to contribute to the growth of nurtureuk and the impact that it has for children across the UK.

Mehak is an educator, researcher, and systems change practitioner, with exposure to international education systems, including East Africa, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

She is the Education Systems Lead at the RSA, where she oversees the inclusive education portfolio.

Mehak’s background as a secondary mathematics and economics teacher grounds her practice and serves as a daily reminder to hold children and young people at the heart of all that she does, which is why she is thrilled to be part of nurtureuk’s journey towards making nurture available to all children.

Mehak holds a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from the University College London, a Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) from the University of British Columbia.

Stuart is a Finance Director at AstraZeneca partnering with 2 late stage Oncology products in the development pipeline. He has been at AstraZeneca for 6 years in a number of different roles. He is a chartered accountant completing his exams in 2013 whilst working in external audit at Deloitte.

Stuart has a wide-ranging background in financial planning and analysis, risk and controls, external audit and management reporting with senior stakeholders. He hopes to utilise this experience to help nurtureuk grow and continue to help as many children as possible.

Fungisai has worked in various roles alongside children, young people, and their families in a range of settings including schools, local authority youth clubs, and a charity. She is a qualified Science Teacher.

Currently, Fungisai is a Child and Educational Psychologist in private practice. She contributes to teaching and supervising students at a University. Alongside her role as a Trustee at nurtureuk, she is a School Governor.

Her work has been guided by a long-standing commitment and vocation to children’s well-being.

“For me, working for the good of children is a moral imperative. I am excited to continue doing so alongside the team at nurtureuk”.

Mark has been helping nurtureuk to establish and grow for over 15 years. In 2001 he established and ran the charity’s first website, which helped to develop the network and spread materials across the UK and internationally. He ran the website for 5 years, helping to develop the community and strengthen the network. 

In 2001, he and Marion Bennathan co-led the first nationwide nurtureuk meeting. He worked with Marion to gain nurtureuk’s independence from its parent charity, the Association of Workers for Children with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. Mark, Marion Bennathan and Paul Cooper signed the foundation documents lodged with the Charity Commission. Mark was on the Board of Trustees from 2001 to 2018 (including six years as Chair), using his entrepreneurial instincts to help the organisation grow. He became nurtureuk‘s Life President in 2018.

Mark values the preventative, intensive and non-stigmatising intervention that nurture groups provide, and has helped to establish two nurture groups in Medway. He has a longstanding professional interest in attachment theory and early intervention, which he studied for his doctorate in educational and child psychology.

Mark works as an educational psychologist, is a visiting Fellow at the University of East London, and director of Real Group (UK) Ltd.

Claire has worked in school business management and school finance for the last eight years, across primary, secondary and post-16 and in both academies and maintained schools. She previously worked in external audit for 13 years and was a senior external audit manager, with a focus on the not-for-profit sector, including social housing and higher education.

Claire is currently CFO for the City of London Academies Trust (COLAT), a multi-academy trust sponsored by the City of London Corporation. She  joined COLAT when it was a new MAT with three academies, and over the last four years has worked alongside the CEO and central team to establish and grow the Trust. COLAT now has ten inner-London academies (covering primary, secondary and sixth form). Claire’s role is to lead the support functions across the Trust, including finance, HR, IT, premises and catering.

Claire is married with two children. As a family, they love living in central London and try to make the most of everything the city offers.

Chris has a background in IT consulting across all major sectors, including charities.

He is the UK Chief Executive of Credera, a global IT strategy and delivery consultancy firm. He is excited by the opportunity to work with nurtureuk, to help it take its message to a wider audience and help children from all backgrounds to gain the education they deserve.

“Like many people, I had a difficult start in life. I was lucky and was given incredible support by my school in Liverpool and I am keen to give something back through working with nurtureuk.”