Katy Harrison Appointed as Acting Headteacher at Thomas Bewick School

Prosper Learning Trust are proud to announce the appointment of Katy Harrison as Acting Headteacher of Thomas Bewick School. Katy was formerly the Deputy Headteacher of Thomas Bewick School, and has stepped into the role following the departure of the previous Headteacher Daley Barber-Allan.

Katy is from Newcastle and has nearly 25 years of teaching experience across mainstream and specialist settings. Following her Psychology undergraduate degree at University of Liverpool, she trained in Primary Education at University of Leeds, and received her Master of Education at Newcastle University. Katy has also achieved a SENCo Postgraduate Award with University of Cumbria, allowing her to become the SENCo at Newcastle Bridges School, another school within Prosper Learning Trust, in September 2012. After over four years in this role, Katy was appointed as Assistant Headteacher at Newcastle Bridges School. In September 2019, she moved to Thomas Bewick School to take on the role of Deputy Headteacher. 

When asked about what she hopes to bring to the role, Katy said:

“I have worked closely with children and young people with a range of special needs and their families for many years, and I have in-depth knowledge and qualifications in SEN and Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC). I am committed to, and invested in, the future success of Thomas Bewick School. I am passionate about the opportunity to lead, building on its current successes and driving school improvement forward. I am ambitious about the long-term perspective, raising aspirations and improving future destinations of children and young people with additional needs, and I believe that our high quality specialist educational provision should be driven by this.”

She added:

“As a specialist school leader, my values are rooted in the belief that every child can learn and achieve, whatever their abilities or circumstances may be. I am privileged to have been appointed as Acting Headteacher at Thomas Bewick School where these values are embedded in everything that our staff team do every day. I am proud to have been part of the school’s development to this point in our journey.”

Chris Richardson, CEO of Prosper Learning Trust, said:

“We are absolutely delighted to appoint Katy to the role of Acting Headteacher at Thomas Bewick School. She brings a wealth of experience around all aspects of SEND and particularly ASC. She also has a profound understanding of the culture of the school and the many and varied challenges it faces. She has been a significant part of their recent and continuing success. Most importantly Katy embodies the Prosper Learning Trust values in the way in which she goes about her work and can draw on the considerable support of her friends and colleagues across the wider Prosper Learning Trust team.”