About

Matt Potts

CEO

Matt has over 20 years’ experience within education, ranging from headteacher, school improvement advisor, MAT director and local authority strategic lead. He is the CEO of LPP. Matt joined LPP in 2020 after a successful period of leading early years for a large local authority within the West Midlands. Matt had previously worked as a school improvement advisor for a large, multi-academy trust and has supported schools across the Country in raising standards and supporting children. He has trained to assess the National Professional Qualification for Headship and has provided training in early years, leadership and curriculum development for schools over many years.  Previously he was a head teacher for a large primary school in Coventry. 

Jo Holland

Business Support

Jo Holland joined Leicester Primary Partnership on 1st April 2019 and is Business Support Officer for both Leicester Primary Partnership and School Improvement Leicester

Jo has been supporting SIL from its inception.  She has previously worked for Local Authorities in finance, early years and education.  Jo has a wealth knowledge about LPP, SIL, partner schools and stakeholders; please contact her if you would like more information.

Annette Montague

Chair of Directors

Annette has worked extensively across the education sector supporting schools to raise standards and advising on issues including policy, curriculum and leadership development. Currently, Annette is a Strategic Director for Academies at Greenwood Academies Trust with a range of responsibilities focused on improving primary academy performance. She was formerly the Head of Education Performance at Leicester City Council, responsible for strategic and operational school and Early Years improvement in the city. Prior to this, she had a range of national school improvement and raising achievement roles including Education Director at the Youth Sport Trust and National Science Coordinator at the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. She gained the National Professional Qualification for Headship, an MBA in Educational Leadership, was a facilitator and coach with (now) Ambition Institute and is an accredited Challenge Partner Reviewer.

Becky Smith

Director

Becky joined SDSA in 2017 as a Project Manager and has since worked on a range of projects across the education sector locally, regionally and nationally.

This includes supporting the maturity of the Teaching Schools and their evolving role with the education sector across the East Midlands, South Yorkshire and Humber. Becky coordinates and facilitates leadership development programmes and regional SEND networks, as well as undertaking and presenting a variety of research reports.

Becky has a degree in Early Childhood Studies, Level 4 Certificate in Professional Marketing and is a qualified Market Researcher.

Pete Sloan

Director

Pete currently works as the School Strategy Manager at SDSA. Previously, he taught in Leicester primary schools for over 20 years, and much of this time was in a senior management role. He has been working at SDSA for almost 6 years and has been involved in a number of school improvement initiatives, particularly in the Derby Opportunity Area.

Pete provides direct school support for maths and is assistant maths hub lead at the East Midlands West Maths Hub. He also sits on the strategic board for the East Midlands South Maths Hub. Pete works closely with local research schools and the EEF to support a number of initiatives in the East Midlands which focus on raising attainment for disadvantaged pupils.

Pete provides strategic input within a number of projects and initiatives designed to support Leicester City schools.

Jo Badge

Director

Before coming into teaching, Jo worked in higher education. After completing a PhD in plant virology, she worked on providing support to academics in eLearning, was the first person to introduce plagiarism detection software at the University of Leicester and published papers on education technology. Jo’s interest in teaching developed further, and she qualified as a primary teacher and Google-certified teacher in 2012. She has taught in Leicester schools, moving from NQT in the county to Computing lead at Rushey Mead Primary. She then became year group lead and, finally, assistant head.

Whilst at Rushey Mead Primary, she set up a highly successful Computing Schools network group and became a CAS Master teacher of computing. She taught computing to the whole school and was awarded two Leicester Education awards, one for education technology and the other for inspirational teacher of the year. Appointed as assistant head at Catherine Junior School in 2019, she supported the school through COVID and then became its headteacher in May 2021.

Jenny Slinger

Director

Current Leicester City Primary Headteacher at Dovelands Primary school, previously a Headteacher in a local MAT. NAHT secretary for Leicester City and Governor at a city primary school.

Jenny has undertaken leadership roles in three schools in Leicester City and prior to that, in London. She has also worked in Leicestershire. She has worked in some of the most challenging areas of the country including Hackney and Tower Hamlets and says it has played an important role in her outlook towards education and duty when working within it, along with her leadership approach.

She has first-hand experience of how LA Maintained and MAT systems work and the advantages and challenges of both. She feels this is helpful to fulfil the role of Director effectively. She has ensured that she has worked actively with LPP in both of her headship roles.

She has effectively provided school improvement support across multiple schools in Tower Hamlets, as a Maths SLE in Leicester and worked alongside a MAT School Improvement Team. Has been involved in Challenge Partners quality assurance reviews across the country over recent years.

She has seen the valuable impact LPP has across a range of settings and how their work positively impacts the lives of children and families across the city and would welcome the opportunity to support the development of their work even further.

Wayne Holder

Director

Currently serving as a Business Manager at Alderman Richard Hallam, a large inner-city primary school.

I have 18 years of experience in education, with a wealth of leadership experience across finance, premises management, IT, safeguarding, HR, and governance.

I have oversight of a multi-million-pound budget, leadership of various operational teams, and project management of significant infrastructure upgrades. With a background in IT, I lead technological initiatives and collaborate with the DfE on AI and digital policy in education.

I am a Designated Safeguarding Lead, have managed HR investigations, and coordinated educational visits. My governance experience includes clerking for the school’s governing body and serving as a governor at another local school.

I have a strong commitment to continuous learning, community service, and supporting educational improvement at a broader level.

Debbie Sedgwick

Director

Ex Leicester City Primary headteacher at Wyvern Primary School for 7 years, worked in three local authorities as a headteacher and also experienced working in a MAT.

In 2022, my passion for collaborative working led to me taking on the role of DG chair, joining the LPP Strategy Group, becoming a school reviewer and later joining the SIL School Improvement Board. These roles have given me a deeper insight into the strategic vision and operational practicalities of LPP and SIL. I understand the KPIs and how LPP staff work towards achieving these and have been part of discussions around budgets and ways to increase funding in the future.

I have previously been a trustee at Rutland Music Hub and have served on four governing bodies, so I understand how to ensure compliance and monitor performance, whilst maintaining respect, confidentiality and integrity. I will be retiring in August 2025 but am passionate about providing the best education for children in Leicester.