Overview

Debbie is the Primary RE and Collective Worship lead at St Margaret’s Primary School in Stoke Golding. She is a leading teacher for the Diocese of Leicester and a member of the NATRE executive committee. Debbie uses her local influence to inspire and support excellent RE that is both academically rigorous and a vehicle for the development of primary aged students as critical thinkers. She is also passionate about ensuring the transition between primary and secondary RE is coherent and cohesive, leading to the secure development of conceptual understanding for all pupils. Debbie has developed an interest in engaging with research through the work she has done on the Culham St Gabriel Leadership programmes.

Career Experience

Debbie has been an RE lead for over ten years, she is a member of her school’s senior leadership team and a staff governor.
She leads two local network groups and a MAT RE group to help support the development of excellent RE provision in all schools. Debbie values working collaboratively with these groups to also support and develop her own practice.
Being part of the Culham St Gabriel Leadership in RE programme has given Debbie the chance to develop her RE leadership skills, engage in national conversations and developments and to also engage in research projects and research-based practice.
She is part of NATRE’s Executive Committee and Leicestershire SACRE.
Within her own school Debbie has worked closely with other staff to achieve an outstanding SIAMs result in 2016, since then she has worked with staff and governors to ensure her school is ready for inspection under the new framework. She also has a good understanding of the OFSTED RE research review and its implications on the RE curriculum and pupils’ progress.

Specialist Expertise

One of Debbie’s areas of expertise is ‘celebrating diversity’. “As a village school we have needed to work hard to ensure our children can look outside the ‘village bubble’ and have done so through trips, liaison with other schools, altering our curriculum and cultural diversity events”.
She is also interested in considering the next step in religious education in response to the Commission on Religious Education final report: ‘Religion and Worldviews; the way forward. She is part of a national research project which will explore this in depth.