About Melhoria Education

 Designed by Headteachers, for Headteachers.

Lesley Lowe and Judith Tinsley have developed a bespoke and responsive approach to school improvement after many years in education. They have worked alongside a large group of schools to ensure Melhoria Education is driven by headteachers for headteachers. Vicky Gordon has joined us as part of the core team, bringing her passion and wealth of experience with her.

Judith has very recently left the role of educational safeguarding lead for a large local authority, and as an independent consultant works with a number of multi academy trusts, local authority and independent schools, offering guidance, support and robust evaluations of practice. As part of her current role, she leads a team of safeguarding in education advisors, reviewing all current statutory guidance and best practice and developing support resources for schools. She also delivers DSL training for new and experienced staff. 

More recently, she has trained to be able to offer supervision sessions for Headteachers and DSLs.

She has nearly 40 years of experience in education, having been a local authority school effectiveness lead, headteacher within the primary and secondary sector, OFSTED inspector and CEO of a multi academy trust. She has worked in four different local authorities as a school improvement lead and Advisory headteacher.

Her headship roles have included single school headships and Executive headships in both rural and town schools, both small and large. Her advisory headships with a local authority work were to support new heads or those who have faced significant challenges in their schools. This included secondments to the leadership teams of secondary schools in special measures.

Originally starting in the sphere of special educational needs and SEMH needs in the West Midlands, she has developed her skill set through working with schools in challenging circumstances and special measures. 

Lesley brings over thirty years of experience in education, having served as a headteacher, interim headteacher, and local authority advisor. She has also acted as Interim Head of Service for a large local authority and, most recently, has been the School Improvement Lead for a successful LA, overseeing more than 100 schools. In this role, she has developed and led support for schools while co‑creating a self‑sustaining model of hub working—ensuring that schools benefit from both external validation and high‑quality school‑to‑school support. With a deep understanding of school improvement, she offers a wealth of expertise to every school or hub she works with. Her approach is grounded in openness, honesty, and the development of trusting relationships, and she feels genuinely privileged to be welcomed into so many school communities. Her passion for this work is evident in all she does.

Lesley prides herself on forming strong, authentic relationships and becoming “one of the team.” Her aim is always to add capacity, not pressure. She is strengths‑focused, celebrating hard work and excellence wherever she finds it. While she provides honest, constructive feedback and does not shy away from difficult conversations, she approaches these with transparency, empathy, and a solutions‑focused mindset. She is both a critical friend and a steady, reliable source of support.

Lesley also has a particular interest in safeguarding. Following a period of ill health, she chose to take her career in a new direction, working for a domestic abuse charity as a youth worker and school liaison officer. In this role, she provided direct support to young people affected by domestic abuse and delivered training and programmes for schools. She later worked for children’s social care as an Education Liaison Officer, giving her valuable and unique insight into the social care sector.

Vicky has worked in education for 30 years. During that time, she has been a Lead Practitioner for Maths and English in two Local Authorities; a Deputy Head and an interim Head Teacher of a one-form entry Primary School before becoming a Teaching and Learning Adviser in 2012. Vicky’s company (Think About Learning Ltd) has been providing support for individual schools, hubs, academies and Local Authorities, for 12 years.

Vicky specialises in Leadership support and has a passion for high-quality inclusive pedagogical practices. She is an expert in Inclusive Teaching and English. Further to this, Vicky is passionate about improving outcomes for disadvantaged learners and has worked in a large local authority to deliver research-based training and support specifically aimed at closing the gap for our most vulnerable learners.

Vicky has provided key notes at conferences and worked with the Education Endowment Foundation and Marc Rowland. Vicky has engaged with several action research projects across her career and her work around critical skills and assessment for learning has been published by the Nation Association of Head Teachers.

Vicky values a team approach to school improvement and works hard to maintain her guiding principle that education only works through relationships. Vicky is a champion of ethical leadership and works alongside school teams to establish an ethos of collaboration and partnership. You can find her personal company website here https://thinkaboutlearning.co.uk/

We also work with a number of specialised Associate advisors, and school leaders who support our work in schools with their passion and expertise. This enables us to provide schools with tailored support to suit their needs, as we understand that one size does not fit all. All our associates work closely with us and fit our approach, they have a wide range of expertise, so between us all we are able to provide robust and specialised support, in a coaching and mentoring style.

Please explore our packages. Each one describes suggestions for the types of activities that might be included, however we are committed to being flexible and innovative, and all packages can be adapted to meet need. If you are interested in learning more about how we can support you and your school please contact us.