Donna Horspool

As Assistant Headteacher at Hamstead Hall Academy, Donna’s role is to explore, implement and deliver whole school/teacher development, continued professional learning and promotion of staff wellbeing in line with academy priorities. As the school’s Induction Tutor for ECTs, she coordinates and facilitates the delivery of the Early Career Teacher programme. Working in partnership with many different Initial Teacher Training providers as Senior Mentor, she also welcomes and facilitates the delivery of ITT provision within the secondary school, collaborating with other school staff to offer contextualised training for those on placement. 

Donna believes that, for PE teachers, the expectation to lead teams beyond the ‘normal’ school day is what often makes the subject so rewarding. She is an active member of AfPE and has access to current publications. 

Donna began teaching in 2003, and has held a number of post-holder responsibilities, as well as teaching all year groups over the course of her career. Through her previous role as a Specialist Leader of Education, she was deployed in a range of schools across the local area to help improve PE provision and attainment, alongside mentoring members of the department. 

Donna is passionate about education, particularly PE, and feels strongly that it warrants its status as a core subject within the curriculum. In today’s society, much is reported about rising obesity levels, falling levels of physical activity/play amongst young people. For a large proportion of society, PE lessons are the only opportunity for them to be active. 

 Over the past eight years in her post as PE Subject Pedagogy Lead at Arthur Terry SCITT, Donna was able to play a pivotal role in the development and coaching of the next generation of PE teachers.