Vanessa Morley

Vanessa co-leads the Kernow English Hub. Her aim is to ensure children across Cornwall have the opportunity to become confident communicators and readers, who develop a lifelong love of these vital skills. She is hugely enthusiastic about promoting best practice in the delivery of outstanding oracy, reading and writing pedagogy – enabling both children and teachers to feel confident and to flourish.

Following a successful business career as a director of a corporate services agency, Vanessa’s love of learning led her to retrain to become a primary practitioner. She worked across key stages and as subject lead for English and RE, rapidly being promoted to the senior leadership team of a trust school in Hertfordshire which was rated ‘Outstanding’ across all areas by Ofsted in 2022.  

Despite having a background in English, Vanessa had paradoxically found writing the most challenging area to teach in. Understanding the cognitive complexities involved in this process led her to undertake a Master’s degree at the University of Oxford; she was awarded a distinction for her research, which focused on the teaching and learning of writing in the primary setting.