Christina Zanelli - CEO

My background experience is working and leading in both large and small schools. My career started in a large (3 form entry ) Junior school in Lincoln with 80% FSM. I went on to set up and lead an inclusion unit for 2 years within this school, which catered for children excluded from other schools. After 7 years in Lincoln I became Deputy Head of a large school in Whitby where I was also SENCO and a leading Maths teacher. I was acting head of that school for a period of time before becoming the head of a small school in North Yorkshire that was in Special Measures! After a period of 3 years we were judged by Ofsted as a good school with outstanding features, including outstanding leadership. This is now an outstanding school and part of YEAT.

I became headteacher of West Cliff Primary School in Whitby in 2011, a school that had previously been in serious weakness but soon became good. West Cliff was recently inspected and was delighted to be a ‘strong good’

In November 2018 I became CEO of the Yorkshire Endeavour Academy Trust and I also continued to be Headteacher of West Cliff until the end of 2022.  From September 2022 I relinquished this role but am currently Headteacher of Lealholm Primary School and Strategic Lead of our Trust’s English Hub – alongside my CEO role.

I have a strong record of providing school to school support for both large and small schools. I am a National Leader of Education equivalent and work for the DFE providing support in numerous projects.  I also work for Ambition Institute facilitating both  NPQH and NPQEL in an attempt to inspire the next generation of leaders!

I believe passionately that all children deserve the very best education we can give them, and that we only have one chance to do that.