Shelley Gonsalves

Executive Director, Reach Schools

Shelley has over 20 years of experience in education across the US and UK. She leads Reach's Workforce strategy and works on the foundation's national programmes. Prior to joining Reach, Shelley spent 14 years with Teach First in a number of roles in teacher support, leadership development, learning and development, and talent management. Most recently Shelley served as executive director for programme delivery, leading the delivery of the charity's flagship initial teacher training programme, the Early Career Framework, National Professional Qualifications and senior leadership programmes to more than 10,000 teachers and leaders. In the states, Shelley worked in schools in Houston, Texas, first as a 2002 Teach for America corps member teaching reception and later as a founding teacher and leader at KIPP SHINE Prep, the KIPP network’s first early childhood and elementary school. A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Shelley holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Louisiana State University and a Master of Education from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. She is a qualified leadership coach and member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and proudly serves as chair of governors at East London Arts and Music (elam.co.uk) and trustee at the Day One Trust. Shelley believes that all children deserve to enjoy lives of choice and opportunity and is passionate about leadership within all levels of our education system.

Hall 11a

1 Breakout sessions: Series one

The partnership dividend: How do we build and benefit from it?

The ‘partnership dividend’ is realised through an investment in each other, in people, in ‘our place’. It is ‘paid out’ in the increased collective capacity of and for our children, families and colleagues and in stronger, more resilient communities. In this session, James will be inviting trusts to provide tangible examples of this work already underway at the neighbourhood level. He’ll pose some reflection questions to help consider the leadership implications for trust leaders seeking to support their colleagues in this work, for the benefit of the children, staff and communities they serve. Ideal for all trust leaders interested in system leadership, including chief executives, directors of education, and school improvement leads.