Alan Dunne

Alan graduated with a degree in English Language and Linguistics from the University of York in 2006. Having spent a year working in adult education, Alan completed his PGCE in 2008 and took up his first job as Teacher of English at Rastrick High School in West Yorkshire.

By 2010, Alan was Second in English with responsibility for Key Stage 4, overhauling the curriculum and helping the school make a significant improvement with GCSE outcomes.

Alan has always had a keen interest in Teaching and Learning practice pedagogy and was appointed as Lead Practitioner of English at Titus Salt School in Bradford before returning to Rastrick High School as Lead Teacher of English in 2014. In these roles, Alan helped drive Teaching and Learning initiatives across the school and coached and developed the teaching practice of other members of staff.

In 2016, Alan took the role as Head of English Faculty at Lawnswood School in Leeds leading the faculty from poor results to outcomes well above the national average and helping the school secure a “good” Ofsted judgment that recognised the work that had occurred in English.

Following this, Alan became Trust Director of English for Laidlaw Schools Trust. In this role, Alan had strategic oversight for English at all schools in the trust and led cross trust literacy to ensure all students were able to access the curriculum to the best of their ability. During Alan’s time in this role, English outcomes improved in all schools in the trust and the work to improve student literacy was recognised in education publications.

Alan joined Bedale High School as Deputy Headteacher in September 2022.