BRAYTHORPE

The person behind Braythorpe

I’VE SAT ON
BOTH SIDES.

I’m Dave Church: former deputy headteacher, senior school leader, teacher educator and adoptive parent. I’ve led change inside schools, developed leaders and worked with teams across dozens of primaries. I know what it takes to turn good intentions into everyday practice.

Work with Braythorpe

THE EXPERIENCE BEHIND BRAYTHORPE

I HAVEN’T JUST DELIVERED TRAINING.
I’VE LED WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

I’ve been accountable for the decisions schools make, the adults who put them into practice and the children who experience the result. That is the perspective I bring to Braythorpe.

13+years working in primary education, including senior and deputy headship
29primary schools engaged through sustained cross-school professional learning
13schools achieved independently assessed accreditation in the latest cohort I led
4year-long professional learning cohorts delivered over two years

NOT JUST A TRAINER

FROM THE CLASSROOM TO THE LEADERSHIP TABLE.

As a deputy headteacher and senior leader, I’ve worked on the decisions that shape school life: curriculum, inclusion, staff development, leadership accountability and how practice is evaluated. I designed and implemented a monitoring, evaluation and review cycle across a federation of three academies, helping subject leaders scrutinise practice and act on what they found.

I’ve developed and coached middle leaders, led whole-school professional development and helped establish approaches to regulation and self-regulation. My work has included training, implementation, evaluation and reporting to senior leaders and governors — not simply delivering a session and leaving.

PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIALS

NPQH
National Professional Qualification for Headship

MA
Master’s degree in education

Former deputy headteacher
Primary school and cross-school leadership

School improvement & CPD
Leadership coaching, review and implementation

AND I KNOW WHAT SCHOOL FEELS LIKE FROM THE OTHER SIDE.

As an adoptive parent, I bring another perspective to the same decisions. Braythorpe combines professional school leadership with lived understanding of the questions families bring — so conversations move beyond awareness and towards clear, shared action.

See how I work with schools →

Experience and figures relate to Dave’s previous professional roles, not Braythorpe client outcomes. The 13 accreditations were independently assessed; no causal claim is made about individual schools’ results.

The gap I keep seeing

Adults can care deeply about the same child and still leave a meeting with different understandings of what happens next. Braythorpe exists to make those conversations more useful — and help schools follow through.

My background includes deputy headship, senior leadership, teaching and professional development. Braythorpe is not a clinical service, a legal representative or a substitute for statutory provision.