Staff List

Rebecca has been part of the NWC leadership team since 2014, when she joined the school as Director of Sixth Form.

A historian at heart, Rebecca studied at the University of Oxford, where she undertook both her undergraduate and master’s degrees, specialising in culture, religion and gender in late medieval and early modern Europe. After graduating, she took her subject enthusiasm into education, working at the Museum of London and Tower of London in their education departments, before spending seven years as a teacher, Head of History and Politics and Assistant Head of Middle School at North London Collegiate School.

Rebecca is passionate about the power of knowledge and the impact of enthusiastic, skillful teachers in supporting the development of strong, smart and principled young women.

Jill’s expertise lies in applying the principles of neuroscience, and child and adolescent psychology and behavioural science to provide practical advice, guidance and support to students and parents. Dynamic in the classroom, Jill focuses highly on metacognition, developing students’ application and problem-solving skills; notably and inextricably linked to students’ academic achievement, but as important, developing self-confidence through the delivery of astute feedback. Jill has spent many years working in a range of roles in the pastoral field, including Head of Careers and Head of Upper School, in London Independent Girls’ schools where she has offered families advice and coaching across a range of pastoral situations.

In her years as Deputy Head at NWC, the pastoral system has undergone a transformation: shifting the emphasis towards developing self-reliance, self-assurance and self-confidence, through her belief that emotional intelligence can be taught, and that it can be underpinned with excellent communication skills. Jill is dedicated to, and passionate about, providing an outstanding pastoral programme that promotes a strong sense of moral judgement; raising awareness of well-being topics and engendering a willingness in the pupils to take part in activities that they will find challenging.

James has overall responsibility for the Senior School curriculum, timetable, examinations and our students’ subject choices at GCSE and A Level. As Deputy Head Academic, he works with students and staff across the school to ensure that teaching and learning is engaging, rigorous and prepares students for the world beyond Northwood College.

James studied Classics at UCL, specialising in linguistics and philology (the history of language) of Latin and Ancient Greek. He completed his teacher PGCE qualification at King’s College London, and has worked at several leading schools across London. He has held numerous roles across his career, including Head of Scholars, EPQ Coordinator and Charities Coordinator. James joined Northwood College in January 2017, initially as Head of Classics, before becoming Assistant Head (Director of Studies) in September 2018. 

Always eager to research and implement the latest pedagogical practices, James also achieved a Master’s degree in Learning and Teaching from the University of Oxford. Being a Classics teacher at his core, he continues to teach Latin, Greek and Classical Civilisation to our students from KS2 to A Level. He also works with Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) as a team inspector, assessing other independent schools across the country.

Cecile Halliday is both proud and humbled to be Head of the Junior School and working collectively with others across the school. One of the things she cites as a highlight of her work and the school is the collective whole school and team partnership at Northwood College with pupils from Nursery to 18 years old. Success of any pupil  is viewed as shared success. Cecile is a Highly skilled school leader with over 18 years of leadership experience across 5 Independent school settings. She has worked across the GDST; previously at Sutton High School and in supporting the early evolution of the GDST undivided project. 

The partnership with pupils, staff and parents at Northwood College is greatly valued by her and she always seeks to be open and approachable to reflect on what is working well and ways that the school can strive to continually best serve its pupils.

Her pioneering and innovative spirit has seen her be a key player in previously establishing a girls’ school alongside a highly regarded boys’ prep school in South East London. 

Cecile believes in authentic ethical leadership and has seen that a good, well rounded education can empower and support pupils and help them to enact their goals and aspirations.

With over 25 years’ experience in consumer brand marketing and public relations, Claudine has worked across a wide spectrum of industries with clients ranging from Tesco to Warner Bros.

Instrumental in raising the profile of various household brands, she has changed consumer perception, and behaviour, on behalf of products, services and organisations, such as Cadbury’s, Max Factor and the BAFTAs.

Claudine has enjoyed the past seven years, passionately promoting the values and strengths of NWC to both current and potential families alike. Last year saw Claudine take on the role of Chair of the NCPTA (Parent/Teachers Association) and she remains heavily involved in the organisation of events for the school community.

Katie attended The University of Nottingham to study Business Management. After working in event management and managing the sponsorship of sporting events for luxury global brands, her roles at NWC have included teacher of Physical Education, Business and Economics and Head of Year. 

Katie joined Northwood College in 2015 and now works closely with the Head and Deputy Head in a role that sees her responsible for developing the co-curricular offer of the school and for forging and cultivating relationships with local schools and community groups.

Katie is also currently Educational Visits Coordinator and works closely with staff to ensure all students in the school benefit from purposeful and engaging learning outside the classroom. 

Katie is passionate about sport and believes that everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy sport and physical activity. Katie’s background includes swimming at an international level.

Helen studied History (BA Hons) at Brunel University and completed her PGCE at University of East Anglia.

Having taught in a GDST school since 2007, Helen joined NWC in 2014 as Head of Key Stage Two. Helen’s current role is to oversee the running of the Junior School’s pastoral system and to ensure that each girl thrives in all areas of school life.

Helen believes that it is crucial for the school’s pastoral system to underpin all that the school does and, together with high quality teaching and learning, is key to ensuring the success and personal development of each girl, so that they flourish both academically and socially. She is passionate in providing a positive, secure and

values led environment for our students where each student has a sense of achievement, belonging and worth. 

Following a career in television, working with Channel 4, the BBC and a range of indies, Ashmi ‘accidently’ fell into teaching and found a love for Education. Starting out from humble beginnings, Ashmi has a deep rooted belief that education creates opportunities, particularly for women and those from other minority groups.

Over the last decade, Ashmi has worked across a wide range of senior leadership roles, where she has led a range of curriculum areas, as well as a Leadership Hub. In 2019, Ashmi joined Northwood College GDST as Deputy Head Academic in the Junior School – a key priority was to ensure that the curriculum was diverse and distinctive.

In 2021 the school’s ISI specifically noted that the school’s approach to diversity in the curriculum was excellent and recommended that this work be shared more widely. Since then, Ashmi has led training sessions for schools, spoken at the Bradford Literature Festival, created curriculum content for the Partition Education Group and been interviewed by the BBC.

Ashmi is incredibly passionate about ensuring that the academic offer at Northwood has high expectations, prepares students for the ever changing global landscape, and allows each girl to find her passion and use this to make positive change.

Stefanie studied at Sheffield Hallam University, where she undertook both her undergraduate and postgraduate teaching degree in Physical Education & Youth Sport. She has recently completed her master’s degree at St Mary’s University, where she specialised in leading innovation and change within education. She is entering her thirteenth year of teaching, where she has experience in both state and independent sectors, and her roles have included teacher of Physical Education, Head of Senior Curriculum Physical Education and Director of Sport.

Stefanie Joined NWC in April 2019 as Director of Sport, where she has transformed attitudes towards and student experiences of sport at the school. Her passion for sport and physical activity, alongside continued high expectations, have encouraged NWC students to really aim high and achieve.

Stefanie is a strong advocate of continued professional development and learning and her role as Associate Assistant Head (Learning & Innovation) will see her support colleagues in enjoying this aspect of their roles. Providing opportunities for shared learning experiences, including lesson study and cross-curricular collaboration, will seek to enrich teaching practice and ignite intellectual curiosity across the whole school community.

The Chairman of the School Governing Board can be contacted c/o Northwood College for Girls, Maxwell Road, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 2YE, or by email to chair@nwc.gdst.net