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R.E.A.L. Education strengthens its board with two new executive posts

R.E.A.L. Education strengthens its board with two new executive posts

R.E.A.L. Education, the award-winning East Midlands-based provider of innovative, specialist education for children and young people with additional learning needs, has welcomed two new executive members to its board of directors to support the continued development of services.

Having formed in 2008, the company has become widely regarded in the region as a leading provider of independent special school placements, personalised education and vocational learning. It now employs in the region of 250 staff and recently opened two new schools. 

Kelsey Hill joined R.E.A.L. in 2018 as the Head of People. Since joining the company she has transformed the face of human resources, successfully implementing projects such as pay scale increments, performance management processes, resource forecasting and has embedded cornerstone policies into practice. Kelsey's role was extended in 2020 to include oversight of the Business Services Team.

Before joining R.E.A.L. Kelsey worked across multiple local authorities leading business change and transformation projects. After completing her CIPD level 7 in Organisation Redesign and Development,

Leadership and Management in Human Resources and Organisational Development, Kelsey cemented her qualifications within industry and honed her passion in working with people, transformation and core business services.

Kelsey will be joining the board at R.E.A.L. Education as Director of People and Business Operations.

She said: "I am fully committed to this new chapter at R.E.A.L. and intend to embrace my extended remit. We have a wonderful leadership and staffing team who work tirelessly to strive for outstanding opportunities for our learners.

The values of the company have always reflected my own; build trust, be an innovator and focus on achievement."

Joint Managing Director at R.E.A.L., Steve Quinn, said: “The two most important things in our company are the young people that provide for and our staff team - investment into our people continues and Kelsey’s appointment is a further acknowledgment to the value we place on the development of colleagues.

"Kelsey’s expertise in shaping people focussed areas of the business is something that adds huge value to the ongoing strength of the organisation. We are delighted to be appointing one of the new executive posts from within and are looking forward to the future with great anticipation.”

Joining Kelsey on the board will be Adrian O’Malley who has been appointed as Director of Education.

Adrian studied at Nottingham Trent University for a Sports Science Degree, before going to Loughborough University for his PGCE. His 17 year teaching career has been based in a range of Mansfield schools as part of a multi academy trust.  He progressed from a standard scale teacher to second in PE, Director of Learning and then Assistant Headteacher while at the same school. In 2013/14 Adrian supported a special school through its conversion to an academy and was thereafter appointed to Headteacher. 

In 2017 the academy achieved a ‘Good’ with outstanding for Leadership and Management during their Ofsted inspection. In 2018 Adrian moved to be Headteacher of a large secondary academy, where in the summer of 2019 they achieved their highest ever P8 score.  In January 2020 he was promoted to be Executive Principal overseeing a primary and special academy.

Adrian has a real passion to ensure that all students receive the best possible learning experiences while preparing them for success in later life.

Adrian will support the board of directors by providing leadership oversight for all areas of the company’s education provision.

He said: “I am extremely excited to be joining the board at R.E.A.L. Education.  It is a fantastic opportunity for us to work together to further develop a visionary educational offer. Having the opportunity to innovate in the sector I am incredibly passionate about is something hugely alluring to me. ”

Richard Smith, Co-founder and Joint Managing Director at R.E.A.L. said “Bringing Adrian into the organisation is a statement of intent highlighting the direction R.E.A.L. is heading. His wealth of experience and leadership qualities demonstrated so far in the education sector will help take R.E.A.L. to new heights, bringing further innovation to the Alternative Provision and Independent Special School sector. Adrian’s ethos and beliefs are aligned with ours and we are excited to be enhancing our offer to the young people and families of the East Midlands and beyond.”


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