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Matt O'Grady

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Role: Associate Consultant

Matt has worked in Education for more than 28 years, the last 24 of which in a senior leadership capacity. He is Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and until recently chaired a collaboration of 18 schools. He is passionate about curriculum design and innovation embracing the challenges of preparing young people for a world that does not yet exist. A recent OFSTED inspection praised the 'inspirational curriculum' he has developed. He is an experienced school governor and is also a facilitator and coach for NPQSL participants. Matt also holds the National Professional Qualification in Executive Leadership. 

Matt delivered our Retrieval Practice course, in person, for this group.

The whole day's training was extremely engaging and thought provoking. Matt is an excellent speaker whose very personable style always captures and holds the attention and interest of all those present.

Richard Queenborough, Director of Learning
Portico Academy Trust, Essex

Matt delivered our Infusing Rich Vocabulary Course as an in-person event on this school's training day. 

Matt was incredibly personable and knowledgeable. It is always great to have a workshop probationer who is actually using the practices being covered in the session. he provided some good advice on how we can approach things here. I would rate my booking as excellent.

Assistant Head, Academic
Blackheath Prep, London

The way Matt related the content to real life situations in schools was useful as was the way in which golden sentences can be used to show ‘learning’ and how these build up to paragraphs and essays. Matt was incredible - he really did you proud and the positive buzz for the start of the term was incredible! Thank you and Matt so much!!!

Tim Muggridge, Senior Trust Improvement Officer
Aletheia Academies Trust, Kent

It was really helpful to actually take part in some retrieval work as part of the inset, it helped to demonstrate its value! It was great to hear practical ideas, and ideas that were relevant to all year groups (including Early Years). Hearing examples of experiences was really helpful as was learning about the science behind cognitive function. The session moved at a good pace and Matt was really engaging. Morning challenges have now been adapted as a result. The session was very thought provoking and gave as ideas that are actually achievable and therefore didn't make us feel overwhelmed. It was delivered in an engaging and enthusiastic way that left us feeling inspired!

Adrian Bates-Holland, Headteacher
Hassocks Infant School, West Sussex

The booking organisation and communication was excellent. Matt was engaging and really humorous in his delivery of the content. Having a headteacher as a facilitator was also interesting as he could put some of it into school context. Matt took the time to check that things were going as planned throughout the day and made sure he was pitching the content to what we required. An inspiring inset day.

Kate Crawford, Headteacher, Milford on Sea C of E Primary School, Hampshire
Everything about the day was useful and I would rate my booking as extremely high. This is the third time Matt has led our training. He always leaves our staff with plenty to think about and to act on.
Richard Queenborough, Director of Learning, Portico Academy Trust, Essex
Very clear and helpful guidelines for how to make learning memorable. Matt was an excellent presenter and pitched the session just right for our staff. It was a really great day and gave us lots of food for thought.
Andrew Palmer, Headteacher, Heycroft Primary School, Essex
We had an excellent day with Matt which re-energised our thinking and has really motivated us to continue with the journey we are on. The combination of the theory of learning with real life examples was accessible to everyone and enabled some deep discussions to take place. The addition of Matt’s humorous delivery kept everyone engaged. The feedback from staff was universally very positive and there was a very high level of consistency in the ‘take aways’ identified. Thanks to Matt and the Chris Quigley team for continuing to inspire us.
Amanda Talbot-James, Headteacher, St Denys Primary School, Southampton
Matt delivered a fantastic session which will be fundamental in redesigning our curriculum. Searching course, queries handled, booking process very easy and supported at all stages. Thank you!
Nicola Simpson, Deputy Headteacher, Dormers Well Infant & Junior School, Middlesex
Matt was hugely inspiring. He gave a real sense of how curriculum design and implementation works on the ground, in schools. It was a great day, thank you.
Leanne Ross, Interim Headteacher, Moorlands Primary School, Hampshire
All parts of the day were useful and I would rate the quality of my booking with Chris Quigley Education as excellent. We have booked Matt again for March and we would like to book him again for our conference for next year.
Richard Queenborough, Director of Learning, Portico Academy Trust, Essex
Matt spoke to me before the session on the phone and seemed to really understand what we needed as a new school. He then tailored the session to meet our needs mainly around establishing intent. We had a clear direct established by the end of the session. Matt also related a lot of the course to his own school and resources, again this was extremely helpful.
Kate Mather, Headteacher, Ludlow Primary School, Shropshire
Talking to Matt beforehand made sure the training was tailored to our exact requirements. The enthusiasm was exactly the tone I wanted set and the practical ideas were incredibly useful and so manageable. The chance to talk to colleagues in between listening to Matt made the session interactive enough and kept it relevant to our schools.
Mary Collins, Executive Headteacher, Holy Cross and St Augustine's Catholic Primary Schools, London
All parts of the day were extremely useful. They closely matched the needs in our schools – to raise the bar in the teachers’ and children’s use of vocabulary. Matt made the link with my work on questioning and the importance of written vocabulary on working walls.
Richard Queenborough, Director of Learning, Portico Academy Trust, Essex

Great information on depth of learning and the need to consider progression of skills as well as lots of fantastic ideas to use immediately. Matt was a great trainer who communicated well to understand our school's needs and tailored the presentation brilliantly to meet this.

Stephanie Peters, Executive Headteacher, Haughmond Federation, Shropshire
We had a very productive and enjoyable day with Matt. The course was pitched just right for the beginning of term. The day was well structured and Matt was very professional. He utilised his own knowledge, the power point presentation and elements from the on-going discussions to keep the staff on task. The focus of the day was constantly being reinforced. The staff (and one governor) were thoroughly engaged throughout the day and have each taken away a range of thoughts and suggested next steps for their own curriculum area. A very thought provoking day. High quality course which more than met our expectations.
Angela Boxall, Headteacher, Warboys Community Primary School, Cambridgeshire
Matt was great, everybody enjoyed the inset and we've got a lot to unpack from it. Matt gave solid examples of how to implement curriculum planning with plans and examples from his school. We particularly liked the discussion around school drivers and how to achieve depth of learning. I would rate my booking with Chris Quigley Education as excellent.
Steve Long, Assistant Headteacher, Cassiobury Junior School, Hertfordshire