Testimonials
Management and Quality
“I have worked with Marilyn Nunney for five years.
Marilyn very effectively led and managed the teaching team and education support team within the college. A significant aspect of her work was to drive up standards of teaching, learning and assessment through a combination of robust quality monitoring activity, teacher development and observation processes for lesson, education support, work placement and tutorial observations. Marilyn was able to ensure that all processes reflected the most current approaches and national standards and inspired those in her direct report to aspire to high standards. The impact of her work was a considerable increase in good or better teaching, validation from Ofsted of the improvements made and numerous commendations of excellence from awarding bodes regarding the exceptional standards of student work.
Strategically Marilyn was instrumental in forging a strong vision, underpinned by an ambitious business plan responsive to change. Marilyn was able to translate the strategic priorities into actions which she then implemented with pace. The improvement activity and impact was monitored through a variety of departmental action plans agreed and driven by Marilyn. The annual self-assessment process and report writing was a shared responsibility between Marilyn and the Principal. Marilyn is very skilled in evaluative writing, supported by substantive data and rich evidence. Regularly reports were required for a variety of forums both internal and external often necessitating Marilyn to present them. Examples of this are self-assessment validation events, Ofsted monitoring visits, Governing Body meetings and transition forums.
As an Independent Specialist College the challenge of utilising the ILR for the first time was embraced by Marilyn who successfully led and supported others to utilise the system and make the required returns efficiently. To drive this Marilyn worked with several external colleagues to pre-empt issues and position the college to respond efficiently and correctly. Marilyn’s roles have required her to build successful relationships with multiple external bodies and she has played an active part in numerous forums that innovate for change. These include JISC, NATSPEC, a regional Peer Review and Development Group, multiple awarding bodies and more. Impressively Marilyn orchestrated and drove a transition programme that ensured all learners were successfully placed after college which entailed working with learners, healthcare, social services, local authorities and parents to achieve a consensus and positive result.
In summary I commend Marilyn as an outstanding colleague. Her commitment to the student experience is demonstrated by a determination to embrace all change and initiatives that genuinely make an improvement to teaching, leaning and assessment. This enables Marilyn to implement transformative measures and help others to see the merit in their work.”
Elsbeth Tibbetts
Strategic Lead Teaching, Learning & Assessment, City of Oxford College (formerly principal Hinwick Hall College)
“Marilyn has substantial experience managing provision for young people with learning difficulties/disabilities and those with the most complex needs. With substantial skills in curriculum design and up-to-date knowledge of the specialist funding environment Marilyn drives developmental work with authority and clarity.
Marilyn is respected by her colleagues and possesses leadership skills that quickly motivate the team to make improvements and achieve great results. Marilyn has a key strength in always maintaining exceptionally learner centric approaches throughout all of her endeavours.”
Chris Todd
Director of Curriculum and Quality at Derwentside College
“Marilyn is highly knowledgeable about education for learners with learning difficulties at a local and national level. Marilyn is passionate about ensuring that the best interests of students are met and that the provision of learning is to the highest standard, always working above and beyond expectation. As a line manager, I always found Marilyn to be approachable, patient and able to communicate what was required clearly and concisely…with a ready smile and I would have no hesitation in recommending Marilyn, or working with her again should the occasion arise.”
Karen Andrews
Education Management Administrator
Curriculum Design and Development
“The management of curriculum and a comprehensive qualification portfolio was also a significant part of Marilyn’s role. The ever changing and diverse student population required a highly responsive and intuitive curriculum model that reflected both learner need and aspiration. Marilyn undertook a yearly evaluation of the curriculum offer as a part of a complex self-assessment process and successfully implemented change to ensure student needs were met. The quality monitoring systems designed and implemented by Marilyn ensured success rates in all qualifications were extremely high and exceeded all national benchmarks. The learner voice was very important throughout this process and Marilyn is a very strong advocate for student choice and independence in forging their futures through a personalised approach.”
Elsbeth Tibbetts
Strategic Lead Teaching, Learning & Assessment, City of Oxford College (formerly principal Hinwick Hall College)
“Marilyn has extensive experience working with young adult learners with complex and profound learning disabilities/difficulties within both residential and day attendance settings. She has particular expertise in curriculum development and management.”
Allan Shaw
Allan Shaw – Independent Education Management Professional
Training and CPD
“Very well presented and explained. Practical demonstrations were a good idea”
“Very helpful. Reassured me about the need to keep things simple – no jargon needed. Gave me confidence in supporting a student.”
“Excellent structure and content. Friendly and easy to understand. Very well explained. Gave me confidence.”
“I now know how important our communication style is to a student’s learning.”
“Very detailed and informative. Queries were dealt with and detailed descriptions given – she knows what she’s talking about! I am now more aware of what students understand about dangers of the internet and how to support learners to be safe.”
“The trainer helped me to understand my responsibilities as an employee. Made points clear to understand.”
“It was interesting and I enjoyed it – especially the videos”
“The course was informative and the training was presented at a comfortable speed. The training gave me more understanding of other issues in and around electronic delivery of information.”
“Interesting and appropriate – content very relevant. Very clearly spoken – with whiteboard. More please!”
“I am now aware of different areas within literacy and numeracy and recognise activities that they can be taught in. I know what to look for and how to assess students’ work.”
“I now know how to plan projects to use for baseline assessment and tools to use for this process.”
“I feel better prepared and ready for the timetable beginning on Monday.”
“I will now be able to plan more exciting interactive lessons. Very good preparation of resources, which helped understanding.”
“Good ideas given and good to share ideas. Good team building.”
“Good ideas for project work. Very coherent and thought-provoking.”
“I can now improve my lesson planning and understand how to incorporate ICT, literacy and numeracy.”
Participants in training programmes
Extracts from evaluation forms