The team

Peter Hyman is Executive Head of School 21. Prior to this he was Deputy Head at Greenford High School in Southall, West London. As Head of Teaching and Learning at Greenford, he was delighted to see last year’s continued improvement with the school’s GCSE results up 19%. This was achieved in a school where 80% of children have English as a Second Language and nearly 30% are on Free School Meals.
Peter believes passionately that all children should learn to think for themselves and has introduced a new Thinking Skills curriculum into Greenford. You can read more about his thoughts on children learning to think in schools in this Observer article.
In 2003, following nine years as a strategist to Tony Blair Peter left to become a teaching assistant in a challenging Islington school (he later shared the experiences in his book ‘1 out of 10’ where he compared political vision with the reality on the ground). He subsequently taught at Seven Kings, rated an outstanding school by Ofsted before joining Greenford High School.
Peter is on the Future Leaders Programme, a fast track course to headship for outstanding school leaders. He holds an NPQH (Headteacher qualification).
Read more about his views on our vision for Newham School 21 on our latest news page.

Ed Fidoe is an education consultant, specialising in teacher recruitment and new ways of teaching. He is an advisor to Teach First, who are committed to recruiting exceptional graduates into teaching from the country’s top universities. He also works with leading UK schools exploring more exciting and effective ways of engaging and developing children.
Between 2006 and 2010 Ed worked at McKinsey & Co. a consultancy where he developed expertise in education reform. For 6 years prior to that he ran a theatre production company with the playwright Matt Charman.
Ed also volunteers with the charity Youth at Risk, who focus on supporting young people who are ‘NEET’ (Not in Employment, Education or Training).

Oli de Botton is an English teacher and expert in education policy. He was a member of the first cohort of Teach First teachers – going to teach in a challenging London school following his graduation. Within three years he became first a Head of Sixth Form and then an Assistant Headteacher at Albany School, Enfield (now Oasis Academy Hadley). Oli oversaw a 20% increase in A-Level pass rates and was really proud that the vast majority of Sixth Formers went to University.
Since 2008 Oli has worked as a government education consultant specialising in improving ways of assessing children.

Helen Warner joined the School 21 team in January 2012 from a specialist recruitment company where she worked for 3 years sourcing the best candidates for primary, secondary and early years settings across London.
Helen is a qualified TESOL teacher and taught English to speakers of other languages in the UK from 2005-2008.

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