Director of G2G Education, Dr Helena McVeigh has a first class degree in physics and post graduate qualifications in education. She has over 30 years experience in education, with management positions in schools and local authorities. Helena was awarded a PhD in education in June 2016 after 4 1/2 years of study alongside her role as director of G2G.

Helena was one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools for nearly ten years, where she was involved in evaluating a wide range of institutions as well as leading inspections of local education authorities and all phases of schools. She helped develop the system for quality assuring inspections for Ofsted and trained and assessed team and registered inspectors.

As principal consultant for CEA, she was responsible for quality assurance of inspections and training as well as advising local authorities and developing review procedures for the Knowledge is Power Program in the USA. She has inspected KIPP schools across the USA and also been involved in external evaluations and support for charter schools in New York City.

Helena was Chief Inspector for schools in the Cayman Islands (2004 to 2008) where she also led a review of the schools’ national curriculum and promoted the introduction of the International Baccalaureate primary and middle years programmes in schools.

Helena has considerable experience of preparing and running training programmes for school staff and leaders and is a trainer in emotional intelligence. She is a firm believer in team work and in the development of learning organisations through investing in and empowering individuals. She led her team through the successful achievement of the IIP standard in 2007 and her leadership was praised in the assessor’s report: “Visible leadership and a genuine interest in people … create an organization where people enjoy the challenge of their work. People commented on the Chief Inspector’s vision and sense of purpose, wealth of experience and high standards combined with human professionalism.”

Since returning to the UK, Helena has been involved in a number of projects, including Project Director for the Piscari Monitoring Agency that monitored private companies’ work with a number of government schools, on behalf of the Abu Dhabi Education Council. She was a primary adviser for the very successful London Challenge initiative.

Helena led a team of advisers who successfully supported school improvement in primary schools in Basildon, under the leadership of Sir Mike Tomlinson. She also leads reviews for Challenge Partners and supports a number of local schools.

Helena has led numerous inspections of primary and secondary schools for Ofsted.

She is currently a governor of a local federation of two small primary schools. She has been a director of a multi-academy trust and a governor in a number of different schools.