Meet our Team

Andrew Marsh – Headteacher

Andrew Marsh studied composition at Goldsmiths College, London and appeared as a musician at London venues from The Ritz to Ronnie Scott’s before training to teach. His early career was based in areas of significant deprivation in South London including the school attended by Stephen Lawrence. He was a director at the renowned BRIT School of Performing Arts in London where students included Katie Melua, Jessie J and Adele before joining the founding senior team of The Elmgreen School, London’s first parent promoted school. In 2010 he relocated to Derbyshire and was appointed to the senior team of Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School which was judged ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in 2015. In 2018 he took up the headship at Highfields School.

Peter Cole – Deputy Head

Peter Cole has always been fascinated by people, places and the past. After A levels in History, Geography and Economics he became the first person in his family to go on to Higher Education, gaining a degree in Politics from Sheffield University and a Master’s degree from Cambridge University. During his time in Cambridge he got his first taste of teaching, tutoring A level and GCSE students. His rewarding career has taken him to diverse schools across independent and state sectors in Merseyside, Manchester, Sheffield and Derbyshire. He held senior leadership positions at Tupton Hall and Lady Manners before being appointed Deputy Head at Highfields. He loves this role and has been delighted to serve the Highfields community since 2013.

Matt Hodkin – Deputy Head

Matt Hodkin studied English at Sheffield Hallam University, before completing a PGCE in Secondary English and a further post-graduate degree in the National Award for SEND Coordinator. His early training schools were in high challenge areas of Sheffield and North-East Derbyshire. From 2012, he worked at Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School and was part of the middle leadership team that was judged ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in 2015. In 2017 he joined the Senior Leadership Team at UTC: Olympic Legacy Park as Director of Inclusion and Designated Safeguarding Lead. From 2018 he has worked at Highfields School, initially as Assistant Headteacher: SENDCo, before assuming responsibilities for behaviour, attendance, inclusion and transition. In January 2024 he was appointed Deputy Headteacher: Operations and Ethos.

Claire Rifkin – Safeguarding Designated Lead

Claire studied English and Drama at Lancaster University and then completed a PGCE at Liverpool University. She completed her English and Drama degree and spent time performing in a Theatre in Education company and then working in television before completing her Post Graduate Certificate of Education and joining the teaching profession. She has led Drama departments and Performing Arts Faculties in comprehensive schools in Birmingham, Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire. She directed numerous school plays and musicals during this time and collaborated with Birmingham Ballet, Nottingham Playhouse and Collar and Tie theatre company to give all students opportunity to work with professional performers. Claire’s love of Shakespeare led her to direct many times for the schools Shakespeare Festival. While teaching in Nottinghamshire Claire joined the senior team focussing on outcomes for disadvantaged students across the school. This led her to her current position as safeguarding lead at Highfields School. Claire now works in collaboration with many agencies to support Highfields students and their families. She still loves teaching Drama alongside her pastoral work across the school.

Martin Flett – Director of Sixth Form

Martin has a law degree from the University of Nottingham and worked for six years as a corporate lawyer in London and Birmingham before moving into teaching. He also taught English with the British Council in Poland and worked in a mental health setting in Essex for a year after university. He moved from law to take a PGCE at the University of Cambridge and then taught at Saffron Walden County High School where he set up their Directory for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, sat on a Cambridge PGCE panel and became Assistant Head of Sixth Form in a large team with over 500 students. He is a qualified Mountain Leader and ran the gold Duke of Edinburgh programme at Saffron Walden before moving to become Director of Sixth Form at Highfields in 2010. Martin particularly enjoys creating links with local employers and former students to help our current students in their ambitions.

Charlotte Morgan – Director of Catch Up Curriculum

Charlotte Morgan studied Physics at The University of East Anglia, with a year spent as an ERASMUS student in Montpellier France. She started her career as a Medical Physicist with Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust while studying for an MSc in Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering. Following this she worked in research at the University of Sheffield Control and Systems Engineering obtaining an MPhil. She has worked in a number of schools in South Yorkshire and Derbyshire where she led on pedagogical projects which involved collaboration at a national level, before joining King Ecgberts School as Head of Physics. First appointed as Head of Science at Highfields in 2011, she has been part of the extended leadership team taking on responsibility for timetabling since 2016 and leading on the response to the pandemic in 2020. She has been in her current role as Director of Catch Up Curriculum since 2018.

George Roberts – Director of Catch Up Engagement

George Roberts studied French and Hispanic Studies at the University of Sheffield and lived in both France and Spain as part of his degree. He studied modules on translation, French film and History of Latin America. During his time in France, he worked in an Agricultural College near Lyon and in Spain he studied translation and Spanish Language at Malaga University. He started teaching in 2018 and soon became Head of Spanish at Highfields School. He has a particular interest in the engagement of disadvantaged students in education and was appointed Director of Catch-Up – Engagement and Pupil Premium lead in 2022. He currently spearheads the Student Ambassador programme in which he aims to mould Highfields Students into outstanding leaders who strive to implement change in a challenging world.

Emily Bonsall – Director of Literacy and Pedagogy

Emily Bonsall studied BA Hons Musical Theatre at UCLan performing at venues such as The Royal Albert Hall, as well as singing for the Queen at her Diamond Jubilee with the university Chamber Choir, with whom she won ‘BBC Choir of the Year’. She trained to teach in Liverpool and became Head of Performing Arts at Ridgeway High School in her first year of teaching. It was here that she gained her NPQML and built a Performing Arts curriculum offer. Originally from Derbyshire, in 2016 she relocated home and became Head of Drama at Highfields School, transforming the department and accumulating the Dance department in 2018. She was also selected to be part of ‘The Guardian – Get Into Teaching Campaign’ and was seconded to support other schools in their curriculum, teaching and assessment, within the performing arts. Alongside being a Curriculum Leader, in 2024, she completed the NPQLTD and became Director of Pedagogy and Literacy, developing a love of reading and supporting technique and practice within the classroom.