Tom has extensive experience of school and system improvement and inspection. He worked as a senior HMI (Her Majesty’s Inspector) with Ofsted within the North-East Yorkshire and Humberside senior leadership team. Amongst a range of responsibilities Tom had direct accountability for managing and deploying the regional team of HMI and additional inspectors to deliver inspections in the region. He has consistently led some of the most high-profile section 5 and section 8 inspections in several parts of England and gained extensive expertise in working with maintained schools and academies in Ofsted categories of concern. His school inspection work began in 1996 and this extended to the inspection of local authorities in 2004. Prior to joining HMI, Tom was a headteacher in two schools covering a twelve-year period and held senior positions in local authority school improvement teams including as head of service.