Gordon Sutton

Gordon Sutton is an experienced educator who specialises in Secondary/GCSE English and Whole School Literacy. He has extensive experience of; delivering whole school and group training; supporting, monitoring and evaluating school improvement; facilitating and leading network meetings; and working with young people in a wide range of contexts.

His teaching experience spans nearly 20 years, becoming a successful Head of English and Senior Teacher. Additionally, he was Liverpool LA’s designated trainer on whole school literacy for NQTs. During this time, Gordon partnered with Liverpool Hope University, Edge Hill University, and Liverpool University to deliver very successful Initial Teacher Training programmes.

Gordon subsequently worked for Knowsley LA under Steve Munby for 3 years where he led on secondary English developments, transition, and managed the delivery and implementation of the DFE Teaching Assistant Training Programme.

He spent 5 years at Manchester LA, working for Mick Waters as the 11-19 Curriculum and Innovations Manager, which included management of all elements of the National Secondary Strategy, leading on a range of groundbreaking national pilots (Low Attainers, Minority Ethnic Achievement, and SEBs), and delivering a wide range of innovative curricular activities such as the nationally recognized ‘Food for Thought’ programme and ‘The Employability Studio’ in collaboration with ITV/Granada.
Gordon was also responsible for writing and delivering the Manchester Education Development Plan: Priorities 2 & 3 (Raising Attainment at KS3 and KS4). Additionally, he led on 14-19 developments for the LA.

In a strategic capacity, Gordon served on Manchester’s SEN Strategy Group, the Inclusion Standards Group, the BSF Working Party, the Manchester Connexions Executive and the Aim Higher Board. In addition, he accounted to the DFE and the City Council on standards and progress to targets.

Gordon has an honours degree from the University of Wales (Cardiff), and an M.Ed from the University of Sheffield (where he specialised in Literacy and Gender research). In addition, he is a trained OFSTED Inspector, and holds the NPQH.

He established his own education consultancy - WorldClass (Education Consultancy & Training)Ltd in 2008. Details about the company can be found at www.worldclasseducation.co.uk
Since then, he’s helped over 30 schools and academies with specialist support for GCSE English through a carefully developed range of ‘Strong Language’ GCSE English Revision and Motivation programmes and Controlled Assessment Task Workshops.

Gordon has recently introduced a brand new GCSE English programme called ‘The Blend’ which has taken the best of his face to face school work and combined it with innovative online Skype support for students, along with a dedicated Wiki for sharing resources and support materials.

Gordon has travelled widely and is currently at an advanced stage to develop a number of educational projects in China. To this end, he has been learning Mandarin Chinese at the Confucius Institute at Liverpool University. In his spare time he paints and is a keen photographer.