Our Executive Team

Christian Wilcocks

CEO

Christian joined Omega Multi-Academy Trust in May 2022. Christian has over 25 years of experience in education and has an exceptional track record in school leadership for both primary and secondary schools. Christian is driven by the philosophy that every young person, regardless of their background, should make progress in every lesson and benefit from exceptional teaching, consistently high standards and shared high expectations

Paul Haselden

Chief Financial and Operations Officer

Paul joined Omega Multi-Academy Trust in February 2024 having worked within a number of Multi-Academy Trusts, across the North-West. Paul’s remit within our organisation is providing strategic and operational leadership in all non-academic aspects of the trust.

As Chief Finance and Operations Officer, Paul plays a key role in driving the Trust’s financial strategy, working closely with our finance team to ensure that a supportive centralised finance function is available to all within the Trust but also ensuring that we strive for continuous improvement both at strategic and operational levels, enabling all employees and pupils have the best possible educational outcomes.

Jan Malone

Director of Safeguarding and People Services

Jan joined Great Sankey High School in 2015 as Designated Safeguarding Lead before moving to Omega Multi-Academy Trust as Director of Safeguarding in 2019 and was later promoted to Director of Safeguarding and People Services in 2022

Before moving into education Jan first worked as a Police Officer as a specialist in matters of child protection, safeguarding and victims of serious offences.

Jan has worked in a variety of pastoral and safeguarding roles from small primary schools to a large mixed comprehensive school in inner city Liverpool and the largest mixed high school in Cheshire, both of which have sixth form provision. During this time she has gained a wealth of experience working collaboratively with external agencies to provide support for the most vulnerable pupils, enabling them to access the education they deserve and to reach their full emotional and academic potential.

Jan is the Prevent Lead for the Trust and the educational representative on the Warrington Safeguarding Partnership Impact and Development Group. Jan’s areas of expertise include inclusion, equality, diversity, LGBTIQA+, Prevent, FGM, HBV, Criminal Exploitation, County Lines, Domestic Violence, Sexual offences against children, Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery.

Joanne Hewson

Director of Education

Jo joined Chapelford Village Primary School (formerly Sycamore Lane Primary School) as Headteacher in 2007 . She led the school through conversion into Omega Multi-Academy Trust in 2018. Jo was promoted to Executive Headteacher in 2023 and then to Director of Education in January 2024.

Jo has expertise in developing school improvement with a deep commitment to academic excellence and has extensive experience in curriculum development and educational innovation. She is passionate about ensuring all pupils experience high quality teaching and learning to enable them to fulfil their potential and become confident and purposeful citizens that thrive academically and personally.

Jo has taught across the primary age range and has extensive leadership experience as Headteacher and Executive Headteacher; she champions professional development for staff promoting a culture of continuous improvement in all schools. Jo also works as a local authority associate advisor undertaking school improvement work in local schools and leads on SEND reviews on behalf of the local authority.

In her role as Director of Education for Omega Multi-Academy Trust Jo is privileged, through effective partnerships, to support challenge and foster collaboration with education professionals both within the Trust schools and with schools more widely.

Andy Day

Director of Education

Andy joined Great Sankey High School in 2002 and moved to a central role in Omega Multi-Academy Trust in 2020.

Andy has expertise in developing professional learning programmes for teachers and leaders at all stages of their career and in leading school improvement through extensive partnership work. He is a facilitator of ECT Programmes for Best Practice Network and is currently completing the Exemplary Leadership Programme with Leverage Leadership Institute.

In his role of Director of Education for Omega Multi-Academy Trust, Andy supports teachers and leaders to develop their expertise in curriculum and pedagogy, using Instructional Coaching as a key lever for improvement. Working with leaders from across the Trust, Andy is building a collaborative model of systematic training which is underpinned by the best evidence from research.

Diane Addison

Director of Governance and Compliance

Diane has provided a freelance service as a Governance Professional to Omega Multi-Academy Trust since 2019 and joined in the permanent position as Director of Governance and Compliance in 2022.

Diane enjoyed a successful career as a Branch Manager in retail banking and as a Regional Operations Manager in a business outsourcing company, managing operations for utility clients and pupil sector clients. In the latter years of working within outsourcing, Diane worked within a select team focusing on service improvements across the business which included clients within the UK, India and America.

Following a company restructure Diane took early retirement and volunteered with Manchester City Council as a panel member and Chair for school admission appeals. Since 2018, as a freelance clerk Diane has provided a clerking service for school admission appeals, exclusions and Independent Review Panels for schools across the UK. As a Governance Professional Diane has provided a clerking service to the Governing Boards of several schools across the Northwest, including the primary and secondary sector, special schools, single academies and multi academy trusts.