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Management Committee
COOL UK has a voluntary Management Committee who bring a vast array of skills personally and professionally to their role. As volunteers they give their time freely whilst also accepting the responsibility of the commitment they make to the organisation.
The Management Consultation Committee consists of:
Gareth Binding - Chief Executive Officer - COOL UK
Father of three, Gareth Binding has worked with challenging young people for more than 25 years. After a number of years spent in industry he began working with service users within the Probation Service before moving on to work with pupils with special educational needs for NCH ‘the children’s charity'. Gareth’s work has covered a cross section of the SEN sector both in Primary and Secondary Special Schools. Latterly as an Education Welfare Officer for Lancashire's 'Pupil Reintegration Service' Gareth worked closely with primary and secondary excluded pupils in an attempt to re-engage them.
Just because our young people do not fit the formal mainstream approach, this does not make them failures, if anything it makes them individuals.
Gareth is also a qualified child / adult / family counsellor.
You can e-mail Gareth directly: gareth@cooluk.co.uk
Mike Frost
Mike has worked in special education and with disaffected and challenging pupils for 23 years. The last 12 have been as a Head Teacher working in PRUs. He has successfully negotiated a number of Inspections and has recently led his latest PRU out of special measures.
Mike’s responsibilities in the team are; Training and Special Educational Needs
Sue Littlefair
Sue was previously a Careers Advisor before working in a management capacity for the Learning & Skills Council. She is now the Head of Operations for The Prince's Trust (Lancashire and Cumbria).
"I enjoy working with young people and I was previously a Careers Advisor for quite a number of years. I commenced my new position as Head of Operations at the end of October 2004 and prior to this I was a volunteer with The Prince's Trust for two years as Chairperson of the Development Awards Panel. I have responsibility for all The Prince's Trust programmes in Lancashire within the two offices of Blackburn and Burnley and a great team."
Sue's responsibility in the team is: External Agency Networking
Steph Booth - Development Director - COOL UK
Steph, married to actor Tony Booth (father of Cherie Blair) was a recent candidate in the local elections. She is an accomplished writer and holds a PhD in politics. In a previous life Steph was an academic and has written a regular column for the Irish Times before working for a charity 'The Great Generation', setting up microfinance projects in the developing world
'COOL UK is a forward thinking, innovative company and I'm pleased to be part of the organisation at this exciting point in its development. A key part of my role is setting up 'focused' - a charity with the specific aim of funding greater opportunities for our students.'
Bernard Dickinson - Education Director- COOL UK
Bernard has been involved in education for over 30 years. Since leaving Leeds University in 1975 he has worked as a teacher in a variety of different schools. For the last twenty years he has been Deputy Head at three quite different schools and has gained a wealth of experience teaching pupils from 4 to 18 years old. Bernard is also a professional musician, a Life Coach and a Sports Psychologist.
You can e-mail Bernard directly: bernard@cooluk.co.uk
Janette Wallis
Janette has worked with children that challenge throughout her teaching career. She currently works for the Lancashire Education Inclusion Service as a specialist and advisory teacher. Her specialist area is working with disaffected children. She is currently spearheading the YESS project (Youth Education Support Service) which involves engaging children with low self esteem and challenging behaviour, the aim being to re engage the young people. Janette is also the Head of the Accrington Attendance Centre dealing regularly with children who engage in antisocial and offending behaviour.
Janette's aim in life is to nurture the talents in all the young people and help them to believe in themselves and guide them to a brighter future.
Dr Neil Duncan
Neil is a senior lecturer in Special Needs and Inclusion Studies at the University of Wolverhampton’s School of Education.
Neil has published two books on bullying in schools specifically looking at gendered issues of bullying, and contributed chapters to several more. Unlike most books on bullying, these publications are based on his own research over many years. He has also published work on innovative forms of assessment, parental complaints about special needs provision, and behavioural difficulties in schools.
Despite being a qualified art teacher, Neil has gained much of his 18 years of practitioner experience working in special residential schools and Local Authority units for young people with severe behavioural difficulties, and his expertise is in supporting behaviour and social learning rather than classroom based teaching.
Neil provides an important resource for Cool UK in advising on both behaviour management and experiential learning matters.
Debra Brown
Debra formed the company ‘Global Hugs Ltd.’ in 2005 - HUGS stands for Hunger for Unlimited Growth of Self. She’s a Coach, Mentor, Trainer, NLP practitioner and speaker.
Debra is also a Director at Burnley Enterprise Trust where she works on a consultancy basis
“One of my goals is to get Personal Development onto the national curriculum to open up how our young people think. I have set up a voluntary group called ‘Emerge’ and our aims are to raise the aspirations and achievement of young people through personal development training and youth coaching. We work closely with the Youth Coaching Academy in London”.
Michelle Binding - Business and Finance Director- COOL UK
Over the past 8 years, Michelle has worked for various Companies and Organisations developing her career and knowledge of Business Marketing and Finance whilst undertaking relevant Courses.
In the final two years before working at COOL UK, Michelle worked at The Prince’s Trust Mentoring Project. As well as being the Project Administrator, Michelle monitored Development Awards and was also trained and worked as a voluntary
You can e-mail Michelle directly michelle@cooluk.co.uk
Danny Cassidy - Health and Safety Officer - COOL UK
Danny has company responsibility for Health & Safety issues. He has had a strong interest in the subject throughout his career. Danny has since completed his NEBOSH training through COOL UK
Besides also working for COOL UK as a building tutor, Danny in his spare time is a Lieutenant holding a TA Commission in the Army Cadet Corps
You can email Danny directly at dchealthandsafety@cooluk.co.uk