Justine Oldham

Justine joined Dixons Academies in August 2016 in order to plan and prepare for the opening of Dixons Trinity Chapeltown, Leeds, overseeing the primary phase as primary principal until July 2020 when she took on the role of associate executive principal.

Staying in Yorkshire for her university years and studying at Huddersfield University, Justine then caught the travel bug and journeyed around the world, calling many varied places home, including Greece, Egypt, India, Australia, the USA and Germany. During this time, she worked as a teacher, tour guide, ski instructor and cowgirl! Justine returned to the UK in 2001 to become a full-time primary teacher in disadvantaged areas of London. After a short time as teacher in a school for children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, she moved to Sri Lanka to become deputy head and special educational needs coordinator in Colombo, where she worked hard to raise awareness of specific educational needs.

Eventually, Justine was attracted back to the UK by an opportunity to work with Ark Academies in London. She was recruited as inclusion manager, but quickly became deputy and then head of Ark Conway Primary Academy in Acton, London. Ark Conway opened its doors in 2011 as a new academy and free school and became the first primary free school to be judged Outstanding by Ofsted and the highest performing school in the country at KS1.

She now works across Dixons primary schools in order to raise achievement for all, and in our Centre for Growth on both internal and external programmes. Justine is unrelenting in her commitment to improving educational standards and life chances of students, regardless of their backgrounds or starting points.