Meet the Team
Our Directors
Yvonne “Vonni” Hardman
Director of Finance & Teacher
Yvonne (known as Vonni) describes herself as a mam, teacher, writer, activist and wife. She is a creative teacher who studied at Durham University where she specialised in primary science and through her classroom career has been a middle leader in a primary school, leading this core element of the curriculum. She has also been involved in a County Durham wide pilot project developing the use of enquiry skills in primary science. Vonni also leads our science CPD programmes and is keen to focus on the power of WHY?
Vonni also has a love of stories both oral and written and as a keen creative writer herself loves developing that love of stories and the skills to create their own with children. She understands that children have amazing imaginations and believes that developing confidence in language through communication will develop children as better learners, as long as they are having fun of course. Vonni also leads on our Creative Storytelling CPD.
She is a keen campaigner for social justice and enjoys developing the oracy and team building aspects of the business based around developing children's communication and problem solving skills using real life and experiential learning as a starting point.
Julie Dowson
Director
Julie is an experienced school business manager who is invaluable in helping keep a practiced eye over things like the company accounts and business plan.
Julie is a Cub Scout leader in her spare time and can sometimes be found helping deliver practical workshops during school holidays, particularly if they are messy.
Alex Summerson
Director & Company Secretary
Alex is a professional musician, singer-songwriter and trained vocal coach. She is very excited to be the musical lead for ATOMS Education and to share her skills and love of music and performance with children and young people.
Alex loves to teach instrumental lessons, singing and music theory. She teaches music in a fun and practical way, as we all learn best when we are having fun! Since she was a teenager, Alex has experience working with young people and children. She has worked with amateur dramatic groups, choirs and providing respite and activities for SEND children and young people.
Alex believes music should be fun and accessible for all and strives to give children and young people opportunities to develop their talents.
Alex leads the CPD around Drama and Music with curriculum input from Vonni and Emma.
Emma Farthing
HR Director & Teacher
Emma brings a wealth of SEND experience to the team and leads this aspect of our provision. She is an experienced primary teacher who trained at Northumbria University and has previously ran SEND provision within mainstream schools before moving into a specialist SEND role. She believes passionately in inclusion for our young people and often delivers training around this in schools and is a regular keynote speaker at major national conferences including this years NASEN conference (2022).
Emma leads on the SEND aspects of our CPD offer. She is keen to develop the idea of relationship policies to replace behaviour policies and has acquired and developed many strategies for inclusive classrooms to ensure the needs of all children are met.
As well as being one of our directors Emma is an activist who developed and organises the annual SENDhelp conference bringing parents, SEND professionals and educators together to learn from each other and campaigns for better funding and inclusion.
Other Team Members
Donna Summerson
Education Professional
Samantha Townsend
Teacher
Trish Fay
Education Professional