Honorary President
Sir Jon Coles was Challenge Partners' Founding Chair of Trustees and led the Board and Challenge Partners through a successful first decade. In September 2021, Jon handed the Chair of Trustees baton to Chris Davison and was appointed Honorary President. In this role, Jon serves as an ambassador and the face of Challenge Partners to our network, partner organisations and the public.
Sir Jon Coles, is CEO of United Learning. He spent 15 years in the Department for Education, including four years on the Board as Director General for Schools and then Director General for Education Standards. Sir Jon led work to raise participation post-16 and attainment at 19 and reduce NEET numbers. As Director of London Challenge, he was responsible for developing and implementing the strategy to improve secondary education in London, which led to similar approaches in other parts of the country.
Board of Trustees
As a charity, our Leadership Team and Senior Partners are accountable to our Board of Trustees. Our Trustees ensure that Challenge Partners continues to work towards our aims and that the partnership remains financially and legally compliant. The board meets regularly and are chaired by Chris Davison. You can find more about them here.
Education Advisory Group
The Education Advisory Group (EAG) is a group of school and trust leaders in our partnership, who support and challenge us to inform our development. This group meets regularly and our trustee, Vijita Patel will attend the meetings as an observer to provide an important link between the EAG and our Board of Trustees. You can find more about them here.
Central Team
Our Central Team come from a wide variety of backgrounds but are all committed to our goal of reducing educational inequality and improving the life chances of children. You can find more about them here.