Learn Academies Trust is delighted that its founding Trust Leader, Dr Stef Edwards, has been honoured for her services to education with the award of OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours List.

Stef started teaching in1986, specialising in primary English. She worked in Sheffield and Leicestershire before becoming headteacher at Great Bowden Church of England Primary school in 2006. She was a National Leader of Education, a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and believed passionately in the power of education and great teaching to affect profoundly children’s life choices and chances. Stef was awarded a professional doctorate by the University of Brighton in 2022 for her study of teachers’ professional learning through collaborative Research Lesson Study. She has spoken about this work nationally and internationally.

Stef was instrumental in bringing together seven local primary schools to establish Learn Academies Trust in 2016. She went on to lead the Trust through eight years of sustainable growth to its position today as a large and thriving primary trust of nineteen schools. She retired from Learn-AT in April 2024.

Stef said:

‘I am very proud to have played my part in primary education and in Learn-AT’s story. It was a privilege and a pleasure to work with the most fantastic team of trustees and colleagues, who continue the important work of building a brilliant organisation of integrity, with strong values founded on learning and fellowship. Their professionalism and commitment make a difference to children’s futures. I am truly delighted to have been nominated for this honour, and I thank everyone who has supported me.’ 

Jeremy Benson, Learn-AT Chair of Trustees, said:

‘Everyone who knows Stef and what she has done for education will have been thrilled to learn of her much-deserved honour. Her commitment, compassion and integrity come through in everything she does, and were an essential part of building Learn-AT into the force for good it is today. She never forgot that children and learning were at the centre of our mission. On behalf of Learn-AT's Trustees and staff, I’d like to offer Stef my warmest congratulations.'