Senior Leadership Team (ID 1098)

• David Bertwistle
  Executive Headteacher/Designated Safeguarding Lead - Rake
  David Bertwistle

  Responsible for overall leadership at all three schools and particularly for teaching and learning, as well as for working with the governors on vision & strategy, finance and policy. David was previously headteacher at Rake for 9 years, where he saved the school from closure, taking it from 42 to over 100 pupils by making it the local school of choice. He has mentored other headteachers on behalf of the local authority and was the natural choice for the governors at Rogate, and then at Compton when their schools were threatened with closure following poor Ofsted reports and the resulting loss of confidence from their local communities. In both cases, he has reversed the downward spiral and restored local confidence in their village schools.

  dbertwistle@dvsf.w-sussex.sch.uk

• Paul Brown
  Deputy Executive Headteacher/Head of School-Rogate/Designated Safeguarding Lead
  Paul Brown

  Paul worked as an ambulance medic in central London from 1985 until 2001 and, in 2004, retrained as a teacher. He worked at Rake School since 2010, first as the year five and six class teacher, and then as Senior Teacher. Since 2018, he has been Deputy Executive Headteacher across the Downland Village Schools Federation. His duties include responsibility for data and assessment, GDPR, Forest School, safeguarding, Sports Premium spending, off-site visits and outdoor learning. Paul has also been Head of School at Rogate since September 2023.

  DeputyExec@dvsf.w-sussex.sch.uk

• Richard Christmas
  Head of School - Compton/Designated Safeguarding Lead
  Richard Christmas

• Siobhan Silk
  Inclusion Coordinator
  Siobhan Silk

• Maddy Child
  Head of School - Rake (starting 22/04/2025)
  Maddy Child