Staff

At Drumbeat we are very fortunate to have an eclectic blend of staff with a range of talents, skills, expertise and experience all working together seamlessly to deliver a high quality education for pupils with Autism.

We have a leadership team made up of 8 members:

  • Marie Neave

    Executive Headteacher

    Marie has been teaching for over 35 years. She started her career in London teaching history to secondary students. Marie then moved to Kent and taught in both secondaries and a pupil referral unit. She has been a headteacher in Bromley of a large PRU and then started her own business and worked over several educational settings but mainly Kent county council where she was an senior improvement adviser. However Marie missed being in a school and decided to become the Head of Drumbeat. Since then she has been proud to lead such an exceptional school with such wonderful students. Marie looks forward to continuing working in such an exciting and dynamic environment.

  • Katie Denton

    Head of school (Downham)

    ​Katie has been at Drumbeat since it first opened in 2012 and was a founding member of the Senior Leadership Team. She is passionate about working with children and young people with additional needs and has always thought of it as a vocation rather than a job. Before joining Drumbeat Katie spent 8 years at a special school for children with Severe Learning Difficulties, including those on the Autistic Spectrum, and during that time progressed to Head of 6th Form. Katie has a Masters degree in Special and Inclusive Education from the Institute of Education as well as an advanced certificate in Evidence based psychological treatments from the University of Reading, she also has the NPQH. Katie has worked across Drumbeat and with the Outreach Team, she is currently based at the Downham site working with Primary and KS3.

  • Denise Gallagher

    Head of school (Brockley)

    Denise is Head of school for our Brockley site and currently oversees Key Stage 4 and 6th form. Denise has extensive experience teaching children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and other complex needs. Prior to working at Drumbeat, she set up and led the ASD Outreach advisory service for Lewisham, where she supported children and their families within mainstream settings.

  • Bryony Bowen

    Deputy Headteacher

    Bryony has been at Drumbeat school since it's opening in 2012. She began as a class teacher at Drumbeat with responsibility for Maths across the school. She then went on to lead the KS3 department and most recently has worked across the Downham and Brockley site as Assistant Headteacher. Bryony has enjoyed working across all age ranges at Drumbeat and is passionate about placing future life outcomes at every stage of a child's learning. Bryony is currently based at the Drumbeat Downham site 3 days a week and the new Drumbeat Turnham site 2 days a week.

  • Richard Gillings

    Assistant Headteacher

    Richard has worked at Drumbeat School for over 6 years now working with a broad range of children with a diagnosis of autism. Prior to starting at Drumbeat school Richard has worked in a range of different educational settings including mainstream primary, PMLD, SEMH and pupil referral units. Richard is based at Brockley campus working with KS4 and 6th form and is passionate about developing strong working relationships with the children he teaches and their families. Richard is particularly interested in active learning and has led on a number of initiatives over the years including Sherborne developmental movement and Duke of Edinburgh.

  • Marina Olympidis-Slattery

    Assistant Headteacher

    Marina has been a teacher for over 23 years. She has worked both within mainstream as well as special needs settings. Marina has developed extensive experience within the EYFS, primary as well as autism over this time; working in Ireland, Kent as well as London. Whilst working in Ireland Marina gained her Masters in Autism and set up a Junior ASD class within an expanding school. Whilst in London Marina also led ASD provision within a mainstream infant school.
    When back in the UK, Marina managed a mainstream nursery but found that she was missing working with children with more significant needs and wanted to get back into a more specialised environment.
    Marina has been working at Drumbeat School for over 6 years, as a class teacher, EYFS lead as well as developing her leadership skills further by completing her NPQML before taking the position of Assistant Headteacher. She loves the day-to-day interaction with the children as well as parents and feels strongly that home/school communication is key to making each pupil reach their full potential.

  • Rebecca Day

    Assistant Headteacher

    Becca has been at Drumbeat school since 2016 and has worked in a range of roles throughout the school. She began as a class teacher at Drumbeat with responsibility for Maths across the school. She then went on to be a lead teacher in KS3 department. Most recently Rebecca has worked across the Downham site as Teaching and Learning lead. Rebecca is passionate about supporting children’s independence and social understanding to prepare them for life beyond Drumbeat. She has worked closely with Denise Gallagher to develop Drumbeat’s careers offer. She is currently completing her NPQSL and is based at the Drumbeat Downham and Turnham site.

  • Charlotte Finch

    School Business Director

    Charlotte has extensive leadership and management experience both in an educational and a commercial setting. Prior to working in education Charlotte worked in internal management accounting for a large professional services firm in the City for 16 years. Charlotte began to work in the education sector in 2017 and has experienced a variety of roles throughout her 5-year career in education, starting with a Finance and HR Officer role then quickly moving up to be their Operations Manager. Charlotte secured the role of Director of Resource of a 1 locally maintained school in Lewisham in October 2019.

    Charlotte joined Drumbeat in the summer of 2022 and is committed to the principles of lifelong learning and supporting the education sector in providing an excellent education for all students. Charlotte is based across all of our sites.
Drumbeat believes that staff are our greatest resource in supporting our children and young people with Autism. All staff receive a robust training program and are encouraged to look for opportunities to expand their own continuing professional development. All staff at Drumbeat are trained and accredited to Level 2 by the Autism Education Trust.
 
Middle Leaders
We have a middle leadership team of 7 expert teachers. This consists of two teaching and learning leads, one on each of our sites. Three pathway leads, a lead for English. 
 
Teachers
We have a Teaching Team of 27, with each and every one bringing a range of skills and experience to the classroom. Eight of our staff have studied autism and special educational needs at a higher level and hold Masters qualifications in these areas. 
 
 
Support Staff 
 
In every class at Drumbeat we have 2-4 teaching assistants who support the learning of pupils within a particular group. Our TAs are highly skilled at supporting the learning and individual needs of pupils.  
 
Instructors 
 
We have a strong team of Instructors working across the school. They perform a range of key roles, including supporting teaching in classes, leading on delivering specific projects and subject specific qualifications. Instructors also lead on supporting and nurturing Teaching Assistants when they are new to the Drumbeat team.
 
 
Therapists 
 
As a school we employ our own team of Therapists to work integrally across the school with pupils and staff. As a result we have developed a very successful format of trans-disciplinary working where the therapy often takes place in the classroom with staff learning from one another. This in turn means that the impact of the therapeutic approach stays in the classroom long after the therapist has left, having a far-reaching affect.
 
Check out our Therapy pages.
 


Drumbeat is supported by an Office Team
  • Karen Peachey/ Donna Gale/ Kerisha Philbert - School Receptionist
  • Nicola Cowan -  Finance administrator  
  • Nicola Allen - School Administrator
  • Hendrina Smith - PA to the Executive Headteacher
  • Alex Cronin: Outreach 
  • HR administrator  
 
 
 
 
We have a Premises Manager, Andrew Porter at Drumbeat Brockley.

In addition to our large school based staff team we also have an Outreach Team working in schools across Lewisham. The team is based at the Drumbeat Downham site and is led by Sonia Gannon, Lead Outreach Teacher. In the Schools Team there are 3 teachers and 3 co-ordinators, in the Early Years Team there is 1 teacher and 2 co-ordinators.

Check out our Outreach pages.