Meet the speakers of NATRE Strictly RE 2025!

We are pleased to have a wide variety of speakers from many parts of the education ecosystem. We want to thank all our speakers for sharing their ideas, wisdom and the immense amount of time they have spent on their contributions. As a teacher organisation, we are particularly proud of the number of practising teachers who speak as part of panels, keynotes, seminars, and staffrooms and share their excellent practice.

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Richard Kueh	Dr Richard Kueh is Director of Strategy & Improvement at the CAM Academy Trust. He also works with RE Today as Consultant Director of Education. Richard was formerly a Senior Civil Servant, as Deputy Director for Schools and Early Education at Ofsted. As HMI for religious education, he also led RE nationally.
Saima Saleh Follow me!	Saima Saleh is a primary RE Subject Leader at Ravenscote Junior School in Surrey. She is also a member of the NATRE executive, where as Local Groups and Networks Lead, she helps teachers of RE to connect through a variety of local, national and global groups. With over 28 years of teaching experience, Saima has a particular interest in anti-racism and strives to raise an awareness of this through her work.
Ian Nicholson Follow me!	Ian is a secondary specialist with experience supporting the development of RE and collective worship in the Primary phase and in Special schools. Prior to joining RE Today, he was a Head of RE in two high schools, an Assistant Headteacher in an 11 - 18 school and Chair of Trafford SACRE for eight years. Ian was also the Cross-Phase RE Adviser and SACRE officer for a large local authority in the North West, which included supporting unitary authorities on the development of Agreed Syllabuses and the statutory work of SACRE.
Joanne Harris Follow me!	Joanne Harris has been a Head of RE for over 20 years in a Lancashire secondary school, having previously taught RE in a variety of schools and areas. She is also the secondary Vice Chair of NATRE. Joanne is an Assistant Headteacher at her school, with a focus on curriculum, assessment and personal development.
Stephen Pett Follow me!	Stephen is a national RE adviser with RE Today. He led the RE Council’s religion and worldviews project and wrote their ‘Handbook for curriculum writers’. He is leading the new RE Today project, Understanding Muslims, Understanding Islam. He writes and edits publications for the classroom, including ‘Talking Pictures’ for 5-7s, ‘Picturing Islam, Picturing Muslims’, ‘The Bible: The Big Story’, and is currently writing materials for the Explaining Atheism public engagement project.
Debbie Yeomans	Debbie is based in the East Midlands and has worked in RE leadership for 15 years. As a school senior leader, she has been responsible for leading on RE and Christian Distinctiveness in her school and has led RE across a multi-academy trust. As a leading RE Teacher for the Diocese of Leicester, leader of NATRE-affiliated local groups and East Midlands RE Hubs Lead, Debbie has used her local influence to inspire and support excellent RE that is both academically rigorous and a vehicle for the development of pupils as critical thinkers. She has served on the NATRE executive, her local SACRE and is an AREIAC officer.
Julie Childs Follow me!	Julie is a National RE Today Adviser and has almost 30 years of teaching experience across the primary phase. She has worked in various settings, including rural, urban, community and Multi-academy Trust schools. Based in the Lincolnshire, she runs a local RE network and serves on her local SACRE, having previously served on both the NATRE Executive and Steering group. Julie has also undertaken a Farmington scholarship and the Culham St Gabriel’s Leadership programme.
Zameer Hussain	Zameer is a secondary school Head of Humanities Faculty and serves on the NATRE Executive Committee. He has various credits as an author and is an experienced public speaker. He provides training for RE teachers, guest lectures at universities and places of worship about religion, appears in the media and participates in interfaith activities.
Lat Blaylock	Lat is a primary and secondary specialist. He is Editor of 'REtoday magazine' and has written many RE resources published by RE Today, including 'Picturing Christianity', 'Big, Big Questions' (a package for music in RE) and 'Spiritual Engagement' (a folder of ideas for 16-19 RE days), as well as contributing to many resources such as Understanding Christianity. He taught RE, Humanities and PSHE in Leicester for eleven years.
Charlotte Newman Follow me!	Charlotte Newman is a Trust Lead for Religious Studies for Archway Learning Trust. She is on the Steering Group for the National Association for Teachers of RE (NATRE) and the Oak Academy Expert Group for RE. She is also a member of Cambridgeshire SACRE and has until recently led an RE local group in the area. She has delivered much CPD on RE nationally.
Angela Hill	Angela has over a decade of experience as an RE teacher, as well as a background in the financial services industry. Angela has extensive knowledge of external examinations in Religious Studies in England in Wales. As well as being a longstanding examiner, she has provided training throughout England for Eduqas and has undertaken extensive consultancy and authorship contracts to support the reformed qualifications.
Jemma Brown Follow me!	Jemma Brown is an experienced RE teacher working for 13 years in inner London schools as a teacher and Head of Department. She is currently a Religious Education Consultant for Harris Federation, a large multi academy trust based in London and Essex. She works with RE teachers at all stages of their careers supporting with professional development, curriculum writing and improving outcomes.
Azaan Akbar Follow me!	Azaan Akbar is a teacher of Religion & Worldviews in Newham, East London. He also works as a consultant in education, leading a network of school councils and Student RE Matters for schools in Newham. He is a debate coach and former Director of Education UK for Debate Mate. He recently published an article for the Journal of Philosophy of Education on curriculum decolonisation, and is developing research on oracy-based interventions in the R&W classroom.
Trevor Cooling	Professor Trevor Cooling was Chair of the RE Council during the period when the REC was developing the Religion and Worldviews (RW) approach. Subsequently he worked with Stephen Pett on the development of the Handbook published in May 2024. Most recently he has worked on the inclusion of an RW approach into the state schools in Australia.
Katie Freeman Follow me!	Katie has been working with Learn, Teach, Lead RE (LTLRE) leading the Plymouth RE hub since area one was first set up and is an SLE with Plymouth Teaching School Alliance. She has worked in both community schools and church schools and is often asked to lead CPD both locally and nationally. Katie regularly speaks at conferences and has a passion for creative RE that helps pupils to dig deeper into concepts. She sits on her local SACRE and is part of the Church of England’s working party for RE.
Paul Hopkins	Paul has been working and teaching in RE for over 30 years. He has worked in all phases of education from Primary to HE and has been, at various times and places a class teacher, subject lead, senior leader, advisor, ITE lead and HE lecturer and researcher. He has published widely in the field of technology enhanced learning and delivered PD both nationally and internationally.
Dr Rachael Jackson-Royal Follow me!	Dr Rachael Jackson-Royal is a head of RS and Teaching and Learning lead at a secondary school in Birmingham. She has been teaching for over 20 years and has written numerous books and articles. She is a member of the NATRE executive where she is the Exams and Higher Education Officer and she also helps support and deliver training to RE teachers.
Angela Doogan	Angela is a teacher at Villa Real, a special school dedicated to providing quality and tailored education for students with severe, profound, medical, and complex learning difficulties from ages 2 to 19. Angela specialises in Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD) and is the subject leader for RE. Collaborating together with Laura Beckham, they led their school to become a SAPERE Silver P4C School in July 2024.
Laura Beckham	Laura is a teacher at Villa Real, a special school dedicated to providing quality and tailored education for students with severe, profound, medical, and complex learning difficulties from ages 2 to 19. Laura is a science specialist with an interest in metacognitive and inclusive approaches to education. Collaborating together with Angela Doogan, they led their school to become a SAPERE Silver P4C School in July 2024.
Deborah Weston Follow me!	Deborah Weston is an experienced RE teacher and trainer who worked in a large inner city comprehensive school as Director of SMSC and teacher of Religious Education. She is a member of the national executive of NATRE and member of the Board of the Religious Education Council. Deborah advises three local authorities on Religious Education on a regular basis; supporting their Standing Advisory Councils and classroom practitioners as well as middle and senior leaders. She was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list of 2016.