Mark Stanyer is Regional Executive Principal for Ormiston Academies Trust (OAT) and a board member of the Stoke-on-Trent Opportunity Area.
Mark has spent almost 40 years teaching at and leading schools across Stoke-on-Trent and the wider region, helping to shape the future of tens of thousands of young people along the way. His first job was at Blurton High School in 1983, as a maths teacher. Mark stayed at the school for 18 years, rising to head of maths, before leaving to become Deputy Head at Longton High School, which later merged with Sandon High School.
After three years, he got his first headship, at Victoria Community Technology School, in Crewe, which later became Sir William Stanier School. Given three years to improve or face closure, under Mark’s leadership the school was named as one of the top 3 most improved in the country in terms of GCSE results. Six-and-half years later, Mark was headhunted for the Principal position at what was formerly Blurton High School but had since gained academy status and been renamed to Ormiston Sir Stanley Matthews Academy (OSSMA).
The opportunity to return to his hometown of Stoke-on-Trent and teach the children of his former pupils at Blurton High School from the 1980s and 90s was too good to pass-up, so Mark took the job in 2010. In 2013, the school’s Ofsted inspection gave a rating of “Good” with “Outstanding” features, making OSSMA the first non-selective school in the city to get the highest grade for leadership and management at secondary level. Following his success at the school, Mark was one of only two secondary headteachers in Stoke-on-Trent to receive a National Leader in Education award.
During this time, Mark also worked on the OSSMA School Centred Initial Teaching Training (SCITT) programme, which aimed to train and retain over 100 teachers for schools in the region. After receiving a “Requires Improvement” from Ofsted in 2014, Mark helped steer the SCITT to “Outstanding” – ensuring it was one of the highest ranked in the country.
Then, in 2021, Mark became Regional Executive Principal for Ormiston Academies Trust (OAT), responsible for five schools in the north of Staffordshire. He also joined the board of the Stoke-on-Trent Opportunity Area, which is chaired by Staffordshire University’s former Vice Chancellor Professor Liz Barnes CBE DL and honorary graduate Carol Shanahan OBE.
The Award of Honorary Doctor of Staffordshire University is bestowed upon Mark for his outstanding contribution to education across Stoke-on-Trent and the wider region during his almost 40-year long teaching career.