Senior leadership team
David Bertwistle
Executive Headteacher
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.
Paul Brown
Deputy Executive Headteacher
Paul has 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.