1. Christine Bayliss
5a Channel View, Bexhill on sea. TN40 1JT
Phone 01424 218250 : Mobile 07904 953 255 : Email christinebayliss1@btinternet.com
Profile
Christine is a committed and passionate advocate of lifelong education. She brings a breadth of political
experience and delivery knowhow to any issue or role. She has worked for the Labour and coalition governments
as well as Manchester City Council and the BIG Lottery.
Christine is an expert on:
 Public sector management;
 How to establish good and outstanding free schools;
 Effective governance arrangements for schools, academies and multi-academy trusts;
 Academy and free school funding; and
 Regional School Commissioners and new accountability regimes.
Endorsements
 Christine clearly has a great deal of experience in the free school and academies sector. She has strong
interpersonal skills, is very good with a wide range of people. She is determined, purposeful, competent
and focused. Christine is good at ‘translating’ the department’s methods and culture and ways of working
to outsiders like us. She set out very clearly the various hurdles and objectives and was supportive
towards our journey to open Trinity Academy. Dennis Sewell – Chair of Governors Trinity Academy
Lambeth
 Christine is highly organised and efficient. Her experience of working at high levels of influence nationally
and locally has given Christine insight into process and procedure that will move policy into practice. She
is able to cut through complex issues and chart a strategic direction. In doing so she brings people with
her and enables them to see what is possible, being a professional ally for school leaders facing new
challenges. Mick Waters, Professor of Education at Wolverhampton University
Skills
Strategic Planning : Leadership of small and large teams : Programme and project management : Risk analysis
and mitigation : Delivery - School improvement programmes, free school projects, consultations : Training and
coaching : Communications - Key speaker, workshop facilitation, reports and pamphlets
Experience
Assistant Director – Head of free school preopening South East and South London June 2013 – June 2015
Leadership of a team of civil servants, which opened more than 30 free, schools in 2013 and 2014 and worked to
open 10 schools in 2015.
 Work involved direct interaction with government Ministers, problem solving, brokerage, stakeholder
management and strategic programme management.
 Effective coordination of the relationship between the Free Schools Group in the Department of Education
and Dominic Herrington, the South East South London Regional Schools Commissioner.
Assistant Director – Head of Academy Funding April 2010 – June 2013
Developed finance policies and built funding systems to ensure the success of the expansion of the Academy
programme as set out in the coalition agreement.

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 Developed interim free school funding model. A simple but effective formula designed and agreed by
Government ministers, it enabled proposer groups to make early viability judgments with confidence
about eventual budgets.
 New funding systems developed and put in place to fund Converter academies from September 2010.
 Led early negotiations with YPLA (now EFA) to ensure sufficient resources to implement Converter
Academy programme and Free Schools.
 Planned Unit input to Spending Review and subsequent work to ensure that there was funding to cover
the costs of the programme and expansion into new areas to 2013.
 Built new finance unit with responsibility for policy on Local Government pension scheme, PFI
conversions as well as funding policy for academies and free schools.
Change and Strategy Adviser – BIG Lottery Fund April 2009 – April 2010
Led on embedding new ways of working so that the organisation could maximise its’ return on investment in new
grant management systems.
 Developed an innovative ‘culture change’ approach to change management for BIG to help grant making
staff move from a ‘top down management’ culture with rule books and checks to one based on a clear
framework but with room for discretion.
The approach adopted included a communications strategy as well as workshops for staff involved in
grant making. Progress was measured by use of the staff engagement index in the annual staff survey
with dipstick interim surveys to plot progress.
 Led on embedding the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) standard within the
organisation with the objective of lifting BIG Lottery Fund from a three star to four star rating. Work
involved using the standard planning tools to plan the work.
Introduced a new inclusive approach to evidence gathering where managers took responsibility for
selecting their own evidence. I trained ‘EFQM Champions’ to promote the benefits of the management
tools so that there was a consistent approach across the organisation. The impact of my work and
leadership was for The BIG Lottery Fund to achieve four-star status.
Assistant Director – Public Service Agreement Board Management Team 2008 - 2009
Led on setting up effective systems to manage the Board's work on targets to raise achievement and narrow the
achievement gap. Key achievements were:
 Ensuring that the strategic conversation was right by organising effective and fit for purpose meetings;
 Took responsibility for managing policy teams’ input to the Local Authority Agreement process so that key
PSA targets were reflected at local level; and
 Led the rewrite of the Delivery Agreement with HM Treasury so that it is fit for purpose and has ministerial
approval.
Team Leader - Head of the Keys to Success - London Challenge 2006 - 2008
 Strategic leadership of a team of civil servants and a larger team of high profile advisers to successfully
deliver a multi million pound school improvement programme.
 Worked through others (for example, Learning and Skills Council officials) to ensure that London was at
the forefront of 14 -19 reform. Brokered two high level projects with 6 local authorities to develop and
promote innovative employer engagement experiences for Diploma students; and
 As lead for ‘Project Management’ within the unit, developed new reporting arrangements for the Unit and
with the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit (PMDU).
Team Leader. Schools Standards Group (SSG) Central Business Team 2004 – 2006
 Delivered efficient Central Business Team Services to just over 400 staff. Devised and delivered a
strategy which achieved objectives around: creating a shared sense of purpose; implementing the
‘Change Agenda’ and making the group a rewarding and exciting place to work.

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 Created a flexible working scheme with financial incentives. This delivered a range of products including
guidance for local authorities as well as a series of national conferences. This innovation has since been
scaled up to a departmental scheme, which offers staff ‘Instant Rewards’ for exceptional customer service
or effort.
Assistant Chief Education Officer – Manchester City Council (secondment) 2003 - 2004
 Developed a new three-year strategic plan for education in the city 2004 – 2007 ‘High Standards for All’.
Work involved drawing up and delivering a high-level stakeholder and community consultation; analysis of
the outcomes to develop strategic objectives; and steering the final report through the political process so
that it was adopted as official council policy.
 Chaired the education committee for ‘Agenda 2010’ – the city council’s programme to achieve key targets
(including education targets) for reducing racial inequalities. Work involved forming links with key
stakeholders from Manchester’s diverse communities; influencing deliverers; and representing the city
council at key conferences and events. The impact of this work helped delivered projects like ‘Food for
Thought’ where relationships I’d developed with a leader from the British/Pakistani community led to
GCSE revision classes in a restaurant on Manchester’s famous ‘curry mile’.
Education
London School of Economics – BSc Social Policy and Administration 2:1 1996 - 1999
Other relevant experience
Chair of Governors Sidley Community Primary School (now Glenleigh Park Academy) 2005 – 2011
Elected member of Rother District Council 1989 – 1996
Sussex Police Officer 1978 - 1987