Paula Williams – Governor (Hilltop Chair of Governors)

Paula has worked within inclusion and special educational needs for over 30 years including as a mainstream teacher and a specialist teacher. Her most recent roles have been in the strategic leadership of local authority SEND services and provision and she brings a wealth of experience to support the work of the governing body. Paula is highly committed to children and young people with additional needs becoming successful and happy adults leading successful and happy lives.

Sharon Biggin - Finance Governor

Sharon has worked with young people and within communities for the last 30 years in youth centres and as part of a detached team in different areas of Rotherham.

Part of her role is encouraging participation of young people in projects and activities, offering new experiences and empowering young people to grow into confident members of the community in which they live.

 She has developed a range of positive links and partnerships within the community and has attended the Youth Taskforce Conference to give a presentation around partnership work as a part of the Safer Neighbourhoods Team. 

Sharon currently works with young people to build their confidence, self-esteem and social skills in different areas of Rotherham. 

Sacha Schofield - Headteacher

Sacha is Executive Regional Director at Nexus Multi Academy Trust and Interim Headteacher at Hilltop School. Prior to her appointment at Nexus, she was employed in a number of leadership and headteacher roles in special schools across Derbyshire and Sheffield. Sacha was Headteacher of Becton School where she developed new provision in the form of the Kenwood School and consolidated and reshaped the Sheffield Hospital Outreach Service. Sacha subsequently became Headteacher at Rowan Special School and then moved to become Executive Headteacher at Bents Green Special School in Sheffield. Sacha has a successful record of school improvement, securing Outstanding judgements at both Becton and Rowan School, and was awarded NLE status in 2017. She also has a Masters in Education of Children and Young People with Autism.

Zara joined the Hilltop team in 2021 and is currently Assistant Head and an Early Years Teacher. She trained to teach at Trinity and All Saints University in Leeds, where she graduated with BA Hons in Education with Sports Studies and QTS. Prior to joining Hilltop, Zara has worked in mainstream Primaries. Her last post was as a SENDCo and nursery teacher. Special needs education has always been a passion throughout her training and teaching career. 

There has always been a genuine interest in Hilltop as her Auntie attended here, along with one of her close friends from Primary School. Working at our school, she feels is a great privilege to be part of our family's journey through education.

Ruth Milburn – Governor​

Ruth is a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist with significant experience working with children with a range of Speech, Language and Communication needs between the ages of 1-18. Prior to training as a Speech and Language Therapist Ruth worked as a Learning Support Assistant for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties.

​Having worked as a Speech and Language Therapist for the NHS in both London and Yorkshire, Ruth currently runs a small private practice.

Sandra Rosado - Parent Governor

Sandra works for the Telecommunications company O2 Telefonica as a 2nd  Line technical Guru.

She is the proud mom of two, one which is a pupil at Hilltop School. Her studies were in Curative Psychopedagogy and although she hasn't used much professional it now really helps her a lot when she works with her son on his development. She would love to use that knowledge to work with the school on teaching and learning development. 

​She is also passionate about new technology and considers herself, proudly, a bit of a geek although she is a firm believer that technology has it's time and place and it can be useful  but shouldn't never rule our way of life.

Fiona Featherstone - Community Governor

Fiona has nearly 40 years of experience working in Careers, Connexions and SEN in Rotherham. Originally set up Parent Partnership in 1994 and also managed the Connexions service.

Fiona retired in 2021 from being a manager in the EHC Team. She is looking forward to bringing her own experience to challenge and support the school to do the best for children, families and staff.

Enjoys working with people, is a good listener and is excited to be part of the Hilltop team.