Andrew Morrish

Until he started his own company in 2020, Andrew had turned up at school pretty much every day of his life.

In the beginning, it was at a school on the Kent coast, until he left home for Liverpool to train as a primary PE teacher (and more importantly, to stand on The Kop). For several years, Andrew was a committee member of the Liverpool Schools' Football Association, and coached at Everton Academy. Having gained his first-class B.Ed (hons) and M.Ed in leadership, it wasn’t long before Andrew become a headteacher in London, at one of the largest primary schools in the country, in East London, with over 1000 pupils. In 2005, Andrew became one of the first headteachers to be awarded Chartered Urban Leader status by the then National College for School Leadership.

During his time in London, Andrew had a spell as LA Consultant Adviser for school self-evaluation, whilst at the same time working with the DfE on their New Relationship With Schools programme, exploring ways of simplifying accountability (it didn't work). Andrew was also Treasurer of his NAHT branch, responsible amongst other things for organising their annual Headteacher conference at the Excel Arena, London Docklands. 

Having led the school to outstanding (to modest national acclaim), Andrew and his young family moved to rural Shropshire. His new school (just outside Birmingham) went from special measures to outstanding in exactly one thousand days, and was a finalist for the prestigious TES School of the Year Awards. As the LA’s first primary school to convert to an academy in 2012, Andrew lost no time in building it into a flagship primary-only multi-academy trust, award-winning social enterprise and DfE sponsor (again, to national acclaim). As chief exec, Andrew also established a successful MAT-based SCITT that delivered School-Centred Initial Teacher Training, awarding QTS and a PGCE at Masters level for dozens of new teachers. As a founder trust CEO, this remains an achievement he will always be immensely proud of. 

Andrew is a facilitator on the NPQEL, an NPQH assessor and leadership performance coach across the National Professional Qualifications for Best Practice Network. More recently, Andrew co-founded Headrest, a free telephone wellbeing support service for headteachers. He is also one of the collaborators on Myatt & Co and has written The Leadership Lobby course with Mary Myatt.

Andrew has served as a Chair of Governors of a small rural village school, a trustee of the MAT it eventually joined (in Shropshire), a National Leader of Education and Ofsted inspector. In 2023 he will be part of the NEU's 'expert panel' chaired by Lord Jim Knight, tasked with the job of creating an intelligent alternative to Ofsted. As CEO, Andrew was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Society for Arts (FRSA) as well as Membership of the Institute of Directors (MIoD). Andrew was also a Registered Lecturer at the University of Birmingham and is a founding member of the Chartered College of Teaching (MCCT). For several years, Andrew chaired a regional Arts Council strategic advisory body, part of the University of Wolverhampton, responsible for the arts offer across the West Midlands.

Andrew is a sought-after key note speaker having presented at events as far afield as Sydney, Australia. He has spoken on the main stage at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Birmingham for both the SSAT and NAHT/ASCL Inspiring Leadership Conference. He's also spoken at the Wellington Festival, BETT show and in 2023 the World Education Summit. 

Andrew has written a number of articles for the Times Education Supplement (TES) and Guardian, and more recently a research article in the Chartered College's Impact. Andrew is the author of The Art of Standing Out, and has contributed to several other bestselling leadership and education books. His new book, The Authentic Leader is out now from Bloomsbury (October 2022). 

Andrew now brings all this experience to Makana Leadership in the hope that he will continue to make a difference to people’s lives.

Associate Consultants

As a small company, we are able to draw on the expertise of a number of trusted associates who can deliver our services on our behalf. These include serving executive headteachers and trust CEOs, as well as education consultants, most of whom are former system leaders. 

We are always keen to work with new associates, so if you think you have something to offer that is wholesome, purposeful and worthwhile, then please get in touch. We'd love to hear from you.