Amanda Wilson

With over 25 years of experience in the fields of training and leadership development in both the retail and education sectors I know my stuff. My leadership career began when I worked for a bookshop chain in central London, working my way up to the role of store manager at branches in Baker Street, Earls Court and Holborn at the age of 20. This was followed by a period working as a training manager for Tesco at their first central London store on Oxford Street. My success in this role led to me being seconded to support the opening of Tesco’s flagship store in Kensington, where I helped to lead the recruitment and training of all new staff in preparation for the store’s launch. In 1999 I entered the education sector. I started as a volunteer in a pre-school, then secured a job as a Learning Support Assistant and eventually retrained as a class teacher. In my second year of teaching I took on a curriculum leadership role, which at the time was an unusual move for a new teacher. I’ve spent the last 19 years developing my career and I’m currently the headteacher of a primary school in south London. In 2014 I set up my own publishing company 9:10 Publishing. This was born out of an observation that there were very few books for young black people which were written from a black British perspective. Rather than rely on traditional publishing houses to take up my ideas, I looked into what was required to do it myself. As a result Letters to a Young Generation was born. The first book was aimed at boys and in 2016 I published another edition for girls. Visit the 9:10 Publishing website to find out more. I have a Post Graduate Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring Practice from Oxford Brookes University, where I am also a member of their Coaching and Mentoring Society. I’m a professional member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). I write regularly for TES and have delivered training as part of Teach First’s NPQ programme.