Nicola West Jones

What are you passionate about?

As someone who was the first in my immediate family to go to university, I am passionate about ensuring that pupils without financial resources, social/cultural capital or connections, get to reach their full potential. Despite following a conventional academic route myself, I’m also passionate about supporting children and young people whose talents lie in other areas - my highly creative dyslexic daughter is a great source of inspiration.

What are your greatest accomplishments?

I previously ran a national programme which over time matched 8,000 state school headteachers with a business leader from the corporate sector for a year-long partnership - I like to think that a lot of mutual learning and long-lasting connections happened through that initiative. I’m also proud to have been part of The Key Group’s journey, joining in 2009 when it was a tiny start-up, and seeing its brands become loved by the people doing the most important job in the country - our amazing school leaders.

What do you love most about being part of The Key Group?

We never rest - there are always new problems to solve. I love that our teams are constantly innovating to ensure that schools become even better places to work and learn.

What else should we know about you?

I’ve worked in many settings: corporate, charity, start-up, international, as well as briefly teaching - the latter was by far the most challenging and I have a huge professional respect for teachers as a result.

I’ve been a school governor since 2009, and since 2016 have been vice chair at a maintained primary in south London. I’m proud to have been part of the team that recruited an excellent headteacher during the challenges of Covid.