Aaron Ellis

Aaron is Assistant Headteacher at the largest special school in the UK, Ysgol y Deri. Prior to this role, Aaron has held positions as Deputy Headteacher at Riverbank Special School in Cardiff and Assistant Headteacher at Woodlands High School.  

Aaron is an experienced, aspirational and forward-thinking senior leader that has a proven track record of contributing towards continuous school improvement and creating/leading a culture of excellence, across four special education settings spanning two local authorities.  

Aaron receives a great deal of his own professional development from the wider learning system. Networks that he is involved with include; Paul Dix PBS Group, TIS Reflective Supervision Network, Foundation for Family/Community Engagement steering group, Continua steering Group and the South Wales Cross Consortium Special Schools Evaluation and Improvement Network. Aaron has also undertaken a lot of work with both Open University and Cardiff Metropolitan University, aiming to develop the partnership between the Special Education sector and local ITE programmes. 

Aaron is married and has two beautiful children aged 3 and 4 years old. He enjoys nothing more than spending valuable time with the family and their favourite things to do are, visiting their holiday lodge in Pembrokeshire, going swimming and watching shows.  

Aaron is also a very keen sportsman, and has gained representational honours.   

Aaron thoroughly enjoys going to work and is grateful to have opted for a career in special education. He believes that we all have an ‘ability’ and it is our role as facilitators to unlock and develop it. 

“Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing it is stupid’.  

Aaron is excited by the prospect of connecting with other leaders from around the country and values the strength of networking. He was attracted to the role of Associate to the National Academy for Educational Leadership as he has a passion for coaching/growing prospective and current leaders. He also thrives from professional learning and is very system minded. All these traits should lend themselves well to this role.