John Kendall

Project, Programme and Portfolio management

Bramley, England, United Kingdom

About

An engaging professional with experience of leadership across the heritage, charity and education sectors. My approach is founded on building strong relationships, planning, communication and reflection. Currently, I am working to deliver inspiring and engaging events for colleagues in Visitor Experience, and supporting seasonal programming across the National Trust, as part of the National Programming and Production Team. I am passionate about engaging people, developing effective teams and creating exciting and engaging opportunities for all.

Experience

  • PMO Officer at English Heritage
    Aug 2025 - Present · 1 yr

  • National Trust (Full-time · 2 yrs 10 mos)
    • Project Officer - Communications and Engagement
      Aug 2024 - Aug 2025 · 1 yr 1 mo

      I lead the Communication and Engagement Workstream for the National Programming and Production Team. I am responsible for planning and strategising for comms best practice, guiding and co-ordinating our comms activity, and developing and evaluating our approach to ensure consistent, effective and connected comms and engagement for our audiences and our team.

    • Project Officer
      Dec 2023 - Aug 2025 · 1 yr 9 mos

      Working as part of the National Programming and Production Team to support project work across the Trust, including VE Network events and seasonal programming.

    • Senior Visit Experience Officer
      Nov 2022 - Dec 2023 · 1 yr 2 mos

      Leading a team of staff and volunteers to deliver outstanding and inspirational experiences across the Thames Valley Portfolio.

  • Ufton Court Educational Trust (Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom)
    • History Manager
      Jan 2018 - Nov 2022 · 4 yrs 11 mos

      Leading a diverse team of education professionals to design, deliver and evaluate challenging and inspirational learning outside the classroom. Using drama, immersion and our ever-evolving pedagogy, we aim to ignite children's passion for History and learning. This role entails taking responsibility for the entire History provision, driving improvements through evaluation and evidenced-based practice, leading a team of professionals, managing a budget and building strong relationships with schools to ensure that we deliver memorable and exciting experiences for every child who visits us.

    • History Leader
      Jan 2017 - Jan 2018 · 1 yr 1 mo

      Enriching children's lives through inspiring and engaging experiences.

  • Hillside Primary School (6 yrs 4 mos)
    • Deputy Headteacher
      May 2014 - Dec 2016 · 2 yrs 8 mos

      The requirements of this role were extremely varied and often challenging. Effective communication with all stakeholders (pupils, staff, parents, governors and outside agencies) was hugely important. Aside from communication skills, I further developed my ability to plan and prioritise and to lead. I extended my knowledge of pedagogical approaches, and deepened my understanding of what makes teaching effective and engaging. For example, I have been instrumental in developing a ‘house’ set of pedagogies, which focussed on effective questioning, learner engagement, and active learning. I have continued to lead History, Geography and Music in school, and hone these curricula. I have completed Level Three Safeguarding training, and was Deputy Designated Person.

    • Class Teacher
      Sep 2010 - Apr 2014 · 3 yrs 8 mos

      In my roles as a class teacher, I have taught across the Primary age range, in Years 2, 3, 5 and 6. Throughout this time I have developed my own teaching style, centred on building a strong rapport with the children, mutual respect and humour. Alongside this, I have a highly developed ability to plan and teach lessons and sequences of lessons that are, above all, engaging, inclusive and exciting for all children, placing emphasis on active learning and collaboration. I have consistently been appraised as delivering Good and Outstanding teaching. Like most successful teachers, I am flexible, and always ready to adapt and innovate my practice in the name of continual improvement. Besides my classroom practice, I have also led many subjects, most recently History, Geography and Music, as well as Reading and Phonics. The launch of the 2014 Primary Curriculum gave me the opportunity to completely redesign the History and Geography curricula in school making sure that, not only were the requirements of the curriculum met, but that they were brought to life to craft our own inspiring, exciting and engaging curriculum.