'I starred in Educating Yorkshire - now I'm the new headteacher at a gem of a school'

A familiar face from Educating Yorkshire has taken charge of a school, bringing a fresh set of values and a determination to give back to the neighbourhood where she grew up.

Whitcliffe Mount Academy has welcomed Zoe Ali as its new headteacher, with the school moving quickly into the new academic year after her appointment in June.

For Mrs Ali, who has been in teaching for 19 years, the post marks a rapid climb through education.

The 40-year-old began as a business studies teacher, later became a head of year and then moved into senior leadership, spending four years at Thornhill Community Academy as deputy head.

Her time at Thornhill coincided with the return of the Channel 4 cameras for another series of Educating Yorkshire, which aired this time last year.

“What an experience it was,” Mrs Ali said. “To have been a part of that second series was really enjoyable.

“What I loved about it the most was that it didn’t put any airs and graces on. It was a factual account of what it is like to work in a secondary school in 2026 and what it is like to be a teenager in 2026. It just felt really real.

“But when I went for that job initially it had not even registered in my mind that it was the school from Educating Yorkshire 13 years ago.

“It was only when I sat there on my interview morning and Matt Burton walked in to greet all the candidates that I thought he was familiar. It suddenly clicked!”

Thornhill and Whitcliffe are both part of the SHARE Multi-Academy Trust, so her links with Mr Burton and former colleagues are set to continue.

Mrs Ali, who was brought up in the local area and still lives nearby, said leaving Thornhill had not been easy, but the new role was one she could not pass up.

“I absolutely adored my time at Thornhill,” she said. “But when this opportunity came up, I couldn’t miss out on it. Whitcliffe is a gem of a school. I was born and bred around here, and I still live in the local area.

“It is a community which has always served me really well so it is really important to me that I now give back to the community that I am from. That is why this school feels so special to me.”

She added: “We are working together and there will always be a healthy competitiveness. We have started this year at Whitcliffe with incredible attendance and Thornhill colleagues have called to say ‘you are doing a great job’ and to keep it up.”

At the centre of her approach is a belief that schools should do more than deliver results. At Whitcliffe, she and her team have adopted the values: Work hard, Model kindness and Aim high.

“We serve brilliant young people,” she said. “Being a headteacher is a really demanding job as you try to be all things to all people, and you go from dealing with curriculum conversations one minute to a pastoral one the next. You are constantly changing hats throughout the day.

“But what makes you keep coming back is the young people. They are brilliant. No two days are ever the same and you cannot predict what is going to happen. The students here have made me feel so welcome and I love going into classrooms throughout the day seeing the hard work that is going on.

“The staff have also made me feel incredibly welcome. It really is an exciting time to be at Whitcliffe.”