The Schoolzone management team

Claire Barnes: Research manager

Until 2010 Claire was a brand manager for the multi-million pound primary portfolio of a major UK educational publisher. Her degree is in Marketing and she has extensive experience in this field and in market research.

Claire has an excellent understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing publishers of literacy resources in the primary sector: both online and print. Her ten years experience in educational publishing have given Claire a thorough commercial background to her research activities.

Contact Claire if you are interested in research associated particularly with branding.

Email Claire

Melissa Mackinlay: Director

Melissa worked in educational publishing for 12 years as a product development manager and provided independent research and advice for major educational publishers prior to joining Schoolzone in 2006. This has allowed her to develop a thorough insight into the issues and challenges facing the education industry, as well as an excellent awareness of the products and services available to schools.

Melissa is well placed to advise clients on how they can maximise their research budget to inform their business decisions and is happy to visit potential clients to chat about their business strategy, issues in the market place, and offer a free consultation with no obligation to place an order.

Contact Melissa if you would like to discuss your research needs - at whatever stage you may be at in thinking about them.

Email Melissa

Nick Baldwin: Data manager

Nicholas Baldwin is responsible for numerical data analysis and creation of online research tools. He graduated from the University of Exeter with a Master of Mathematics in June 2000. Since then he has worked as a Multimedia Developer, creating online interactive training courses.

He has also worked as a Research Scientist for QinetiQ, the privatised arm of what was previously DERA, the MoD research establishment and has experience of working on sensitive projects.

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Philip Collie: Managing Director

Philip founded Schoolzone in 1997 after 15 years teaching to senior management level in comprehensive schools. He has also been a governor in a number of schools and is currently Vice-Chair of governors for a very successful comprehensive and link governor for its partner.

Philip’s MA in Education included a dissertation on assessment for learning and in 2000 he undertook the UCE Primary Conversion Course to supplement his secondary based knowledge.

Although Philip's main role at Schoolzone is as MD, he is also very involved with all our research projects and is a full member of the Market Research Society.

Contact Philip about anything: he's always happy to talk about any ideas you might like to explore.

Email Philip

Rachel Preen: Marketing services manager

Rachel's degree and recent MA in psychology have provided her with good preparation for getting to grips with teachers' responses to clients' communications. She not only understands the best way to structure messages, but has a superb understanding of what the metrics mean in a school's context.

Since joining Schoolzone in 2010, Rachel has overhauled Schoolzone's marketing services and has brought the lessons learned from hundreds of marketing research projects to bear on the advice we offer clients.

Contact Rachel if you would like to get your message across to our teacher community.

Email Rachel

Sara Morris: Finance manager

At the same time as being Schoolzone's financial ace, Sara is the Business Manager for a cluster of 40 schools and is a primary school Chair of Governors.

Sara keeps a watchful eye on our accounts and keeps everything moving smoothly in the business.

Contact Sara if you are a teacher chasing payment for a piece of work or if you are a client being chased for payment.

Email Sara