Leadership Team

Dr Tim Mills is Executive Director of Primary Education at STEP Academy Trust and Benedict Academy falls in his Trust portfolio of schools. He joined STEP in 2014 and led Angel Oak Academy and David Livingstone Academy to ‘outstanding’ OFSTED judgements and under his leadership Angel Oak Academy was designated a National Teaching School and latterly a Teaching School Hub. He has been designated a National Leadership of Education and has supported a number of schools nationally. 

His doctoral research focused on teaching phonics in upper KS2 and he advised Ambition Institute on the NPQ for Leading Literacy and the DfE’s Early Reading Framework. His chapter in the book ‘Leading in Change’ was published in the USA and he also contributed a chapter to the ResearchEd book on leadership. He has written papers for academic journals including ‘Gove’s Greatest Contribution?’ for the Buckingham Journal of Education and has lectured at the University of Brighton and St Mary’s University as well as delivering webinars in Australia and Canada on orthographic processing development and its importance to early reading.

Tim’s first degree was in Economics at Liverpool University, and he has a master’s degree in Leadership from Saint Mary’s University. Before entering the teaching profession, he lectured in marketing, was a feature writer for The London Evening Standard and worked for a number of years in investment banking.