Sarah Weston
A Worcester graduate whose leadership has helped transform outcomes for young people with complex additional needs has been named the winner of the Rising Star Award at the inaugural University of Worcester Alumni Awards.
Sarah Weston, who completed a PGCE in Primary Education at the University of Worcester between 2021 and 2022, has rapidly progressed into leadership roles in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), inclusion and specialist post-16 education.
Since January 2025, she has served as High Needs Manager and SENCO at Prospect Training Services, leading the development of the Illumin8 high-needs provision for learners aged 16 to 23 with complex SEND and Education, Health and Care Plans.
Under Sarah’s leadership, the provision achieved significant improvements in both learner attendance and achievement. She established robust systems for monitoring performance, identifying barriers and implementing targeted interventions, using data strategically to evaluate impact and drive continuous improvement.
Sarah led the development of a whole-provision approach to behaviour, moving practice towards a relational, restorative and trauma-informed model. Alongside this, she strengthened engagement with learners and families, ensuring that their experiences and perspectives directly informed improvements to provision. Parent and learner feedback consistently demonstrated high levels of trust, understanding and confidence in the support provided.
Recognising that sustainable improvement depends upon the quality and confidence of the staff delivering it, Sarah championed professional development across the provision. She designed and delivered CPD, strengthened expectations around inclusive classroom practice and supported colleagues to develop greater confidence in meeting increasingly complex learner needs, something she now offers to all Worcestershire schools free of charge.
The impact of this leadership was evident not only in improved attendance, achievement and engagement, but in the culture of the provision itself. Learners increasingly experienced an environment in which they felt safe, understood, respected and able to succeed.
Alongside her leadership role, Sarah has continued to invest in her professional development. She is currently completing both the NPQ in Headship and the NPQ for SENCO and recently achieved certifications in ADHD coaching and autism coaching, alongside further specialist training in areas including trauma, attachment, HSB and safeguarding leadership.
Reflecting on receiving the award, she said: “Winning this award feels incredibly humbling. I am, in many ways, just a normal single mum from the West Midlands with a dream of becoming a headteacher one day.”
She added: “My ambition is to become the kind of headteacher who leads with quality, experience and humanity; someone who listens, builds, encourages, removes barriers, challenges assumptions and creates the conditions for other people to thrive.”
She added: “For me, the award is not simply recognition of what has already happened. It is encouragement to keep going.”
Looking back on her time at Worcester, Sarah credits the University with helping shape not only her teaching practice but also her values as an educator and leader. She paid tribute to lecturers Jacqueline Hine, Dr Dan Whittaker and Andy Taylor, describing them as among the most influential educators she has encountered.
“The University of Worcester gave me the professional foundations to become a teacher, but those lecturers gave me something equally important: a sense of purpose,” she said. “Their example continues to influence how I teach, how I lead and how I encourage others to approach the profession.”
Among her fondest memories of university are the relationships she built with friends, fellow students, placement colleagues and staff, many of whom continue to influence her today. She believes those shared experiences of learning, challenge and encouragement played a vital role in her development as both a professional and a person.
The inaugural University of Worcester Alumni Awards celebrate graduates who are making an exceptional difference through their work and communities.