Helen Denison

Post Graducate Degree. Business Administration. Derby University

“Working for the Affinity Learning Partnership gives me a great sense of belonging. We are a family of schools drawn together by the desire to give every pupil the opportunity to thrive, and go on to achieve great things in their lives.”

I have a wealth of experience from a variety of education and employment roles over the last 20 years. I started my career in the Employment Service and following time in Regional Office Nottingham I moved into a Local Authority role where I became involved in Regeneration projects and my love of funding and finance began. 

Alongside my full-time role, I studied in the evenings and passed my Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration at Derby University. My qualification was a stepping stone to a new career and I worked for Staffordshire University as Finance and HR Manager for the Faculty of Health Sciences for the next decade.  Following a restructure my role became redundant and I moved to take up a post at the JCB Academy, and then moved to The de Ferrers Trust. I spent 3 years in the Trust before I joined the Medical Education team at Royal Derby Hospital during the pandemic. Although the role was interesting and challenging I missed the energy of being involved in school life.

I moved to Derby University in an Executive Support role to the Chief Finance & Commercial Officer before moving back into a finance role with DDAT, a Multi Academy Trust based in North Derbyshire. I am now part of the Affinity Learning Partnership finance team and my role as Trust Finance Manager enables me to support schools at both primary and secondary level. It is really important to me to be part of a team that works collaboratively to give all our pupils the best opportunities to progress.  No two days are the same and there is always something new to learn.