Sir Jon Coles
Trustee & United Learning Group Chief Executive
Jon has been Chief Executive of United Learning since 2012, having previously spent 15 years in the DfE, where he set up and ran London Challenge and spent four years on the Board. He has long experience of making public policy and running public services which make measurable impact in improving lives.
In 2020, as United Learning was working towards its new five year strategy, Jon proposed that the Group should examine the potential of doing more work to support the communities in which young people attending United Learning schools were growing up. That recognised that while education can be life-changing, the circumstances in which young people are growing up can enormously affect their ability to benefit from it. It led to the commitment in the United Learning strategic plan for 2021-26 to test, trial and expand a model of school-based hubs to support young people, families and the wider community. Jon believes that the work of United Communities, which grew from this, aligned with the work of schools, can have a transformational effect in empowering young people and families to take charge of their own destiny and make a success of their lives on their own terms.