Marie Flatman is the Principal of Dilston College, with overall responsibility for the strategic leadership and oversight of both education and care provision. Working closely with the Head of Education, the Head of Care, and the wider Senior Leadership Team, she is committed to ensuring the college delivers outstanding opportunities and outcomes for young people.

With more than 25 years of experience in education, Marie has held a range of senior leadership and teaching positions, including Vice Principal, Head of School, Senior Manager for Curriculum and Quality, Higher Education Lecturer, and Further Education Lecturer. Her extensive experience spans educational leadership, curriculum development, quality improvement, and learner-centred practice.

Since becoming Principal in 2022, Marie has successfully led the college through Ofsted and CQC inspections, achieving Good outcomes and demonstrating the college's commitment to high-quality education and care. Working collaboratively with colleagues across the organisation, she has supported the continued growth and development of Dilston College, strengthening teams, expanding provision, and helping to create a culture of ambition, innovation, and continuous improvement.

Marie is passionate about person-centred learning and ensuring that every young person is supported to achieve their individual goals and aspirations. She is proud to lead a dedicated and talented staff team and believes that the college's success is built on strong relationships, shared values, and a collective commitment to putting young people at the heart of everything they do.

As Dilston College continues its exciting journey of growth and development, Marie remains focused on creating an ambitious, nurturing, and inspiring environment where young people can develop the skills, confidence, and independence they need to prepare successfully for adulthood.

Hollie is a member of the Senior Leadership Team and Head of Education at Dilston College; she joined the organisation in December 2025. Hollie has over a decade of professional experience supporting children and young people with SEND from Early Years to Further Education; specialising in supporting, educating and advocating for autistic students. Prior to Dilston, the foundations of Hollie’s professional experience were established when she began her career as a Teaching Assistant, before making steady career progress into teaching and then leadership within specialist SEND colleges. Hollie’s wealth of experience in SEND education, has been key throughout the revision of the curriculum and pathways at Dilston; this has been driven by her commitment to continuously raising standards and developing the education offer, encapsulating an equitable approach to education for all students.

Hollie remains committed to her professional development and in addition to a FdA in Education and Care and a BA (hons) in Education Studies, Hollie is a qualified FE Teacher, Assessor and Internal Quality Assurer and also holds a Diploma in Positive Behaviour Support. Hollie is continuing to develop her professional practice and is now completing a MA in SEND and Inclusion and commencing the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH).

Hollie attributes her passion, drive and motivation to her personal experiences; this aids her in ensuring the young people attending Dilston, receive the support, education and care they deserve. Hollie is committed to ensuring students have access to the highest quality of education; tailored to their individual needs, targets and personal aspirations. Hollie is passionate about supporting students to achieve their potential and in doing so, maintains high expectations and standards for herself and others, when supporting young people on their journey into adulthood. 

My name is Rick Johnson and I am the Head of Care at Dilston college.  I have over 25 years of experience working in the social care sector with adults and young people with various levels of need.

I began my professional life as a support worker and since have held various positions including training and quality roles, management and senior management roles and most recently running a Dementia care charity.

Since joining Dilston college I have had the pleasure of integrating into a fabulous team, caring for and supporting some amazing young people at that exciting phase of life, beginning their journey into adulthood which is a true privilege to be part of.

The strong person centred ethos of Cambian Group and the constant drive to secure the best outcomes for our students aligns perfectly with my value base and am excited to continue my own journey at our wonderful college.

Catherine has worked at Cambian Dilston College for over 10 years, and joined the Transitions team in 2019. Her role is to co-ordinate each student’s transition during their time at Dilston, and then out of college, working extensively with the student, their parents/carers, school staff and external agencies to ensure this is successful.  Catherin’s focus is to provide the best outcomes for our young people as they prepare for their next steps.      

David has worked for Dilston College since January 2021, starting first as a Support Worker before progressing into a role to support administration on site.  His working life began in 1983 when he joined the Royal Air Force in the Logistics branch.  Primarily working as a Hotel Manager.  On leaving the RAF in 2007 after completing a BSc (hons) Degree in Hospitality Management.  David has spent the period up to 2021 working in customer facing roles in both the corporate and private sectors in Hotel Management and Facilities Management gaining further qualifications in Facilities Management to support his practical experience. 

 David is passionate about delivering exceptional customer service to all stakeholder both inside and outside of the organisation.

Lizzie Sykes is a consultant occupational therapist who joined Cambian Group in 2021 and began overseeing Dilston College in November 2023. She has been practicing occupational therapy since 2011 and obtained formal qualifications in 2018. She has worked exclusively in children’s services since qualifying. Prior to this, she worked within forensic and secure mental health services with both adults and young people as an occupational therapy technician. She gained experience working in a variety of different health teams across the UK, including West London Mental Health NHS Trust, Alpha Hospitals, Harrogate and District NHS Trust, and Care Tech Autism Services Limited.

 Lizzie's children’s occupational therapy roles include being part of the multidisciplinary team working with children and young people up to 25 years old with mild, moderate, and complex health and developmental needs in special and mainstream schools, nurseries, homes, clinics, and ward settings. Her more recent experience includes leading the occupational therapy provision across two specialist settings for children and young people with a primary diagnosis of autism across Cambian school and college sites.

Her qualifications and learning include a first-class honours degree in occupational therapy (Bachelor of Science), the Royal College of Occupational Therapists approved Essential Skills for Paediatric Occupational Therapy, assessment and treatment approaches for young people with developmental coordination disorder, positive behaviour management, Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) levels one and two, Makaton levels one and two, and interoception Curriculum.

Lizzie is Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered and is a member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) Specialist Section for Children, Young People, and Families. She attends regular seminars for continued professional development and keeps an electronic record as evidence. The HCPC in the UK is set up to protect the public. HCPC only registers professionals who meet their standards for training, professional skills, and behaviour.

Lizzie values play and leisure based occupations and brings a variety of creative and active skills to the role which include music, art and mountain biking. She is also a fully qualified rebound therapist and can deliver WInstrada trampolining grades 1-3. Her goal within school and college is to promote participation in meaningful and purposeful occupations to increase health and wellbeing of both students and their support networks.

"I have undergone three Business Administration apprenticeships and achieved numerous other industry specific and technical qualifications whilst working full-time in various roles in Education for over two decades. I have an extensive experience in customer care and was previously responsible for many client accounts on a global scale. I have only been in my role a short amount of time however, I know that Dilston is a special place and I am looking forward to becoming part of its rich history."

Ben Watson has been a team leader at Cambian Dilston College for six years, progressing from Support Worker to Senior Support Worker and then into his current role. Dilston is a very special place to live and work, and the shared focus for everyone here is clear: every student’s goal is to leave Dilston into adulthood and become as independent as they possibly can. Ben provides leadership to his designated staff team, working alongside them and supporting students under the three accommodations he oversees. Through close collaboration, he and his team help each student work toward their goals and outcomes—whether that includes progress against EHCP targets or personal objectives. Outside of work, Ben enjoys farming.

Hilary has had the pleasure of working at Cambian Dilston College for over 17 years. She was employed as a Learning Support and then moved into a job coaching role before finally undertaking her current role as Admissions and Marketing Officer.

The main aspects of her role are to promote the college to prospective students, parents and other parties, and to facilitate the assessment and admissions process for all new students. She loves the variety of her role and really enjoys the contact with students, families and professionals throughout the whole process.

Rebecca Steel is the Inclusion Officer at Cambian Dilston College, bringing over two years of dedicated experience to the team. Having initially joined the college as a teaching assistant, she now champions emotional and wellbeing support for students through individual sessions, group workshops, and regular drop-in opportunities.

Rebecca is deeply passionate about ensuring equal opportunities and empowering students to reach their full potential.

She works collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team to deliver tailored, one-to-one activities—ranging from sensory play and outdoor learning to baking—that spark personal interests outside the classroom.

Driven by a commitment to social inclusion, she leads the college’s Student Council and Student Voice initiatives, including Student Voice Week, to foster self-advocacy and ensure student perspectives directly shape their care.

Rebecca holds qualifications in Makaton (Levels 1–4), a Level 2 in Children and Young People's Mental Health, and a Level 2 in Counselling Skills. Her outstanding dedication to student success was celebrated professionally when she was named a Regional Winner for Educator of the Year at the 2025 CareTech Awards.

Hannah is a speech and language therapist who first joined Cambian Group in 2021. She left in 2023 to work for the NHS and returned in February 2025 as lead consultant speech and language therapist (SaLT) for the North.

In this role, Hannah provides speech, language, and communication assessment and intervention to the young people at Dilston college, and is also responsible for overseeing the delivery of SaLT provision in Cambian’s Northern schools and colleges.

Hannah qualified as a speech and language therapist in 2018 and has worked with children, young people, and adults in a range of settings, both independent and NHS. Hannah is experienced in working with individuals with learning disabilities, autism, and multiple needs, with specific focuses in behaviour as communication, Downs Syndrome, and neurodiversity affirming practice. 

Hannah is a qualified Makaton Tutor and she enjoys delivering Makaton Training to the teams she works with. She has also completed training in a range of areas, including Downs Syndrome (SYMBOL UK), Shape Coding (Susan Ebbels), Stammering (Michael Palin Centre), Natural Language Acquisition and Gestalt Language Processing (Northern Speech Services), Selective Mutism (Maggie Johnson), and SCERTS (Autism UK).

Hannah is Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered and is a member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT). The HCPC in the UK is set up to protect the public. HCPC only registers professionals who meet their standards for training, professional skills, and behaviour.

Hannah prioritises the evidence base gathered from autistic individuals and those with disabilities, and strives to embed this evidence in her practice. She promotes communication through any means and works to ensure that a young person’s communication plan has goals in the areas of agency, acceptance, autonomy and advocacy, developed collaboratively with them and the people who know them best. 

Peter Ezeokeke is a Team Leader who enjoys working with people, building a positive team culture, and supporting both staff and young people to achieve the best outcomes. He is hands-on in helping things run smoothly day to day, with a strong focus on teamwork and staying organised. He values being part of a workplace where people support each other and grow together.

Outside of work, Peter enjoys staying active and is a huge football fan.