After working in the legal profession for 15 years as a Chartered Legal Executive leading a team of Civil Litigators in one of the top 100 law firms, Stella took a career break to bring up her two children. During this career break Stella worked part time in the fraud department of one of the top ten UK banks. When her children joined Benhurst Primary School, she volunteered as a parent helper and became a member of staff in 2002. Quickly, she progressed through various roles from Teaching Assistant to Higher Level Teaching Assistant to Qualified Teacher Status. Taking on the roles as Acting Assistant Head Teacher for one year and Acting Deputy Head Teacher for two years. Stella was also governor at Benhurst for 16 years.

Stella is passionate about teaching and learning and as a teacher had a passion for computing and the use of technology to enhance learning and teaching; she helped to lead changes to the hardware, software and pedagogy across Benhurst Primary school which were instrumental in moving Benhurst from Requires Improvement to Good. Stella is a SMART Ambassador and a UK SMART Innovator, she was named as the Outstanding SMART UK Exemplary Educator of the year in 2018. Stella has travelled to Madrid, Amsterdam and Canada with SMART to take part in training, act as a mentor and deliver presentations to teachers from around the world. Stella has lead many international seminars at Benhurst and played a key role in the annual BETT week, leading sessions at Benhurst and the BETT show. Stella was a member of the BETT Advisory Board from 2018 – 2020; she leads the CAS Havering Primary Hub. Stella was delighted to take on the role of Digital Strategy Lead for the Trust in 2021.

Stella Completed her NPQSL in 2022 by completing a project based on implementing a metacognitive approach to teaching and learning across the school to have an impact on all pupils but with a particular focus on closing the disadvantaged gap. Upon completion for her NPQSL, Stella embarked upon the NPQH.

In June 2022 Stella was delighted to take on the role of Head of School at Dame Tipping Church of England Primary School.