SLT

Mrs Jessica Sheldrick – Head

Jessica did her GCSEs at St Joseph’s college in Bradford and then her Highers at Douglas Academy in Milngavie, Scotland. Following this, she attended both Glasgow and Leeds Universities to complete her Degree in Physiology, remaining at Leeds University to complete her PGCE. Jessica joined Rishworth as a newly qualified teacher in 2002 and has been a part of the Rishworth family ever since, over the 22 years she has continued to enhance and develop her skill set as the Deputy Head (Pastoral) and DSL (Designated Safeguarding Lead) of the school leading her to join us back in September 2024 as the Head of Rishworth School. Excitingly, Jessica will be leading the school in its 300th year as Rishworth's first ever female Head in history.

As a committed and dedicated member of staff, Jessica is involved in many different aspects of school life and as such; has a Level 3 food hygiene qualification, has completed the mountain leader training and is qualified to deliver and assess the Duke of Edinburgh up to Gold.  Jessica’s contribution over the years to the DofE resulted in her being invited to Westminster Abbey for the 2016 Diamond Jubilee and she was the recently honoured by Prince Edward at St James’s Palace in November 2019.

Mr David Baker - Head of Rishworth Preparatory

Mrs Kathryn De Ferrer - Acting Deputy Head and DSL

Richard Danks – Director of Marketing and Admissions

Richard was educated at Ely College and graduated at Leeds Metropolitan University in Business and Marketing. Richard has enjoyed a varied and progressive career within marketing, digital marketing, e-commerce, sales, entrepreneurship and leadership. He started work at Nestle for the confectionery division in York acquiring valuable experience across a range of commercial roles and achieved selection onto the Nestle emerging talent scheme as part of his development and performance with the company. After a lifestyle change, Richard retrained in health, fitness, nutrition and sport where he achieved a range of coaching qualifications valuing the importance of educating and supporting others to achieve good physical and mental health. These additional skills empowered Richard to create his own wellbeing service, create and launch a digital app, partner with national charities such as Mind to create community events, professional and community sports teams and professional athletes in Herefordshire.

Richard and family relocated back to the north after an opportunity was presented to join Active Nutrition International as the UK and Oceania Country Manager, responsible for the marketing and sales within these territories. Making a step back into industry led to the opportunity to work in e-commerce as the Managing Director for Go Nutrition in Manchester too. Most recently, Richard worked directly in digital marketing as a Managing Director at Smart Insights, which is a global marketing e-learning, training and publishing platform helping students and businesses to upskill and improve their performance in digital marketing strategy.

Richard is a strong believer in learning and development which has been demonstrated throughout his 20 year career gathering extra CPD skills with CIM, advancing his digital marketing skills, taking on physical challenges for charities by completing Ironman triathlons and reaching a milestone in 2023, having published his first book on demand generation. Whilst the independent school sector is new to Richard, he is delighted to develop his career further within education proudly working for Rishworth School as the Director of Marketing and Admissions. He aims to bring his experience, passion, energy and skills to convey the excellent standards, achievements and outstanding opportunities available for students and their families at Rishworth School.