The awesome humans who make everything happen.
If you are interested in getting involved as a staff member or volunteer, check out Join the Team.
Meet the Directors
The Rama Life Directors are the foundation of the company. They each have a very different role, but collectevly take responsibility for all aspects, ensuring that staff are well supported and that the business remains true to it’s vision and ethos.
Jenn 'Rama' Hodge
CEO
Jenn is an award winning entrepreneur and champion of “Doing Education Differently”. She founded Rama Life and brings vision to the business. She also shares her skills with organisations and professionals as a consultant.
She is a connector of people, an out of the box thinker and has a strong growth mindset. She is currently working on her first book and enjoys motivational speaking.
Tracey 'TY' Boarland
Director – Finance and HR
Tracey is a skilled project manager, with a degree in business and experience of working in both Primary and Higher Education. In addition to overseeing Finance and HR, she ensures we are compliant with Ofsted and maintaining ‘best practice’ procedures.
As a Rama Life Director, she is enjoying helping the business grow and is excited to be part of the strategy team.
Claire Laidler
Director
Educated to Masters level in business, Claire is a Director for Rama Life, whilst running her own VA business and undertaking various roles, from finance to project management.
Claire has a non-operational role and is a trusted sounding board, steadying voice and an invaluable source of encouragement and support.
Laura Ballantyne
Director, Fundraising & Comms
Laura has a degree in Psychology with HR and lots of experience in marketing, sales and customer service. She loves working for Rama because she is passionate about families being supported in their educational choices.
Since starting with us in 2022, Laura’s role has developed and she now works closely with our CEO and strategy team as a Director.
Meet the Leaders & Supporters
The Rama Life core leadership team consist of an amazing mix of individuals, who have a wide range of skills and experience.
Current vacancies are advertised on our website and social media, but we are happy to accept speculative enquires.
Michelle 'Mitch' Harris
Maths Lead and Youth Leader
Michelle has proudly represented England in Rugby and loves combining maths with being outdoors (which we think is pretty clever!). In addition to being a highly experienced teacher, she was also an Associate Head and Head of Maths and Computing.
As part of her Masters thesis, Michelle set up a “Learning Hub” within a secondary school, that provided a supported and safe place for students at risk of permanent exclusion and successfully reduced exclusion rates.
Michelle is driven by the desire to make education engaging, acessible and useful to young people.
Jo "JT" Snell
Junior Lead and Youth Leader
Jo is a qualified primary school teacher with a degree in education. Having worked in mainstream teaching for over 10 years, she has joined Rama Life for a more child focussed approach.
Jo loves the outdoors and brings an indepth knowledge of the KS1 & 2 curriculum along with kindness, patience and excellent organisational skills.
Being crafty and organising fun and engaging activities comes naturally to Jo and she enjoys passing on these skills to young people who attend holiday club and our term-time groups.
Ellie Hayes
English Lead & Youth Leader
With a background and degree in engineering, qualifications in tutoring and Forest School Level 3 and a passion for STEM, Ellie brings maths to life and draws connections between nature and the technological world.
Ellie is passionate about maths being accessible and taught by exploration, rather than by rote. She creates a relaxed environment and makes maths fun – which we think is very clever.
English is another of Ellie’s passions and she loves instilling a joy of literature and language within her sessions.
Kathryn "Swifty" Hatchett
Assistant Youth Leader
Everyone loves Swifty. With a passion for creativity and a natural connection with young people, she brings a fun yet gentle vibe to groups and helps educate and inspire through storytelling, crafting and conversation.
Kathryn works throughout the holidays and supports our Junior Skills and Social group in the term-time. Youth people are drawn to her creative energy, knowledge of history (and love of a certain musician…).
When not at Rama, Kathryn is can be found working towards her Degree and horse riding.
Flora Hunter
Youth Leader
More coming soon!
Kiera Smith
Youth Leader
More coming soon!
Florie Hodge
Assistant Youth Leader
More coming soon!
Meet the Volunteers
Volunteers are epic and we are very grateful to each and every person who helps Rama Life. Our actual volunteer team involves lots more people, but the ones shown below are often involved in youth sessions. If you would like to find out about volunteering with Rama Life, we would love to hear from you. We provide a DBS, training, fun, laughter, flexibility, opportunities to do cool things and plenty of tea and biscuits. If you have a role that requires a uniform top, there are options and its a really nice colour 🙂
Gareth Plunkett
Duke of Edinburgh Assessor
More info coming soon.
Mal Eustice
Duke of Edinburgh Assessor
More info coming soon.