History
Grayling Consulting Group formally opened its doors in 2021. Despite being a relatively new entity, the team has already worked with a wide range of clients including international private schools, multi-academy trusts and local government services. Many clients knew of the individual skills and expertise of the GCG associates from previous roles.
Research informed. Internationally experienced.
The global reach of Grayling allows us to draw on international best practice ensuring world-leading approaches are shared with our clients. We understand the importance of regional context and have a strong understanding of ranging inspectorate and regulatory frameworks. Through its founder’s relationship with doctoral research teams, evidence-based practice plays a central role in all services.
Our Team
Founder and managing director
Emily Ellington
Emily is an experienced and dynamic strategic leader specialising in special educational needs and inclusive education. From working within local government services to leading international practice transformation, Emily has held a number of senior leadership roles. She was appointed as the youngest Head of SEND & Inclusion in the country for a large London authority and has worked as part of the corporate senior leadership team for global education company, GEMS Education.
She is passionate about using research to inform strategy and practice is highly engaged with the academic community through the completion of her current doctoral programme.
Emily greatly enjoys working in partnership with multiple stakeholders. She is a proud Trustee of The Eden Academy - a family of 7 special schools designated to support children and young people with SEND.
Education
“I’ve seen first-hand how ineffective consultancy can be. Grayling CG is about more than a report with some flimsy recommendations - we are prepared to get our hands dirty and are invested in seeing things through.”
University of Southampton
PhD Psychology - in completion
University of Southampton
MSc Social Research Methods
University of East London
PG Cert Special & Additional Learning Needs
CPPD Counselling School
PGDip Humanistic Integrative Counselling
University of Kent
BSc Psychology
senior associate
Chris Wright
Chris has been involved in the education industry for over 40 years. Starting his career as a class teacher, his previous positions include being a successful school Principal both in the UK and internationally for sixteen years.
Chris is highly experienced in the construction and implementation of school operational practices. Before working internationally, Chris was a School Development Advisor with a large UK education authority. During this time, he took part in over 40 OFSTED inspections in the UK and has almost seventeen years’ experience of undertaking quality assurance reviews in international schools following both the British National Curriculum and International Baccalaureate programs.
Chris has worked for three large education companies where his roles have included Chief Operations Officer, Group Project Director, and Director of Pre-Operational Schools. In these roles Chris has worked with some of the world's leading architects on school design to develop the concept, design and fit out of 26 school projects globally. He has had overall responsibility for the successful development, control, execution and completion of projects which fall in the following categories - site development, IT, regulatory compliance and information management. Under these headings work has included implementation of a new school management information system (MIS) across a group of international schools.