Elly Barnes is the Founder and Chief Executive of the charity, an organisation whose remit is to ensure schools are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transport "friendly".
Education
Barnes attended Market Bosworth High School and The Bosworth College. She then studied for a degree in music, specialising in voice, at the Birmingham Conservatoire and the completed her Post Graduate Certificate of (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) at the faculty of at the University of Central England, now known as Birmingham City University. She had her Newly qualified teacher(NQT) year at The Barclay School in Stevenage whilst studying for a Diploma in Music Technology at Hertfordshire University.
Barnes is currently completing an Master of Arts in school based explorations at Goldsmiths University.
Career
She was voted Number 1 in the Independent on Sunday"s Pink List in 2011. (now the Rainbow List), was a judge in 2012 and number twenty-one in 2013 and 2014. Barnes has been shortlisted for the National Diversity Awards 2015 as a "Positive Role Model for Age." Barnes first job was as a peripatetic singing teacher in Hertfordshire and London.
She then obtained a permanent teaching role at Stoke Newington School in North London becoming Head of Year in 2005.
That year, she began working with Schools Out to initiate LGBT History Month at Stoke Newington School with the aim of eradicating homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic language and bullying by challenging young people"s (and teachers, parents and governors) perceptions of LGBT people. The approach taken by LGBT History Month was to educate young people about different gender identities and sexual orientations by introducing recognisable symbols of the LGBT community, famous LGBT people and the history of the LGBT struggle.
During these early years Barnes and her team created LGBT-Inclusive schemes of work for their year 7 including Information and communications technology lessons on Alan Turing, LGBT symbols, key rings, rainbow flag in Design & Technology and songs by LGBT artists in music All the teachers in the year team contributed.
The project developed over the next 7 years into a school-wide celebration of LGBT History Month with an integrated curriculum for which received ‘best practice’ status from Ofsted in 2012 for successfully tackling homophobic bullying and ingrained attitudes in our schools stating that ‘This approach has been highly successful.’ In 2010 Barnes developed her theory and practice into the ‘’ teacher training and resource programme to make educational institutions ‘LGBT+Friendly’ through standardising and creating centres of "best practice".
Barnes is a National Union of Teachers trade union member, a public speaker on panels, television and writer on LGBT issues. She is currently employed as the LGBT Schools Advisor for Birmingham City and Durham County Councils.
