DSAT Members

Director of Education for the Diocese of Sheffield

• 25 years in primary education as teacher and headteacher
• Former lecturer in English and Education at Sheffield Hallam University
• Church of England curate
• Established the Diocese of Sheffield Academies Trust

Brings skills in school leadership, supporting schools, Diocesan leadership and working with the Church of England

I am Senior Lecturer in Ancient Near Eastern History and Literature at the University of Sheffield. I also serve as Director of Admissions, which includes outreach to secondary schools, and various other issues related to how primary and secondary education feed into higher education.

I am Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Palestine Exploration Fund, the oldest organisation for the archaeological exploration of the Levant. Along with leading the Board, I have oversight for the investment of PEF’s ca. £5,000,000 endowment.

I was ordained Deacon in 2018 and Priest in 2019 here in Sheffield. I served my curacy at St Thomas Crookes, with placements at All Saints Ecclesall and St Gabriel’s Greystones. I am now Minor Canon Theologian at the Sheffield Cathedral. I also serve as Bishop’s Advisor for Inter-Faith Affairs, supporting Bishop Pete in his engagement with other faith communities and political leaders in the region.

I am now in my second term on the Diocesan Board of Education.

Derek Grover served as a senior civil servant in the Department for Education and Employment, latterly as the Director of Adult Learning responsible for national policy on education and training post-16 outside universities.   

The Rt Revd Leah Vasey-Saunders was announced in May 2025 as the Bishop of Doncaster. She previously served as Vicar of Lancaster Priory, becoming the first woman to hold that role, and before that was Canon Precentor at Wakefield Cathedral. Earlier in her ministry she was Vicar of Harworth and Bircotes in the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, Team Vicar and then Vicar of St John’s, Heath Hayes in the Diocese of Lichfield, and served curacies at St John’s, Whorlton and St George’s, Jesmond in the Diocese of Newcastle. Leah trained at Cranmer Hall, Durham, and was ordained deacon in 2003 at the age of 25.

Born in Grimsby, Leah’s first love was music, which led her to study at Huddersfield University where her Christian faith and call to ministry grew together. She is married to the Revd Dr Mark Vasey-Saunders, Centre Head for the Sheffield Teaching Centre of St Hild Theological College, and they have four children.