Dr. Tim Mills

Dr Tim Mills is Executive Director of Primary for STEP Academy Trust and visiting Professor at The University of Coventry. He joined STEP in 2014 and has led schools to five ‘outstanding’ OFSTED judgements. He advised Ambition Institute on the NPQ for Leading Literacy and the DfE on their Early Reading Framework. Currently, he chairs the DfE's Writing Framework expert panel and is drafting the Framework. He has written chapters in two books, has written several peer-reviewed papers for academic journals and has lectured at the University of Brighton and St Mary’s University as well as delivering webinars in Australia and Canada on orthographic processing development and its importance to early reading. Tim wrote the modules on reading, writing and behaviour for Buckingham University’s BA in Education. Tim’s first degree was in Economics at Liverpool University and he has a master’s degree in Leadership and doctorate from Saint Mary’s University and was awarded an MBE in 2024 for services to education.