Shaan Patankar completed a BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Theology and Religious from the University of Leeds and a Masters (MPhil) in Social and Political Science from the University of Cambridge. He embarked on the Teach First Leadership Programme to help improve the life chances and choices of children from low-income and other disadvantaged backgrounds. Originally trained as a KS2 primary teacher, Shaan pursued his passion for RE and the Humanities and worked as Head of RE at an all-through school before becoming the Director of Learning for Humanities, teaching and planning the curriculum for KS3, GCSE and A Level students. He is now Assistant Headteacher: Quality of Education and continues to work on many whole school initiatives to develop teaching and learning curriculum, teacher development and more. Shaan is passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion and the power a subject like RE can bring to the hearts and minds of young people.

