The Bread Kitchen believes people matter. We work in Great Yarmouth to provide support and opportunities to local people in order to help them to change their own lives. We encourage people to raise their aspirations, undertake volunteering, work towards achieving relevant qualifications and strive towards community involvement, employability and independent living.


Meet the team . . . . .

Mike Smith-Clare - Co-Founder and Director


Mike has worked as a teacher, youth worker, counsellor, education manager and consultant across the college, work-based learning and voluntary and community training sectors. He was national lead for Adult and Community Learning and E2E provision for The Learning Skills Network and is a qualified internal and external moderator.


He previously co-founded the Blue Cat Initiative which received The Queens Award for Voluntary Service; The Big Society Award for Community Impact and the TES award for outstanding contribution to the local community.


His projects have achieved NIACE National Project and Learner of the Year accolades and his work in encouraging the participation of young people within education received the LSIS National Learner Voice of the Year Award.


He has sat on regional and national boards for tackling young unemployment and homelessness and has developed multi-agency strategies and training for educational improvement and achievement.


His STEP Learning Programme achieved an Ofsted Grade 1 for its work with marginalised young people across Norfolk, while his unique Street Life Soccer scheme continues to support members of the homeless community across the region.


Mike was awarded an MBE in the 2017 New Years Honours list for his work in supporting the education of vulnerable and disadvantaged people in Norfolk. In July 2017 Mike was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from The University of West London for his work in education. In July 2022 Mike was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Civil Law from The University of East Anglia for his work in the local community. 

Cathy Cordiner-Achenbach - Co-Founder and Director


Cathy is a qualified teacher and assessor and has worked with children and young people in a range of ways as a teacher, assessor, childminder and foster carer. She is a governor in a local primary school and Chairperson of a local pre-school.


For the last five years, Cathy was a tutor/assessor on the Step Learning Programme in Great Yarmouth, teaching and assessing from Entry Level courses to Level 2. She was responsible for the initial engagement of learners onto the programme through the First Steps personal and social development course. Cathy also taught Functional Skills in English and Maths and Employability that included overseeing work placements for learners.


She has undertaken training in the Nurtured Heart Approach, Mental Health First Aid, Emergency First Aid at Work and Paediatric First Aid. Cathy is currently studying L2 in Animal Care and L2 Forest School Assistant. 


In December 2022 Cathy was awarded the Norfolk and Waveney Stars, Unsung Community Hero Award for her work with the local community. 


Ros Cordiner - Director


Ros has taught in primary schools for over thirty years, both state and private, several in deprived social areas. She has a range of experience in the classroom managing and leading the work of others in school, particularly in maths, touch typing for dyslexic pupils and as a mentor and appraiser for less experienced members of staff.


She organised a 3 year project with other schools in the European Union through the British Council Comenius funding. This involved continued relevant communication, pupil exchanges to Poland and Spain and financial management. She continues to teach part-time in town and village schools in Norwich and the Norfolk Broads.


Ros has worked on a number of highly successful community projects where she has identified a need in the local area, accessed funding and set up relevant projects utilising the skills of volunteers in the local area to meet needs, most recently developing and supporting ICT skills and tackling isolation in rural areas.  She has worked for adult literacy projects run by Brixton Library and the Blackfriars Settlement in London.


She has a CertEd in Primary Education and a BA from the Open University.  She continues to study with the Open University of Australia.


In December 2016 Ros recieved a Star of Norfolk Award for her voluntary work in the community.

Kerry Clarke - Director


Kerry is an experienced learning skills assistant who has worked with vulnerable young people in a range of educational settings.


Passionate about engaging individuals through life changing training opportunities, Kerry was a key member of the Norfolk wide Step Learning Programme - in which she held an ambassador role.


As a busy mum Kerry is a strong supporter of helping young parents to continue to learn while raising their own family.

Sandy Lysaght - Admin and Well-being Manager


Sandy is our admin staff. She wlll often be your first contact with The Bread Kitchen and she manages our emails, phonecalls and diary. 


Sandy is an experienced adminstrator and we couldn't do without her!


A busy mum, Sandy also volunteers for several local organisations and is always looking for ways to help those in need. 

Jo Woodhouse - Young People and Well-being













 

Shannon Gill - Children and Well-being



Please bear with us . . .

  • Website under construction
  • Young people - learning ""on the job"
  • We welcome constructive comments!!

“They have helped me a lot with my learning difficulties and made me more confident in myself. They gave me the confidence I needed to go to a mainstream college. I couldn't have done it without them”

J age 17

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CONTACT US :

office@thebreadkitchen.org.uk

07840 440508

Twitter : @breadkitchenGY

Facebook : @breadkitchenGY