Seamab currently benefits from the support of our Patron Gerard Eadie CBE
Gerard is Executive Chairman of leading home improvements company CR Smith. Having left school at 16 to become an apprentice glazier, he forged a career for himself and built his own business.
Today, CR Smith employs more than 400 people across manufacturing, sales, marketing and customer service and is recognised as the leading brand in Scotland or windows, doors and conservatories.
Gerard’s own experiences have shaped his view on the world and in particular, he believes that young people, whatever their background, should be given every chance to realise their potential.
He has been a director at Business in the Community, the figurehead for the Airborne Initiative and the Chairman of The Prince’s Trust in Scotland. In 2011 he set up his own initiative, Hand Picked, an employer sponsorship programme that supports young people into work.
“Seamab is a small charity, with a great sense of purpose. The commitment shown by the team is vast. I am very pleased to be invited to be Patron and will do all I can to support the charity to continue to achieve its noble aims and ambitions.” Gerard Eadie CBE
Trustees
Seamab has a dedicated team of trustees who meet regularly to form strategy, review progress against our vision and oversee the work of the organisation.
The full Board meets four times a year and has two sub committees, the Children and Young People’s Committee and the Development Committee. Senior managers provide regular reports to the Board of Trustees and attend meetings.
Our trustees
Brendan Corkery, Chair
Brendan qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Thomson McLintock CA (now KPMG) in Edinburgh. During his career he has held senior financial positions in several major corporates in the property, security and care home sector. For the last 20 years he has owned his own business developing and furnishing high end properties in Switzerland and France.
As Chair of the Board of Trustees, Brendan is fully committed to supporting Seamab and the children. He works closely with the Board of Trustees and the Senior Management Team, promoting the positive development of the charity.
Bob Cook, Vice Chair
Bob brings extensive experience from a career in education. He has worked for local authorities as the Head of Education and the Director of Education and Cultural Services in which role he led a major schools’ rationalisation programme, commissioning the construction of four new-build secondary schools and several primary school replacements and refurbishments. As an education consultant, Bob has worked with national organisations including Education Scotland, the National CPD Team, the Scottish Centre for Studies in School Administration, the Scottish Educational Leadership Management and Administration Society and the Scottish Council for Independent Schools. Also in his consultancy role, he has worked with councils and schools Scotland-wide. He is an experienced coach and coaching educator.
Andrew Chalmers
Andrew Chalmers is Managing Partner of commercial law firm Davidson Chalmers Stewart LLP with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Galashiels. He leads the firm’s executive group, steering the strategic development of the business and representing the firm externally. Andrew also heads up the firm’s real estate practice, leading the team in advising clients on a broad range of commercial property transactions. Andrew has a particular interest and experience in property development and is looking forward to helping Seamab achieve its exciting plans for the new school campus.
Melanie Durowse
Dr Melanie Durowse is a lecturer in Social Work with University of Dundee. She started her social work career many moons ago with Criminal Justice as a Social Work Assistant before qualifying as a Social Worker. Whilst she was a student, Melanie worked in both residential resources for both young people and older people. Since then, she has worked in statutory child-care settings, foster care and for a Child Protection Committee in a quality assurance and self-evaluation role. During this time, she completed her MSc in Child Care and Protection with a dissertation around the journey through HMIe Child Protection Inspection. A change in direction took Melanie into an Adult Protection Committee, setting up training resources and multi-agency evaluation processes, before moving back to practice as a Team Manager in Adult Services. Melanie completed her PhD in 2021 with her thesis entitled "Financial harm in the context of adult protection: the complexity of factors influencing decision making".
Robert Naylor
Robert Naylor has over 35 years of experience in education and local government. He has led Directorate Teams in Education and Children’s Services in two Scottish local authorities and led various corporate public sector initiatives.
He served on the Scottish Educational Council for several years and has extensive knowledge of child and public protection committees. He has managed extensive finance portfolios and led a variety of multi-disciplinary teams and leadership groups.
Throughout his career, Robert has been committed to improving the life chances of the most vulnerable children. He is determined to support the board to help the children it cares for to thrive.
Chris Stewart
A nationally recognised and award winning business leader, Chris Stewart is the CEO and majority shareholder of Chris Stewart Group. Chris brings to Seamab his in depth knowledge of strategy, finance, business development and management and development of property.
Kay Strang
Kay Strang has worked in education for over 31 years, teaching across 3 local authorities and 6 Primary School establishments. She has been a headteacher for 13 years, leading and driving improvements in three schools. She is passionate about inclusion, equity and excellence and in particular, ensuring the rights of all young people remain central to improving outcomes and getting it right for all. Kay is currently headteacher at Park Primary in Alloa.
Derek Young
Derek enjoyed teaching before further studies led him into a 25-year career as a Senior Educational Psychologist in Lanarkshire then Glasgow. He also worked for two years as a residential care worker gaining first-hand experience of the care and voluntary sectors. As a psychologist, he had responsibility for assessing and meeting the educational, social and emotional needs of children, always working closely with school staff and management teams. Derek has always been involved in the Continuing Professional Development of staff and colleagues. He continues this role on a voluntary basis with a local Hospice. Derek would like to help Seamab to continue to meet the needs of their young people as the curriculum, care setting and new school develop.
Eliza Waye
Eliza aspires to be part of thriving communities, where strong relationships exist between residents and the third, public and private sectors. Eliza started her career in her native Australia, working for an NGO in areas such as Foster Care, Residential Respite and Short-Term Care, Reunification and towards independence (known in the UK as leaving care) programmes. Since moving to the UK in 2013, Eliza has extensive experience of the early years agenda including the expansion of Early Learning and Childcare. She has worked as a senior leader in organisations for over a decade and has prior Board experience, including as the role of Chair. Currently Eliza is the Chief Executive of Home-Start Edinburgh, a volunteer-led family support charity in Edinburgh and an Associate at Cattanach, an early years grant-making foundation.
Eliza lives in Fife with her husband and two Border Terriers. She is studying for her Masters in Public Policy and Public Administration at the University of York. She enjoys hill walking and sewing and is also part of a feminist book club.
Leadership team
Stuart Provan
Chief Executive
Stuart has been Chief Executive at Seamab since July 2020. Previous to Seamab, Stuart was a CEO at another residential school in Perth and Kinross. He led that school through a significant phase of transition, developing the service up to aged 21 and overseeing the completion of a Life Skills Centre. Stuart has worked for a national charity as an operational manager overseeing a diverse range of services – a family centre, a number of youth homeless projects, supporting families impacted by disability and being the Registered Manager for the charity’s fostering services.
Stuart’s passion for supporting children and young people within residential services led to him achieving post graduate qualifications in Advanced Residential Childcare and Child Protection through Strathclyde and Stirling Universities respectively. Stuart visited Seamab many years ago when he was supporting a young person transitioning to Seamab. He was struck then by the warmth of the staff team and the beauty of the environment and always thought it would a fantastic place to work someday. The journey ahead for Seamab Care & Education is an exciting one as we do all that we can to contribute to the aspirations of The Promise.
Claire Masterson
Head of Education
Claire has 24 years of teaching experience, working in various school and educational establishments and gaining a wide range of classroom experiences and opportunities to lead others. In previous posts she has been both an acting deputy head teacher in a large primary school and a principal teacher in a rural school. Both these experiences offered the chance to develop her skills and knowledge and build relationships with the school communities. As PT, Claire led staff through an HMI inspection and revisit, leading to being successfully signed off.
Claire has a passion for ensuring all pupils have the opportunity to reach their full potential through building positive relationships and by offering a child-led approach to learning. She has a deep understanding of attachment styles and trauma informed practices and regularly seeks opportunities to develop her knowledge of educational pedagogies. Claire has recently completed an MSc in Professional Educational and Leadership at Stirling University. This has enabled her to develop her understanding of the importance of leading with empathy and deepen her knowledge of pedagogical approaches supported by research.
Claire started at Seamab in January 2022 and has worked as a class teacher, Acting Principal Teacher and now Head of Education. She feels very lucky to have the privileged of working alongside a dedicated team of professionals that are committed to supporting the fantastic pupils we teach.
Robbie Henderson
Head of Care
Robbie has worked in residential childcare since 2009, spending 13 years working, then managing, within secure, residential and community care settings with young people ranging from 5 to 26 years old. Prior to joining Seamab in August 2022, he worked at Kibble Education and Care Centre in Paisley, working with vulnerable children and young people who have experienced trauma. He also volunteered as Vice Chair then panel member on Kibble's Foster Panel. Robbie has extensive experience managing and developing teams, ensuring children and young people experience the best care possible.
Robbie is hugely enthusiastic and passionate about residential care, with experience in leading teams who consistently consider and incorporate Trauma Informed Care into practice. His belief is that collaborative working is key to ensuring our young people's safety, positive experiences and outcomes. Robbie has numerous qualifications including an MSc in Advanced Residential Childcare.
Our teams
The education team
Our education team in Seamab includes teachers, education support workers and care workers who work closely together to provide an experience of education which helps children feel safe and valued. Teaching and learning in Seamab is topic based and inter-disciplinary. The team has developed a range of approaches to help children engage with education and achieve including using mobile technologies, the outdoors and hands on activities such as wood-working and music. Visiting specialists provide positive learning experiences for children and contribute to the curriculum.
The care team
Our care team provides consistent care and nurture to children. Their emphasis is on relationship-based individual care and support, with the child at the centre. The structure of the care team supports this approach, with a team manager and assistant team manager in each bungalow. Care workers assess and plan for individual children. The team actively encourages play and organises outings, activities and holidays which offer important opportunities for the children to grow and develop. We also encourage the children to develop their own interests and join community groups.
Support services team
Members of our support services team include finance, human resources, administration, facilities and fundraising staff. Their work supports care and education and they are also familiar adults for the children. Making sure everything at Seamab runs smoothly is always a challenge but the range of skills in the team makes sure that this happens. Whether it is finance reports, human resources policy, recruitment, or health and safety, our support services team works hard to support the whole organisation.
Specialist services
We draw on the expertise and experience of a range of specialist professionals and consultants to help meet the needs of individual children. We also work with a number of visiting specialists to deliver our unique music project and a rich experience of learning for the children. We work with specialist therapy practitioners to deliver the therapeutic intervention that is right for the child.