About Us

The National Education Union (NEU)

The NEU is a trade union in the United Kingdom for school teachers, further education lecturers, education support staff and teaching assistants. It was formed by the merger of the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in 2017. With 450,000 members, it is the largest education union in the UK and Europe and the fourth largest union in the UK. Our members are teachers, supply teachers, heads, lecturers, managers and support staff in maintained and independent sector schools and colleges.

Main NEU website: www.neu.org.uk

Tower Hamlets and the City NEU

We are a 3200+ member strong union group across all sectors of education in Tower Hamlets and the City and are dedicated to improving and maintaining working conditions in all our workplaces.

It would be fantastic if you could spare a minute filling in this survey to tell us a bit more about what made you join and what your expectations are (if you want us to contact you back, please provide your email address in the last question, or your answers will be anonymous): https://forms.office.com/e/fR13QzTCc6

So where to start? Your rep will always be your best first point of contact, but you may not have a rep and you may also need to contact someone from the District/Branch for various matters, so here are the names of your officers and their contact details.

Joint District and Branch Secretaries:

General contact email: towerhamletsandthecitybranch@neu.org.uk

Lucy Preston (LEAP): Email lucy.preston@neu.org.uk, phone number: 07919776664, union days Monday & Thursday mornings + Friday afternoons
Rosie Bond (Malmesbury): Email rosie.bond@neu.org.uk, phone number: 07425543993, union days Mondays and Tuesdays
Natasha Chaudhury (Oaklands): Email: natasha.chaudhury@neu.org.uk, union days Wednesdays, Thursdays and Friday

President, Vice-President and Past President (2025-2026):

President and Equalities Officer: Rae Garvin (Central Foundation). Email: rachael.garvin@neu.org.uk, union days every other Wednesday
Vice-President: Sharon Sexton (Swanlea)
Past President: Alice Maynard

Other officers

Treasurer and membership: Pauline Philippe (Bow). Email: pauline.philippe@neu.org.uk. Union days Tuesday mornings
Support staff officer: Nargis Mahmud (Malmesbury)
Post-16 officer: Altaf Ismail (New City College)
Independent sector officer: Maria Nicolo (Brick Lane)
International solidarity: Amy Fletcher (Morpeth)
Retired members: Marion O’Malley (George Green’s)
Other committee members: Charlie Row (Bangabandhu) and Matt Payne (Phoenix)
SEND: Vacancy.
New professionals and young members: Vacancy.

How do we communicate with you?

You will receive email communications from us via ActionNetwork (unless you’ve opted out) but we also have a WhatsApp community for announcements, which you can join following this link:

https://chat.whatsapp.com/I72uTIcOviR8uSN2UgI36W

Want to get more involved?

Talk to your rep or email us, we will direct you to different ways you can get involved. There is always a lot to do and we welcome every helping hand.

You are also more than welcome to join our next District General Meeting, which we hold from 5pm to 6pm at Central Foundation Girls’ School (Harley Grove entrance: https://maps.app.goo.gl/J1BJtf1eS46xNgGv8).

Here are the dates and access information for our 10 General Members’ meetings and all members are welcome: https://towerhamletsneu.org/general-members-meetings/

Our meetings help us to ensure that we are all fully informed about what is going on in workplaces and in the community and that the District can identify the necessary guidance and support for members.

If you have any questions, any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your rep in the first instance, and then your District officers. No concern is too small or silly, we are here to help! We want members in Tower Hamlets to feel informed and supported. On this website you will find copies of policies, news of campaigns and events. We regularly publish updates.