Simone Douglas-Knights

Experience

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  Cámara de Comercio de Alicante

  Jan 2002 - Jun 2002

  Voluntary Administrative Assistant

  •Work placement carried out in the Exportations Department and (SIE) Service for Entrepreneurial Information•Competently supplied Spanish business clients with information and advice on companies listed on the Chamber’s database, provided information on trade fairs and advice on exporting opportunities•Responsible for creating legal documents in Spanish, such as certificates of origin of goods, letters and trade fair documents. Efficiently translated letters, faxes and memos from English clients into Spanish Show less

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  Ocaso

  Sept 2003 - Aug 2004

  Insurance Claims Assistant and Spanish Representative

  • Acted as the Spanish Communicator between London branch and Head office in Spain. Competently translated documents, letters and emails and provided status updates on new logistics system.• Responsible for foreseeing claims from beginning to settlement. Efficiently set up new claims, appointed and advised loss adjusters, arranged for settlement figures and despatch of payments for successful claimsKey achievement• Nominated to represent department on a training session held in the Head office in Madrid. Gained knowledge on the new in-house claim system and then provided effective training sessions for team members Show less

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  MICE International

  Aug 2004 - Dec 2004

  European Promoter/Events organiser-5 mth project

  • Collaborated on intensive European Promotional Tour successfully organising events for a promotional campaign to demonstrate Motorola’s newest technology and raise the profile of the brand• Demonstrated ability to target three distinct markets: upmarket business professionals, youthful skateboarders, and young professionals tailoring events for these specific groupsKey achievement• Arranged for events to be broadcast on local radio stations and organised press coverage• Represented the promoters in the Spanish Market Show less

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  Health and Safety Executive

  Jan 2005 - Aug 2005

  Temporary International Policy Assistant

  • Coordinated international visits, managed the database of clients and organised events to promote the work of the HSE• Coordinated HSE’s involvement with the European Agency for Safety & Health at Work and updated the material on the UK Focal Point website as well as answering queries and requests to the UK Focal Point email inbox.Key achievement• Assisted in the organisation of an International event ‘European Good Practice Awards’. Produced and distributed information necessary for the event, organised the judging panel, created the judging pack and organised room bookings and refreshments. Show less

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  REED

  Aug 2005 - May 2006

  Temporary assignments

  Varied secretarial support roles. Key skills gained; enhanced MS Office skills, developed ability to prioritise tasks and systematically complete them to set deadlines as well as learning and adapting to the different dynamics of companies.The Health and Safety Executive - International Policy Assistant•Executed an International event ‘European Good Practice Awards’. This included arranging the judging panel, created the judging pack and organising room bookings and catering

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  Aviva

  May 2006 - Aug 2007

  Logistics Coordinator

  •Led on new initiatives to improve the salvage disposal process consequently reducing the backlog of uncollected vehicles•Negotiated storage and recovery charges with holding garages. Achieved savings of over £16K in costs for the company in 6 months

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  Sydenham School

  Jul 2008 - Aug 2016

  •Led a team to achieve the best GCSE results for GCSE language learners in 2015 in the borough of Lewisham. Results were well above the national average •Developed and delivered a creative programme of teaching and learning across all key stages•Successfully delivered recruitment fairs, curriculum information events as well as events to promote language learning abroad; exchange programmes, work experience and attending a Spanish language school•Coordinated timetables, assessment papers and liaison with a variety of stakeholders (examiners, parents, and senior members of staff) • Developed other members of staff through coaching and mentoring, appraisals, and line management meetings•Delivered numerous continuous professional development training sessions to over 100 members of staff•Planned and delivered a cultural diversity event with a range of workshops for 200 individuals •Successfully met deadlines for reporting, planning, marking, presenting information and analysing data Show less

  • Head of Spanish and Lead Learning Practitioner

    Apr 2012 - Aug 2016

  • Lead Learning Practitioner in Education

    Nov 2009 - Mar 2012

  • Modern Foreign Languages Teacher

    Jul 2008 - Oct 2009
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  Protocol Education

  Sept 2016 - Oct 2017

  Freelance Supply Teacher/ Modern Foreign Languages Consultant and Tutor

  •Relationship management with Senior members of staff resulting in delivering language teaching consultancy to school teams•Created differentiated tutoring sessions resulting in improvements of 2 grades for my students in GCSE and A levels

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  Crown Agents

  Oct 2017 - Feb 2021

  • Leading a team of Programme Coordinators in both the UK and USA to deliver 120 online and face to face training events. Line managing individuals carrying out one to ones, performance reviews and setting targets• Managing relationship with accreditation bodies to secure approvals and endorsements such as BAC, BSI and the Institute of Leadership & Management• Negotiating contracts and building relationships with suppliers, securing the best deals for venues globally, visits, transport, and merchandise• Financial management: budgeting, forecasting, accruals management, revenue reports, client debt, verifying profit and loss accounts to ensure profitability• Improving operational processes including a new month end audit, project tracking, standardised course logistic checklists and templates• Strategic planning and execution of training events in new territories; South Africa, Canada, Miami and Mauritius• Collaborating with the Programme Lead on the design and delivery of training events and mitigating issues and risks• Dealing with complaints and issues from clients on a timely basis• Overdelivering on client expectations through hosting private dining and networking events including alumni in various countries • Continuous analysis of client feedback to improve delegate experience and the quality of programmes• Redeployments - Programme Manager (Nov 2020 – Feb 2021) Ascend project leading on relationship with the third party monitoring, liaising with the consortium in 13 countries to provide timely and quality input to the TPM processes and requests. Coordinating action plans, ensuring regular follow-up and leading on internal compliance• Procurement Resourcer (Mar-June 2020) - UK FCDO and the Caribbean Development Bank project sourcing and negotiating with suppliers for scarce PPE, medical equipment, and testing kits. Arranging logistics to the Caribbean and other UK overseas territories in response to the Covid 19 pandemic. Show less • Coordination of training courses arranging course opening and closing sessions, travel arrangements, registration documents, course materials, hotel bookings and venues• Provided excellent customer service to international delegates responding to client’s queries in a personable and timely manner• Produced evaluation reports from delegate’s feedback to report on the successes and areas for development• Utilised the CRM system to raise reports, consult and update information on clients and organisations Show less

  • Senior Operations Manager

    Feb 2019 - Feb 2021

  • Acting Senior Operations Manager

    Nov 2018 - Jan 2019

  • Operations Course Coordinator in Training and Professional Development

    Oct 2017 - Oct 2018
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  Horizon Teachers

  Mar 2021 - Jun 2021

  Teacher

  Due to the pandemic and a redundancy, carried out freelance teaching to maintain in employment whilst looking for work.

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  Dods Training

  Jun 2021 - now

  Project Manager of training events

  • Management of short- and long-term public policy and communications skills programmes for UK government departments, charities, and NGOs• Relationship management of delivery teams, clients, and participants• Monitoring of feedback data after each delivery, producing feedback reports for clients, drawing out trends and making recommendationsDelivering training events for trainers on successfully delivering remote training sessionsDeveloped standardised systems for logistical processes including joining instructions, revamped feedback forms and communication templates Show less

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  Total Politics

  Jun 2023 - now

  Senior Project and Quality Assurance Manager at Dods Training - Total Politics