The Team

Rob McCann
Managing Director

Rob was a once reluctant reader, however he found a love of books after discovering Roald Dahl and the Goosebumps series of books. He loves sharing his love of books with his own children as well as his class. Currently an Assistant Headteacher, he has been teaching for 12 years and his last teaching position involved co-ordinating English across two schools. He firmly believes in Reading for Pleasure and how books can be transformative.

Onjali Rauf
Patron

Onjali Rauf is the brilliant author of The Boy at the Back of the Class and recent 2019 winner of both the Blue Peter Book Award and Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. She has supported VIP Reading from the very beginning and is a very active patron of the company.

Jackie Graves
Head of Equality & Diversity

Jackie has been a teacher for 20yrs. She is currently a Deputy Headteacher and has been an English leader, SENCO and LA Consultant for KS1/whole school English. She has always been an avid reader and is currently promoting Reading for Pleasure across her school.

Kevin Cobane
Head of MG/YA Fiction

Kevin has been a Teacher for 23 years in Primary Schools across the West Midlands. During his career he has been Literacy Co-ordinator, Assistant Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher. He has also worked as a Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at Birmingham City University. He currently works in a Secondary School with Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 to develop their Literacy and Numeracy skills. He is an avid reader, a massive fan of Philip Pullman and enjoys sharing his love of books with his classes and colleagues. He is passionate about the importance of Reading for Pleasure and exploring how it can be promoted in Schools and Communities.

Neil Black
Head of Illustration (VIP Doodles)

Having qualified as a secondary school drama teacher in 2008, Neil moved to the world of primary in January 2014. His current role is KS2 English lead as well as teaching a mixed year 5/6 class in Northamptonshire. He is passionate about helping children develop a love for reading. Neil has always been an avid reader and counts himself extremely lucky to have been brought up during the rise of Harry Potter! He is a champion for children’s authors and loves to use Twitter to interact with them. In his spare time, Neil loves nothing more than everything Marvel and spending time with his wife and three children.

Steven Lenton
VIP illustrator (current)

Steven Lenton is the current VIP Reading illustrator responsible for producing wonderful doodles for featured VIP authors. Steven Lenton hails from Cheshire and now works from his studio in Soho, London creating an array of charming characters for his picture books. Best known for illustrating the bestselling Shifty McGifty series written by Tracey Corderoy, Steven has illustrated many lovely book as well as writing and illustrating his own stories.