Director and Co-Founder

Education & Partnerships Lead

Sophie is an experienced teacher with particular expertise in Early Years, play-based learning and creating engaging, hands-on learning experiences for children and young people.

Alongside developing and delivering creative learning at Cognition, Sophie has taken a leading role in our TechFirst South West project, coordinating with schools and building relationships across secondary education, colleges and CyberFirst schools.

Her growing specialism in cyber and digital education sees her connecting educators and organisations and helping create opportunities for young people to explore future skills, pathways and careers.

Sophie brings warmth, creativity and a strong understanding of how learners develop to everything she does, whether she's supporting our youngest children through learning and play or developing partnerships with educators across the South West.

Co-Founder & Director of Operations

STEM Education & Programme Design

Briony is an experienced teacher and STEM specialist with a background in teaching, curriculum development and creative learning. She holds a Master’s degree in Education (Technology, Creativity and Thinking) from the University of Exeter.

As Director and Co-Founder of Cognition, Briony leads the development of ambitious STEM programmes for schools, communities, funders and industry partners. Her work spans programme and curriculum design, teacher training, computing and robotics, alongside the delivery of larger projects connecting young people with real-world STEM learning and careers.

Briony also leads FIRST® LEGO® League across Devon and North Cornwall, working with schools, teachers, volunteers and industry partners to grow participation and create exciting opportunities for young people to develop their confidence in STEM.

At the heart of her work is a belief that great learning should be creative, practical and purposeful. She loves turning big ideas into experiences that get children building, experimenting, problem-solving and discovering just how capable they are.

Director of Partnerships

Programme Design & Corporate Learning

Andy is a Director at Cognition, specialising in STEM programme design, developing CSR programmes and delivering creative learning opportunities for older students and adults.

Andy has worked with Cognition since the beginning and formally joined in 2025 after years working with LEGO® Education as a programme and competition designer.

He now designs and delivers workshops, activities and larger STEM programmes, working closely with schools, organisations and some of our major partners.

Andy leads our corporate LEGO® Serious Play® and team-building work, using hands-on approaches to help teams explore ideas, solve problems and work together in new ways. He also specialises in working with secondary-age students, bringing real-world engineering thinking into engaging and accessible STEM experiences.

Alongside his delivery work, Andy is leading Cognition's FIRST® Tech Challenge development in the South West in partnership with FIRST UK, helping to create more opportunities for young people to progress into ambitious engineering, design and technology experiences.

A marine biologist and science communicator by background Andy is a firm favourite in many of our schools. Andy combines technical expertise with creativity, humour and a knack for making complex ideas feel approachable.

Course Leader

FIRST® Programmes & STEM Delivery

Kelly is an experienced STEM educator and Course Leader at Cognition, with a particular strength in turning ideas into engaging, practical learning experiences for children and young people.

She plays a key role in the planning and delivery of our programmes, leading many of our Home Education groups and helping develop activities and courses across Cognition.

Kelly is also an experienced and successful FIRST® LEGO® League coach and supports the coordination and delivery of our regional events. More recently, she has expanded her involvement with robotics programmes as a FIRST® Tech Challenge Volunteer Coordinator, working with older students as they take on increasingly ambitious engineering, coding and design challenges.

Creative, practical and brilliant at bringing a room of learners with her, Kelly combines strong planning with confident delivery and a real understanding of how to help young people learn through making, experimenting and problem-solving.

STEM Educator

Maths Specialist

Helena is a secondary maths teacher who brings energy, confidence and a love of making learning engaging to the Cognition team.

She delivers our in-school robotics programmes alongside developing bespoke maths programmes for schools and finding creative ways to embed mathematical thinking across our existing STEM activities.

With a particular strength in making maths practical, purposeful and accessible, Helena helps learners see the maths within engineering, coding and problem-solving, building confidence while putting their skills to work in real-world contexts.

Warm, enthusiastic and brilliant at connecting with young people, Helena brings strong curriculum knowledge and plenty of energy to the classroom.