Cathie Paine, CEO REAch2 Academy Trust

Appointed in 1998 to her first headship in a large and socially deprived school in ‘Special Measures’, Cathie was at the time the youngest headteacher in England and led the school to become ‘Good’ in just over one year.

Until February 2013 Cathie was Executive Headteacher of three primary schools and it was the national reputation of Mount Street Academy as a twice ‘Outstanding’ school and Cathie’s work across the country as a National Leader of Education which drew the attention of other school leaders, national educational academics and Department for Education officials. In 2012, Mount Street became Lincolnshire’s first Teaching School.

Cathie joined REAch2 at the end of 2012 as its first employee when there were only 4 schools in the Trust. She has overseen its growth to over 60 schools today, serving over 20,000 pupils. In that time the number of schools judged as Good or better has risen from 4 schools in 2013 to 62 schools today. Appointed CEO in April 2022, Cathie retains her passion for enabling children to flourish in an environment of outstanding practice: “School leadership at its heart is about transforming lives”; it remains an honour for her to champion each and every school in its transformation and to lead the growing team.