Lorna took over as CEO on 1st September 2024 following four years as the Trust Education Director.  Lorna has worked across many different Local Authorities and in both Primary and Secondary settings.  Lorna delivers significant outcomes for schools through tight financial management, development of Governance, the ability to set and manage cultural change with strong people management, whereby supporting individual and school development achieves sustainable results.

In her role Lorna is also accountable for the outcomes of schools, along with the Head Teachers of those schools. Her main focus is to work with the Trust’s highly effective school leaders to ensure the best outcomes are achieved, where values and ethos are at the heart of every decision.  Lorna is values and research driven and uses this ethos and knowledge to enable school teams to be outward facing in school development and culture development. Thus, ensuring the interest and well-being of the staff and of the children in her care are always recognised and thought of.

During the past 20 years Richard has developed a progressive career as a financial leader, gaining experience from working across a variety of organisations and industries, both within the commercial and not for profit sectors. He has held Financial Directorships and Company Secretarial positions within the construction, education, marketing and waste and recycling sectors. 

Richard is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and is dedicated to driving financial success and organisational growth. His expertise lies in financial management, team development, financial strategic planning and developing a culture of financial excellence. 

Throughout his career he has navigated complex financial landscapes enabling organisations to develop and grow, whilst maintaining a sound and secure financial foundation.

Kerry has worked in education for over 20 years. After a period of teaching IT in adult education, Kerry joined Mayplace Primary School in 2000 to support the development of ICT from both a technical perspective and in the classroom.

As a school governor Kerry became involved in premises management and health & safety, chairing premises committees in both a local primary and secondary school. In 2012 she was appointed to the role of School Business Manager and completed her DSBM qualification. The school joined The Primary First Trust in 2014 and when the decision was made to centralise some of the core administrative services, Kerry moved to the post of Facilities Lead in January 2018 based at the White House in Gravesend. This strategic role oversees compliance, condition and the development of our school sites. Kerry works closely with Headteachers and Site staff to ensure that schools provide a healthy, safe, secure environment in which pupils can learn. She monitors compliance with relevant health and safety, fire safety and security requirements, ensures that regular schedules of preventative maintenance are established and maintained and that premises related contracts are regularly reviewed to ensure that they are effective and represent best value.

The past two years have seen many of our schools benefitting from capital building works funded either by the Local Authority or from successful bids to the governments Condition Improvement Fund. Kerry has been responsible for the preparation and submission of these bids and has worked with Head Teachers and the various project teams to improve facilities in our schools. Currently Kerry is excited to be involved with the building and launching of our new free school, Springhead Park.

Kevin​ is the Chief People Officer, bringing over 35 years of extensive experience in the education and care sectors. 

With a proven leadership and innovation track record, Kevin is dedicated to fostering a positive and inclusive workplace culture. His expertise in human resources, talent development, and employee engagement ensures that the Trust remains a top choice for professionals seeking a supportive and dynamic work environment.

John has been a very successful Head Teacher for the past 7 years and has a First-Class BA (Hons) Degree in Primary Education. He brings huge drive, great experience and an enormous passion for education, all of which will be of immense benefit to The PFT, our schools, staff and pupils.

John has twice been recognised nationally for his work as a Silver Award Winner in the Pearson National Teaching Awards, once for Headteacher of the Year and the second for Primary School of the Year.

Sarah joined The Primary First Trust when it was set up in November 2013, transferring from its first school, The Barnehurst Federation, with the founding CEO.

As well as performing the EA role to the CEO Sarah also manages the Trust website and social media platforms, marketing campaigns, organises Trust conferences and Inset days and undertakes office management and administration for the Central Team.

Rachael was a Head Teacher within the Primary First Trust for 8 years until 2024 and holds a First-Class degree in Primary Education.

She has a passion for inclusion and equity for pupils and this has been a key driver in her leadership over time.

Under her leadership, Mayplace Primary has had three successful Ofsted inspections moving the school from a judgement of Requires Improvement to be Good to Outstanding in most areas. The school also became a Flagship school for Inclusion within this time.

Safeguarding has always been of the highest priority for Rachael, and she understands the benefit of strong safeguarding procedures in preventing harm to all children and staff within The Primary First Trust.

She embraces the opportunity to work alongside the leadership teams of all the PFT schools.

Jane joined the Trust in March 2015, working as the Lead Clerk to the Governing Bodies across all Trust schools.  Jane scheduled, attended and minuted all governance and appeal meetings. Jane provided statutory advice and key guidance to all schools and governing bodies. 

Jane then took on the role of the Business Administrator in September 2020, whereby she provides support to all central business areas within the central team, manages the review and scheduling of all Trust policies, schedules, attends and minutes all key Trust/School meetings (i.e. School Development Group, Compliance checks, Risk Reviews, Quality of Education reviews) and provides administration support for all Trust inset days/conferences.

Helen joined The Primary First Trust in July 2024 and bought with her 7 years previous experience of working in HR in the education sector.

Helen is an experienced and effective HR practitioner with over 30 years’ experience of working in HR across a variety of sectors from ground roots up and is a Chartered member of the CiPD.

Natalie began her career with The PFT as an Office Administrator in The Barnehurst Federation of Schools, which gave her the essential insight into how our schools operate. 

Developing on from her admin role, Natalie recently moved over to the Central Team as a Human Resources Administrator which will enable her to widen her knowledge into all areas of HR. 

Kennie is a  highly skilled Financial Management professional with over 20 years experience across a range of sectors including Education, Housing, Charity and Retail.

She has been involved in full finance functions covering Statutory Reporting, Budget Setting, Budget Monitoring, Cashflow Forecasting, Management Accounting, Financial Accounting, Taxation, Treasury Management, Financial Procedures and Internal Control for Organisations.

The key aspects of her career was working as a Bursar and School Business Manager where she achieved significant experience working with Headteachers and School Governing Bodies and  applied her expertise to prepare project appraisals and used the school's development plans to create long term income generation and expenditure strategies to improve the schools as a whole.

Kennie holds a degree in Ag. Economics and an MBA in Financial Management and Human Resource Management.

Sarah joined the Trust in January 2020 and was a key member who helped successfully launch and build a brand-new primary school within our Trust.  Sarah joins the central team from a 10 year career in fund management, 5 years care management and 12 years extensive administration experience in the Education Sector.

Sue started working in Education Finance in 1993, for Kent County Council, then transferred to a local secondary school as Bursar, the school later joined a MAT, and she worked for the Trust Central finance team.

Sue later moved to Westcourt Primary School as Finance and Premises Officer.  When Westcourt  joined the Primary First Trust she became part of the Central Finance Team.

Beverley has worked in the Education sector for 34 years gaining a wealth of knowledge in all areas of a school setting including Premises, Finance and School Administration.  She spent 27 years in an Infant school working also as PA to the Headteacher.   Beverley joined the Trust in February 2018 when she became a member of the Trust Central Team Finance Department.

Sharon has worked in education for 22 years.  She started on a temporary basis in Westcourt Primary School back in July 2000.  In January 2018 she became a member of the Trust Central Team and joined the Finance Department.  

" Sarah is a qualified Governance Professional lead who has worked to support and develop governance across a number of different Academy Trusts and schools for many years.  

She started in 2008 as a parent governor in a small church school and quickly found herself engrossed. Sarah also has 20 years of retail construction planning and project management experience.  

In her role for the Trust, Sarah supports all tiers of educational governance by overseeing all aspects of governance effectiveness and compliance within the trust. She ensures governance adheres to good practice and meets all statutory and regulatory requirements. She maintains the effective organisation and administration of all governance meetings, gives advice and guidance, and manages statutory information and governance documentation. She also supports governance development and training.   

Clark joined the Trust in September 2022. He is degree educated and has 10 years’ experience as an IT Specialist at two of the largest Public Sector organisations in Kent.

Clark brings extensive technical knowledge of the core IT concepts, as well as a broad experience of Service Delivery within large organisations and will be applying this to transform the IT Service across the Trust.

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Mark has worked as a school premises manager for 14 years in several schools across Medway.  He has undertaken several courses in Health, Fire Safety and Management and has a good understanding of implementing these within the school environment.  Mark is also a former serviceman and has served around the world.

Mark’s current role in the Facilities Team sees him overseeing compliance maintenance, building works and all aspects of Health and Fire Safety.