A great Central Team provides the backbone to the Trust, allowing our schools to draw upon real expertise in Education, Finance, HR, Estates Management, Compliance, Marketing, Governance and General administration. The benefits are manifold: Sharing best practice, economies of scale, commercial acumen, statutory and regulatory compliance, people planning and robust accountability - all add so much to overall school performance. Crucially, they also create much needed headspace for our school leaders, so that they can focus much more readily on teaching, learning and pastoral care.
Andrew Moorhouse
Chief Executive Officer
Before joining the Trust, Andrew was Operations Director for Cognita Schools Europe, one of the world’s largest providers of independent education. Previously, he was the commercial lead at North Bridge House in Hampstead and worked in contemporary music education for Tech Music Schools (now BIMM London). He has gained significant experience in each phase of the UK education system from EYFS and Primary to Secondary, FE and HE. In these roles, he has devoted himself to maximising both the potential of each school, as well as the life chances of the children and young people in his care.
Malcolm qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1995 and worked in General Practice and Audit for 30 years before selling his Practice in 2018. Malcolm joined The Primary First Trust in April 2018, bringing with him a wealth of experience in both commercial and not for profit organisations. Malcolm is particularly keen to establish efficient methods of operation to maximise cost savings thereby enabling more funds to be utilised in the enhancement of the education of the pupils of the Trust.
Lorna has been a highly successful Head Teacher with the unusual mix of corporate management and teaching skills. Education is Lorna’s second career following success in the private sector. In her role as Head Teacher of two schools, she led her teams to improve the schools significantly and was recognised as leading one of the most improved primary schools in England and both were recognised by Ofsted as Good schools with Outstanding features.
Lorna is a Local Leader of Education and 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 as Education Director, Lorna is 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.
Sheena has been teaching for 32 years in in schools across Bexley, Greenwich and Medway. In her role as Head Teacher of two schools, both of which she took on whilst they were in difficulty, she made highly effective use of strategic leadership in order to secure sustainable improvements in two very different localities. This involved taking account of the context of the schools and the communities they served. As a result of the far-reaching and sustainable changes that she implemented, both schools have achieved a grading of good with outstanding features in their subsequent Ofsted inspections.
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.
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.
Sarah’s role has developed and grown over the last few years and as well as performing the PA role to the CEO and Clerking for the Trust Board, she also manages the Trust website and social media platforms, organises Trust conferences and Inset days and undertakes office management and administration for the Central Team.
Whole School. Whole Child. At The Primary First Trust, we talk of School Development, rather than the more familiar School Improvement. Why? Because we believe that all schools can develop regardless of where they are on their own particular journey - even 'Outstanding' ones. We look at the whole school to develop the whole child. And this demands more than a narrow focus on academic outcomes - that's a given.
Our innovative approach to education leadership is rooted in a simple belief: We grow stronger by working together. We are a schools Group - and not just a group of schools.
The Primary First Trust holds itself and its primary-based learning solutions to the highest of standards. We work directly with schools to implement our mutually supportive framework.
At Primary First, it's a non-negotiable that for a school to become truly successful in the community they serve, they must retain, enhance and develop their own unique character and ethos.
With the wellbeing and IT specialisms of our schools both nationally and internationally recognised, we are proud to offer a range of consultancy services to schools and trusts beyond Primary First.
We have an excellent track record of developing and improving primary schools. Since joining us and becoming academies, all our schools have attained the ofsted rating of 'Good with Outstanding Features', or above.
At The Primary First, a school will be successful in the community they serve, they must retain, enhance, and develop their own unique character and ethos.
