MEET THE TEAM

Chief Executive Officer

Mark has 17 years of school leadership experience within Worcestershire schools, including 6 years as a headteacher and 3 years in executive leadership. He has worked in a variety of school contexts and roles and has a strong track record in rapidly improving outcomes for young people through school transformation projects.

As Chief Executive Officer, he oversees all aspects of the Trust’s work in ensuring our students receive the best possible education and that the vision and values of the Trust are at the core of everything we do.

Chief Finance and Operations Officer

Tom has over 25 years’ experience within Four Stones Gateway Trust. He has been Chief Financial Officer for a number of Multi Academy Trusts and consulted on a national basis.

Tom has also had a number of non-executive roles and is passionate about raising standards.

Executive Headteacher: Director of Secondary Education, Designated Safeguarding Lead and SEND Lead

Nicola took on her role as Executive Headteacher: Director of Secondary Education, Trust Safeguarding and SEND Lead in September 2025. Prior to this, Nicola was the Executive Headteacher at Haybridge High School and Sixth Form from September 2024, having previously served as Headteacher since 2020. She also leads on school improvement across Four Stones Gateway and is the Trust lead for safeguarding and SEND.

Alongside her degree and teaching qualification, Nicola is a trained SENCo, has an MA in Education and has completed her National Professional Qualifications in Headship and Executive Headship.

Nicola’s main areas of responsibility are:

• Director of Education for secondary schools across Four Stones Gateway Trust

• School improvement lead across Four Stones Gateway Trust
• Designated Safeguarding Lead across Four Stones Gateway Trust

• SEND Lead across Four Stones Gateway Trust

Executive Headteacher – Headteacher: King Charles 1 School

Ruth is the Executive Headteacher at King Charles I School. Ruth grew up in Wolverhampton and began her teaching career as a teacher of French and German in Dudley. Following 10 successful years as a teacher and Head of Department, she joined the senior leadership team at King Charles I School in January 2015 and went on to oversee the curriculum, teaching and learning and the sixth form. In September 2021, Ruth was promoted to Headteacher at TDMS and then Executive Headteacher in September 2024. In September 2025 she became the Executive Headteacher at King Charles I School. Ruth will always say that despite having all the necessary teaching qualifications, degree, Qualified Teacher Status and National Professional Qualification in Headship, her most valuable qualification is being a mum of three boys.

Executive Headteacher – Director of Primary, Headteacher: Stottesdon CofE Primary

Katie has over 20 years of successful school leadership and executive leadership experience within primary schools of a varying sizes and contexts.  She is the Headteacher of Stottesdon CofE Primary School and Primary Executive Lead for Four Stones Gateway Trust.  She is passionate about all students achieving the best outcomes and schools serving families and communities to thrive.

Director of Curriculum and Learning (Secondary)

Katie leads on curriculum, assessment, teaching and learning and literacy across the Trust. She ensures cohesion in the design and implementation of the Trust-wide curriculum by coordinating, monitoring and reviewing the work of Directors of Subject, Lead Teachers and Curriculum Leaders. In addition, she reviews assessment processes to ensure that the Trust assessment structure is robust, effectively implemented and that data is used well to understand student progress and the success of the curriculum, as well as teaching and learning practices. Katie works with teaching and learning leads in each school to further enhance and share our ‘best bets’ in pedagogy to positively impact all classrooms and with literacy leads to develop best practice in reading, writing, oracy and vocabulary.

Head of People

Jo is a CIPD Level 7 qualified People expert with over 15 years of experience in people leadership. As Head of People, Jo leads the vision and delivery of our People Strategy, ensuring we are a great place to work and that our teams are empowered to thrive. Her focus is on aligning talent with purpose—making sure we have the right people in the right roles at the right time—so that our students receive the best possible opportunities to succeed. Jo is passionate about fostering a positive, inclusive culture where everyone can do their best work.

Head of Estates

Lisa joined the Trust in January 2024, having worked in the education sector for 11 years, she is responsible for leading on the current and growing estate of the Trust. Developing educational buildings along with all related facilities to provide the best possible learning environments for our students.

Lisa’s goals are to raise standards, ensure compliance, and improve efficiency within our premises.

Head of IT

James has over 17 years of experience in the education sector and is passionate about delivering high-quality advice, services and solutions to our schools.

He oversees the delivery of IT services to ensure operational efficiency, ongoing maintenance and the continued development of technology and infrastructure across our sites. James leads our on-site technical support teams, ensuring the seamless operation of our IT estate.

Head of Finance

Angela is responsible for overseeing all financial aspects of the Trust including strategic financial planning, developing and maintaining financial regulations and procedures and ensuring effective financial control and good practice.

Head of Governance

Kate joined the Trust in September 2023; prior to this she was a National Leader of Governance (NLG) and governance consultant. Kate is responsible for supporting the Trust Board,  Local Academy Boards and Local Governing Bodies in ensuring there are effective structures and processes in place and these are compliant with the appropriate legal and regulatory frameworks. Kate also oversees Trust policy development.