Community Academies Trust

Community Academies Trust (CAT) is a values-driven organisation with a clear mission: to ensure excellent 2–18 community education. With 17 schools and over 7,500 pupils across the Midlands, we serve communities with high levels of disadvantage and a deep sense of local identity. Our schools are trusted by families and united by a shared belief in the power of education to transform lives and strengthen communities.

Following the retirement of our founding Chief Executive, we are seeking an exceptional leader to guide the Trust into its next chapter. Building on strong foundations, the next CEO will lead a highly committed family of schools that thrive on collaboration, professional trust and shared purpose.

As Chief Executive Officer, you will lead CAT with clarity, authenticity and ambition. Working with our Board of Trustees, executive team and headteachers, you will develop and deliver the next strategic plan—ensuring educational excellence, operational rigour and a culture rooted in our guiding principles of power and love: combining drive, pace and ambition with empathy, humility and inclusion. Your leadership will nurture staff wellbeing, champion innovation and ensure every child, whatever their starting point, can achieve academic success, personal growth and a deep sense of belonging.

You will be a strategic, inspiring and credible leader with experience of leading complex organisations. A strong understanding of the contemporary educational landscape is important, alongside the ability to engage effectively with trustees, leaders and external partners. Deeply committed to inclusivity, community and excellence, you will believe—above all—that education can change lives and that every child deserves the very best.

We are committed to equal opportunities, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. An enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check will be required.

Saxton Bampfylde Ltd is acting as an employment agency advisor to CAT on this appointment. For further information about the role, including details about how to apply, please visit www.saxbam.com/appointments using reference RBIXE. Alternatively email Belinda.beck@saxbam.com. Applications should be received by noon on Monday 8 December 2025.