Cathie Paine
Chief Executive Officer

Appointed in 1998 to her first headship in a large and socially deprived school in “special measures”, Catherine was at the time the youngest headteacher in England and led the school to become “Good” in just four terms. Shaped by this, Cathie retains her passion for enabling children to flourish in an environment of outstanding practice.

Until February 2013 Cathie was Executive Headteacher of three primary schools – Mount Street Academy, Lincoln Carlton Academy and Saxilby Church of England Primary School; 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 has led to visits by numerous school leaders, national educational academics and DfE officials. In 2012, Mount Street became Lincolnshire’s first Teaching School.

Cathie’s headship career spanned 15 years across three key stages and schools in a variety of challenging circumstances across the 3-11 age range. As CEO of REAch2, Cathie’s vision is the belief that school leadership at its heart is about transforming lives. Cathie joined REAch2 at the end of 2012 as its first employee when there were only four schools in the Trust; it remains an honour for her to assist each school in its transformation and lead the growing team that supports this process.