Central Team (ID 1025)

• David Watling
  Chief Finance Officer
  David Watling

  David is a qualified accountant and experienced CFO. He has worked in the Education sector since 2008 as a CFO and consultant.

  Prior to working in the education sector David worked in various commercial environments including the Media, Motor retailing and Property information sectors.

• Craig Morrison
  Chief Executive
  Craig Morrison

  Craig Morrison has been Chief Executive of Kingfisher Schools Trust since July 2023. He was previously Executive Principal for the five academies in the Cambridge Cluster of United Learning. Within this role he was also Principal of Parkside Community College, an 11-18 IB World School, rated Outstanding by Ofsted under his leadership in April 2023. In 2022, Parkside's rates of progress placed it as one of the highest performing schools in England.

  
  Craig is an experienced Principal and Executive Principal and has worked in Cheshire, Norfolk and predominantly Cambridge, where he was part of the team that grew the Parkside Federation. A teacher of English, Media and Drama, Craig has visited schools across the world on study visits and was also Vice Chair of the National Association for the Teaching of English. Before returning to Parkside in 2019, Craig was Assistant Director and Secondary Adviser for the Southwark Diocesan Board of Education, supporting fifteen secondary schools and significant school changes across South London and Surrey. He also supported several primary schools in Croydon and Surrey in this role. Craig has been an accounting officer, school governor and academy trust director. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

• Kate Coates
  Director of Education
  Kate Coates

  Kate is an experienced Headteacher and Executive Headteacher who has worked in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. She has also worked in a wide range of settings and advised leaders on behalf of local authorities and the Diocese of Ely. She has always had a passion for inclusion as well as developing curriculums that enable children to be well-rounded, highly creative and exceed their potential.
  In her spare time, Kate enjoys looking after her chickens and a very lazy bulldog!

• Dynah Baller
  Director of Human Resources
  Dynah Baller

  Dynah has worked in education since 2011, firstly in a school based role and most recently in the central trust team where she has held the position of HR Director, since September 2022. Prior to this, Dynah worked in the private commercial sector, in business management, where her desire to develop a career in people management grew. She has always had a keen interest in education driven by her own thirst for learning and therefore she finds working in a people professional role in education a great fit. Dynah is a Level 7 qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.

• Charlotte Read
  Director of Operations
  Charlotte Read

  Charlotte has extensive experience of working in both NHS and Private dental services, where she was Practice Manager of a large dental surgery for several years before moving into education as Attendance Lead at a large primary school.

  Charlotte joined the central trust team in 2019 to work in operations. She has completed the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) Managing Safely qualification and is in the process of completing the NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety.

• Daniel Mayhew
  Director of Community and Partnerships
  Daniel Mayhew

  Daniel is an experienced senior leader who was Principal of Alde Valley Academy in Leiston prior to taking up his new trust role in January 2024.

  For more information on our community and partnerships programmes please click here.

• Helen Wilson
  Leadership Adviser
  Helen Wilson

  Helen was previously Principal of Thurston Community College before joining the trust as Director of Secondary Education. In her current role as Leadership Adviser, Helen supports our school improvement boards and works with senior and middle leaders across the trust.

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• Lisa Taylor
  Governance Professional
  Lisa Taylor

  Lisa joined Kingfisher in March 2024 as Governance Professional to lead on an exciting and important project to develop, strengthen and shape governance. Lisa's role involves supporting, advising, and training our valued volunteers working within trust and local governance and our school leaders, developing a scheme of delegation and framework that allows for effective governance and overseeing policies.

  Prior to joining the trust, Lisa worked within the financial services sector for over 20 years. She moved into the education sector in 2019 as a Governance Professional to a large MAT working within a range of secondary schools. In her spare time Lisa is a Brownie Leader, a committee member of a local grassroots football club, and a parent governor.