Trust Board

Sarah Noon - Chair of Trust Board / Foundation Director

Born in Kirby Muxloe, Sarah was educated at St Clare’s Convent, Coalville, Presentation Convent High School for Girls in Matlock, and the School of St Mary & St Anne, Abbots Bromley. She is a self-employed Farm Secretary working for five large farms across the East Midlands. Previously Sarah spent three years working for the BBC World Service in London and at BBC Radio Derby.

Sarah was appointed as a Foundation Governor at St Clare’s Catholic Primary School, Coalville in 2004, and sat on the governing body for 14 years, serving as Chair for five years. She was also a Foundation Director and Vice Chair of the Blessed Cyrian Tansi Catholic Academy Trust from 2012 to 2018. Working alongside other Chairs, Sarah supported the NRCDES with the preparation and launch of the four CMATs in the Diocese of Nottingham and has been a Foundation Director and Chair of the St Thomas Aquinas CMAT September 2018 to June 2026. She joined the Board of the St Ralph Sherwin CMAT in September 2021, taking up the role of Chair of the Board in September 2022.

Through her professional background Sarah brings knowledge of HR, payroll, compliance and finance.

Sarah has been married for 36 years, and has three sons and a daughter, all of whom were educated at schools within the St Thomas Aquinas CMAT. As a Foundation Director of the St Ralph Sherwin CMAT, Sarah is committed to ensuring that the Catholic ethos is a lived and daily experience, that permeates every aspect of school life, and which in turn enables young people to be sent out as missionary disciples after leaving the schools within the CMAT.

Reverend Richard Walsh - Vice-Chair of Trust Board / Foundation Director

Deacon Richard is a lecturer in Business, Health and Environmental Science in the Access to Further Education Centre at the University of Derby and formerly a chemist and bacteriologist in the water industry. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health and a member of the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management. Richard is currently a Catholic Chaplain at the University of Derby, providing spiritual and practical support to both students and staff. Additionally, Richard has over 30 years’ experience as an accountant in the legal profession.

Clare McKenzie – Foundation Director

After studying at the University of Aberdeen and a Post-Graduate year at the University of Bath, Clare spent 37 years teaching Science and Psychology in Secondary Schools. She had several roles including Head of Department, Head of Upper School, Deputy Head and a short period as Acting Headteacher. Throughout Clare’s time as Deputy Head, she was responsible for safeguarding. After retiring from teaching, Clare was appointed to the role of Safeguarding Coordinator for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nottingham where she stayed for three and a half years. In this role Clare managed all safeguarding including dealing with current and historic cases, managing the recruitment of volunteers, and delivering training to all stakeholders in the diocese.

Clare has a breadth of experience having worked in four different schools and leading staff both in an academic capacity and in pastoral care. She has significant school management experience and during her time as acting Headteacher Clare took the school through a significant restructure programme. She was asked to join St Ralph Sherwin Trust specifically for her experience and expertise in safeguarding.

Jennifer Lawes – Foundation Director

Jennifer was born and raised in Australia in a strong Catholic family. She and her husband, have 7 wonderful children and she has spent the best part of the last 30 years interacting with many schools on both sides of the globe. She has served on several PTAs and has been involved with many parishes as the family has moved around. Jennifer’s early working background was in office administration. She is currently self-employed as a Homoeopath and Bookkeeper. She has frequently engaged in education for herself since leaving school, most recently attaining a BSc (Hons) in Life Sciences.

Jennifer’s Catholic faith is the most important aspect of her life, and she looks forward to continuing to support Catholic education in the Diocese of Nottingham.

Emily Ball – Foundation Director

Emily is the Head of Treasury and Business Intelligence at Oakbrook Finance Ltd, a regulated financial services company. She joined in 2021 and previously worked at Nottingham Building Society. Emily is accountable for liquidity and cashflow management, financial risk oversight, budgeting and multi-year forecasting, and the financial data and reporting on which board decisions are based. Her role operates within a formal external compliance framework, including funding conditions, reporting obligations and regular external scrutiny through audit and due diligence, experience that translates directly to the regularity, propriety, and going-concern responsibilities of an academy trust board.

Emily brings to the board practical capability in three areas: financial sustainability, through scenario planning, stress testing, and monitoring of financial risk; governance and control, having strengthened financial frameworks and reduced reporting error; and data integrity, being the SME on financial data. Emily also has experience of translating complex financial information into clear board-level reporting and supporting effective challenge by non-finance colleagues.

Paul Medcalf – Foundation Director

Born in Derby, Paul went to St Joseph’s Primary School in Derby and St Ralph Sherwin (now St Benedict) in Darley Abbey, both of which are now within the St Ralph Sherwin CMAT.

He started work for a small accountancy firm in Derby before moving on to work at two of the ‘Big 4’ accountancy practices in London. He has spent most of his career working with distressed and insolvent businesses and more recently became the Head of Performance & Operations of the Infrastructure, Government and Health team at KPMG.

Paul has is married with two boys, both of whom went to schools that form part of the St Ralph Sherwin CMAT. Paul is a parishioner at St Mary’s, Derby.

Steve Crawford – Foundation Director

Steve was born in Warrington, graduating from the University of Sheffield with a Biochemistry degree and prior to retirement, worked in the food industry for his entire career.

Steve held various technical, operations and commercial roles before becoming Managing Director of one of the manufacturing divisions while also guiding the organisations people and health & safety strategies.

After retirement, Steve continued to provide development and consultancy support for an independent, privately owned project management company.

Steve is also a Trustee of Nova Education Trust, with 5 years’ experience, where he is Chair of the Finance Committee and sits on the Audit Committee. Prior to becoming a trustee Steve was, for many years, Chair of Governors at one of the trust’s primary schools.

Sian Hampton OBE – Foundation Director

Sian’s career has been shaped by her belief that every child should have the right to the best education possible and should flourish at school. This has meant championing inclusion and fighting for justice for the most vulnerable children. Sian has worked as an education leader for over 20 years. She began her career in a large secondary school in Chelmsley Wood, teaching history. Sian’s career has mainly been based in diverse city secondary schools with high levels of deprivation, where she has seen at first hand the barriers that exist for many children. Sian led the creation of Archway Learning Trust where she served as Principal, Executive Principal and latterly CEO for 22 years. In the most challenging schools, she had up to 70% of the cohort on free school meals and a similar number known to social care with open case files. The trust was known in Nottingham for its inclusive ethos and its refusal to permanently exclude children.

During Sian’s tenure at Archway Learning Trust, she held numerous additional roles from supporting local authorities, where she chaired Schools Forum, to working as a member of the Diocesan Board of Education. Sian has been a designated National Leader of Education and currently serves as a RISE Advisor, having also served as a member of the Regional Advisory Board. Sian was an Ofsted inspector for five years. The DfE has approached her to mentor new CEOs, and she has served as a Trustee on a regional networking and training group, Inspiring Leaders. Sian regularly speaks at conferences such as Forum Strategy, Optimus and representing CST. In June 2025 she was honored for her contribution to education with the awarding of an OBE.

Sian currently serves as a Trustee for EMET and has offered to support the St Ralph Sherwin Trust Board as it moves forward.

Paul Heery – Foundation Director

Since April 2025, Paul has worked as a RISE adviser for the Department for Education, supporting school improvement through the RISE programme across the East Midlands.

He trained in London as a primary teacher and began teaching in 1989 and held two deputy headships and four substantive headships across primary, middle, and secondary phases, including an executive headship of two secondary schools. In each role Paul led improvements in pupil outcomes and Ofsted gradings, underpinned by inclusive practice and a broad curriculum.

As CEO, Paul established and developed the White Hills Park Trust from a two-school federation into a thriving 12-school multi-academy trust, comprising primary, secondary and special schools. He also mentored three other trusts through the Trust School Improvement programme.

Paul worked as a local authority senior adviser and served as a national strategy lead for four years. He was also an Ofsted lead and team inspector for over 10 years.

Paul served on a range of boards and committees, including the DfE Regional Director Advisory Board, the Nottinghamshire SEND Partnership Board, and the University of Nottingham Schools and Colleges Board. He is a trustee of Tapestry Multi Academy Trust (formerly the Djanogly Trust) and the Williams Syndrome Foundation, and a member of RISE MAT.

Paul regularly presents at conferences, has led professional development on many occasions, and published blogs and articles. He co-authored content for a Childhood Studies degree programme and has a longstanding interest in the accountability framework in education and SEND and Inclusion.

Paul holds an MEd and an EdD from the University of Nottingham. His doctoral thesis, After Ofsted Failure: The Emotional Journeys of Headteachers, explored leadership and accountability in the context of inspection.

Paul is a practising Catholic and is active in his local parish. He has worked in 3 Catholic schools, including a Headship of a Catholic Middle School.

Frank Kirkland – Foundation Director

Frank grew up in South West London, his father worked for City & Guilds and his mother was a secretary at the Surrey Education Authority, so the value of education was instilled in him from an early age. Once leaving school Frank completed his Mechanical Engineering degree at Manchester University. He then secured a job at Rolls-Royce in Derby as a Graduate Trainee. Over the subsequent 39 years he fulfilled various roles finishing as Company Chief Designer. During his career he had to address Governance, Risk, Financial Accountability and delivery of Major Projects.

After this Frank became a University Professor reflecting his desire to develop the next generation of talent. He is also a Non-Executive Member of a Devolved Government Departmental Board again addressing Governance, Risk, Finance and Project Management

Frank was a School Governor at a Catholic Secondary School for 12 years acting as Deputy Chair of Governors and Finance Governor. This gave him the experience of balancing financial considerations whilst obtaining the best outcomes for children, ensuring staff wellbeing and maintaining a Catholic Ethos. The imperative of giving every child the chance to succeed and develop is a critical consideration that requires a consistent and thoughtful approach.

Frank looks forward to the challenge and opportunity to use the skills he has acquired to ensure the pupils and staff of St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust have the best possible outcomes.

Philip Harding – Foundation Director

Philip served in 3 police forces in the UK over 31 years, retiring from Derbyshire Constabulary at the rank of Detective Superintendent (Grade 2).

During this time, Philip was Head of the Drug Squad and the Child Protection Unit.

After retiring he was employed by the Department for International Development as Head of CID in the Turks and Caicos Islands and subsequently by The Police College training senior detectives in Uganda.

Philip has been a school governor for the last 26 years and was Chair of Governors at Milford Primary School, John Flamsteed Community School and Ripley Academy.

he was a Director/Trustee of East Midlands Education Trust and is currently a Member of that Trust.

Philip’s leisure interests are in walking, gardening and fly fishing. He is Chair of the English Police Fly Fishing Association and regularly represents them in competitions throughout the UK and Ireland.