Catherine Willcocks began her current role as School Improvement officer at The First Federation Trust in April 2025. She has been a headteacher for eight years, in two contrasting communities, and has previously held several leadership roles which include EYFS/KS1 Lead and Assistant Headteacher. With substantial experience in Early Years teaching, including two years of EYFS county moderation, alongside a further 20 years of teaching across the full primary age range, Catherine promotes great importance on a strong start to a child’s learning journey that prepares them for a future of opportunity.

In more recent years Catherine has valued the opportunities she has had to work at a Trust level through school and Trust improvement foci. This successful work has supported Catherine to achieve the NPQ in Executive Leadership in 2024 whilst enjoying the collaborative relationships she has formed with both primary and secondary leadership colleagues. Catherine is passionate about her engagement with educational research and her successes in developing strong pedagogical principles in classrooms and learning settings, achieved through high quality and incremental coaching, leading to good or better outcomes for children. This passion is underpinned by her achieving the STEPLab coaching certificated qualification in 2024 and has enabled her to develop and champion great teachers, coaches and leaders at school and Trust level.