Executive Team

• Paul Stubbings
  Catholic Executive Officer
  Paul Stubbings

  Paul joined the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School as a teacher of Classics in 1989, was appointed Headmaster in 2011, and became its Executive Head in 2025 until September 2026; from then, he worked full-time as CEO of the Saint John Southworth Catholic Academy Trust (SJSCAT), which he helped to found in 2021.

  During Paul's time as Headmaster at Cardinal Vaughan, the school was named The Sunday Times's Comprehensive School of the Year in 2018, as well as its London State Secondary School of the Year. An Outstanding Ofsted judgement followed in 2021; more recently in 2026, when the Vaughan was awarded four Exceptional gradings out of seven under the new Ofsted toolkit, it became one of only a handful of schools nationally to have received that number or more.

  Paul has been a National Leader in Education, offering support across a number of schools seeking to develop in terms of leadership and curriculum. He has served as Westminster Diocese's Interim Director of Academisation and sits on the Academy Project Board, supporting heads and governors who wish to participate in the Diocesan plans to preserve and strengthen Catholic education by forming Catholic academy Trusts.

  Convinced of the ability multi-academy trusts have to support learning by sharing expertise across schools, while providing staff within them with a more secure and dynamic environment, Paul is dedicated to promoting the formation and achievement of all 3,000 pupils in the ten schools (and growing) of the SJSCAT.

• Nicholas Kehoe
  Chief Operating Officer
  Nicholas Kehoe

  Nicholas has previously been:

  • Deputy Head (Curriculum) at a secondary level
  • SEND Director
  • Executive Head of a Primary School
  • A Local Authority Advisor for Vocational Education
  • A former Vice Chair and Trustee of a National Charity working with Young People.

  His experience over the last thirty years has been in developing a range of curriculum solutions for schools. In recent years he has worked with other colleagues, the DfE, and Formatio (SE Hub) in developing bespoke training programmes to meet the individual needs of schools. His aim is always to ensure that the pupils and staff are provided with the best opportunities and experience possible.

• Karen Cunningham
  Deputy Chief Operating Officer
  Karen Cunningham

• Steven Keogh
  Chief Financial Officer
  Steven Keogh

  Steven Keogh is an experienced School Business Professional with over twenty-five years' experience. As a member of the leadership team of The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, he supported the school through its transition from grant-maintained to voluntary aided status and then to becoming a single academy Trust and most recently to the formation of the current Saint John Southworth Catholic Academy Trust. He is a long-term member of the Local Authority's Schools Forum and supports various working parties at both local and diocesan level as well as maintaining various roles including as a governor of a primary school, catechist in his local parish and as a volunteer or trustee in several other charities.

• Karen Wyatt
  Chief School Improvement Officer
  Karen Wyatt

  Karen Wyatt, Executive Headteacher, St Joseph's Catholic Primary School and St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School.

  Karen has taught in London for over 20 years, taking her first bite at headship 10 years ago. In September 2013 she took up the substantive headship at St Joseph's Catholic Primary school in Chelsea. Judged as Satisfactory by Ofsted in April 2012, the school then went on a journey of improving practices in teaching and learning, bringing rigour to monitoring systems. In November 2013, Ofsted judged the school to be Outstanding in all areas.

  In September 2016, Karen took on the role of consultant head, working with another local school, St Thomas of Canterbury, to support them in the drive towards improving standards. In 2017, this developed into an executive headteacher role. During this time, St Thomas' secured a Good judgement in its 2018 Ofsted and, in its 2019 Section 48, secured Good for Classroom Religious Education and Outstanding for the Catholic Life of the School.