Senior Leaders

Kash Rafiq - Executive Principal

Kash Rafiq dreamed of playing football, but his school careers adviser told him it was very unlikely to happen as there were no Asian footballers in the top league. Kash instead decided to go to college and was the first from his family to attend and graduate from University.

During a 19-year career in education, 12 as a senior leader, Mr Rafiq has gained a depth and breadth of leadership experience due to leading on a wide range of high-profile leadership roles in schools facing considerable challenges and disadvantage.

Mr Rafiq has a proven track record of highly impactful school improvement and consistently demonstrating the ability to lead, motivate and inspire both staff and students alike - which has resulted in rapid, tangible, and sustained improvement in every school he has worked in.

Mr Rafiq was appointed as Principal of Moor End Academy in April 2018, the school he attended as a teenager. During his time as Principal, he implemented a wide range of strategies which transformed behaviour and attitudes as well as learning and teaching resulting in the academy becoming oversubscribed and one of the highest performing schools nationally with a Progress 8 score of +0.75. In addition to this the academy were appointed by the DfE to become a lead ‘Behaviour Hub’ school in 2022 as well as successfully achieving ‘World Class’ accreditation in March 2021 becoming the first and only school in Kirklees to achieve this prestigious quality mark.

Mr Rafiq was promoted to Executive Principal in February 2022 and now leads three schools providing the academy Principals with the support, challenge and strategic guidance required to maintain and improve progress to ensure all three academies always strive for excellence.

Moor End academy in Huddersfield (April 2018)
Park Lane academy in Halifax (February 2022)
Waterhead academy in Oldham (January 2023

Mr Rafiq is also a member of the Regional Headteachers advisory board for Yorkshire and Humberside which enables him to share his professional expertise and experience to support and inform regional decisions.

As an educator Mr Rafiq is passionate about the belief that all individuals need to feel valued and encouraged and he has a deep-seated belief that all children deserve an excellent education regardless of what school they attend.