Local Academy Board

Kash Rafiq (Principal - MEA)

Kash Rafiq is a former Moor End Academy student who grew up on the Walpole estate. He dreamed of playing football for Liverpool FC, 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 complete his GCSEs and A levels. He was the first from his family to attend University and graduated from the University of Huddersfield with a 2:1 BSC Social Sciences degree.

In 2004 Kash began his career at Intake High School as a Learning Mentor working with students who had significant barriers to learning. In this role, he successfully led on the Stephen Lawrence Education Standard; achieving Level 3 and the following year he took over a PSHCE curriculum deemed unsatisfactory by Ofsted. Following a 2008 inspection, Ofsted praised the PSHCE curriculum as innovative and that “Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development were good.” In 2007, Kash further enhanced his experience by joining Education Leeds as an advisor on community cohesion, achievement and PSHCE supporting schools across the city.

Kash secured the role of Year 11 School Leader in 2007 and gained qualified teacher status at this time, consistently achieving a 90% A*-C pass rate in Religious Education and Sociology. In 2009 he was promoted to Assistant Principal, leading on KS4 Achievement and SMSC at Leeds West Academy and oversaw the 3-year significant rise in GCSE results from 21% to 57% (E/M+3) and 31% to 82% for 5+ GCSE. Kash was also part of the leadership team that secured ‘Good with Outstanding leadership’ in 2012.

Kash became Vice Principal at Leeds East Academy in April 2013, leading on behaviour and safety which had been deemed inadequate. When Ofsted re-visited the Academy in January 2015 they noted “The behaviour of students in classes had been transformed and behaviour was no longer a barrier to student progress.” Due to being highly impactful as Vice Principal, he was promoted to Senior Vice Principal in 2016 and subsequently to Associate Principal in 2017. Leeds East Academy moved from being the worst performing secondary school in Leeds, with a Progress 8 score of -0.74, to a school in the top 9th percentile of schools nationally, with a validated Progress 8 score of +0.33.

During a 15-year career in education, Kash has gained a depth and breadth of leadership experience due to leading on a wide range of high profile leadership roles and has an impressive proven track record of raising standards in behaviour, T and L and outcomes, as well as the experience of developing and coaching colleagues to many middle and senior leadership positions.

He was appointed as Principal of Moor End Academy in March 2018. Kash Rafiq says “I am truly honoured and privileged to have the opportunity to lead a school with such a rich tradition of educational excellence. As the Principal I am passionate about the belief that all individuals need to feel valued and encouraged and I’m committed to delivering an outstanding education to each one of our students”.