Quick Facts
Biography
Dame Rachel Mary de Souza (born January 1968) is a British academic, educationist and former schoolteacher and schools inspector. Since 2012, she has been the CEO of the Inspiration Trust. De Souza was appointed a Dame in the 2014 New Year Honours for her services to education.
Career
An alumna of Heythrop College, University of London, she is the first graduate of the college to receive a damehood. Born in Scunthorpe in 1968, she was the middle child among three brothers. Her father was a steelworker, her mother an Austro-Hungarian refugee. She attended a local Catholic comprehensive school and earned a BA in Philosophy and Theology at Heythrop. She later completed a PGCE at King's College London before moving with her husband to Oxford, where he studied at Jesus College. She later served as deputy head at Denbigh High School, Luton.
As Chief Executive Officer of the Inspiration Trust, a federation of seven schools across Norfolk, she specialises in raising educational standards. Before being appointed to the Trust, de Souza was the principal of Ormiston Victory Academy in Costessey, Norwich. She was credited with turning the school around. Ofsted described the school as "Outstanding".