Central Finance & Administration

  Chief Financial Officer - Samantha Taylor

Samantha Taylor is a Fellow Chartered Accountant with over twenty-five years of accounting and business experience in a variety of public and private sector roles.

Trained at Deloitte in London, Samantha moved out of Practice after seven years into a wide range financial roles in organisations ranging from FTSE 100 companies to small charities.

Samantha joined Bourne Westfield Primary Academy at the start of 2014 and was actively involved in the development of the school including securing significant capital grants, the opening of a nursery and the development of a successful teaching school. Despite the financial challenges in the sector the school successfully grew its reserves for future developmental opportunities.

In anticipation of forming a new MAT in Lincolnshire, Samantha introduced financial software and processes to allow for the expansion of the trust as new schools joined.

Keystone Academy Trust has a centralised financial function with contributing staff based in all the Trust schools. The DfE Chart of Accounts is used with Sage for Academies. Budgets and forecasting are supported by Imp Budgeting Software.

The MAT continues to grow with seven schools as of September 2021. During this formation and growth, the CFO has concentrated on quickly developing an effective MAT-wide finance and purchasing team, with centralised processes, controls and procedures.  There also continues to be focus on value for money, financially supporting school improvement plans, and obtaining cost-savings through efficiencies.

 Deputy Chief Financial Officer - Lucy Robinson

Lucy Robinson is a Chartered accountant having over 30 years’ experience since qualifying with a small accountancy practice in London. 

Lucy’s first post after qualification was with The Crown Agents for Overseas Governments and Administrations before a move 'up North' also meant a change of job, becoming the Management Accountant for Fowler Welch Coolchain, a national temperature-controlled distribution company based in Spalding. 

Following 10 years working for a local company who specialised in software for the legal sector, seeing it through 2 major takeovers with as little disruption as possible, Lucy moved on to spend 12 years working for Knead Group Ltd as the Group Accountant where she was responsible for all areas of finance, internal and external.

Lucy has held various voluntary posts over the years including Treasurer of the Greenwich Branch of Mind, and the position of treasurer at the Stamford Volunteer Bureau.  Alongside her normal daily work Lucy also audits the books for several smaller organisations each year.

Lucy joined KAT in November 2021 and is looking forward to working to consolidate the finance function within the MAT and ensuring that management information is available on a timely basis, enabling Senior Management and the Board to make informed decisions. 

 Chief Operations Manager - Tracey Roscher

Following a career in banking, Tracey moved to the education sector in 2002, first as an administrator and later as a bursar. Both roles were in small LA maintained schools which gave Tracey the opportunity to manage a range of non-teaching support tasks covering IT, Premises, HR, Finance and Administration. It also made her acutely aware of the need to effectively support busy head teachers and school leaders, enabling them focus on teaching.

Tracey was involved in the successful formation of two federations of primary schools and learned the importance of collaborative approaches and building professional networks. Between 2008 and 2010, she studied with the National College of School Leadership and gained both the Certificate and Diploma in School Business Management.

In 2013, Tracey joined Long Sutton County Primary School as School Business Manager, operating at both senior leadership and strategic level.  At this two-form entry school, she initiated a move to Local Authority Prime Account status, giving the school greater control over finance and payroll. She led many premises development projects, most notably securing grant funding to build a school kitchen. The kitchen team, under her management, went on to provide School Food Standard ‘Gold’ certified meals for Long Sutton Primary pupils and four further schools.

Tracey was appointed Chief Operations Manager for Keystone Academy Trust in 2020 and is responsible for the strategic development and management of HR, IT, Estates, Facilities, Procurement and Compliance. She has successfully tendered for, and implemented, HR and payroll provision and has developed a strong professional and strategic partnership with a new IT managed services company. Both these collaborations mean Keystone Academy Trust systems are well placed to support future growth.

Tracey is an advocate for support staff in education and remains true to the same fundamental support function she observed in her earliest education roles – enabling heads and senior leaders to focus on quality teaching, so that children in their schools can have the best possible education and life chances.