Garry Ratcliffe

Garry Ratcliffe is the Chief Executive of The Golden Thread Alliance, consisting of nine Primary Academies clustered in North Kent serving just under 5000 young people. As well as having extensive leadership experience within Kent Schools, Garry began his career, teaching and leading internationally. Working in Qatar, Jordan and Japan enabled Garry to deepen his understanding of multiculturalism and to learn from a rich and diverse group of educators and leaders as well as wonderful children and young people from all around the world. Believing that every single person who works in education must be child centred, his philosophy about education is underpinned by the values that he holds at his core, which are - Respect, Responsibility and Equality. These are the foundation stones that are actively promoted and practiced across the whole Trust - an invitation to a way of life. Garry has four amazing children who are all adopted, three of them have special educational needs and disabilities. In his spare time, together with his husband, they run a charity which offers education, opportunities and experiences that really focus on the development of the whole child, for children that come from the most challenging and vulnerable backgrounds.