Dame Rachel is a nationally recognised educator and advocate for improving the life chances of disadvantaged children. Before her appointment as Children’s Commissioner, she led two schools from failing to outstanding, before founding and leading the Inspiration Trust, a family of fourteen schools in East Anglia. The trust was twice ranked as the nation’s top group of comprehensive schools based on pupil progress at GCSE. She was made a dame in 2014 for services to education.

Dame Rachel was appointed Children’s Commissioner in 2021. In this role she has unique legislative powers, is an advocate for children across the country, and represents children’s needs across Government. In role, Dame Rachel has completed the two largest-ever surveys of children ‘The Big Ask’ with over half-a-million responses and most recently, The Big Ambition. Dame Rachel is now building on the over a million voices she has captured directly, to present young people’s ideas to politicians and policy makers about how to make their lives better.