The chief executive of the Marches Academy Trust, which has 11 schools in Shropshire, remembers being sent door knocking while at Frank F Harrison School in the 1990s to “sell the school to the local community”. For instance, when she took on headship of the Marches School in 2009, it had a separate unit for SEND children. A year later, Finch was appointed headteacher at Marches School – where she had worked previously as a teacher. Finch moved to executive head and then chief executive of the Marches academy trust in 2014. Like many trusts, Marches is battling with teacher recruitment and retention amid “the disillusionment of all teachers”, with many “really good teachers” leaving in the last year.