New Year’s Honour recognition for local education leader
John Taylor MAT is delighted to announce the recognition of Trust CEO, Mike Donoghue in the New Year’s Honours List 2025 with an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for services to education.
Mike is delighted to be recognised in this way and said: “It is with an overwhelming sense of pride that I receive this great honour, but also with an equally profound debt of gratitude that I owe to all those who have supported me – both professionally and personally – in my endeavours that are recognised in this award. It is their enthusiasm and talent, together with their patience and kindness, that have been of immense and constant value. I have been truly fortunate to live and work alongside innumerable amazing individuals and within wonderful communities. This is the perfect opportunity to thank them all.”
John Taylor MAT is one of the region’s largest Multi-Academy Trusts’, currently serving a family of 20 schools across the primary and secondary phases, across Staffordshire and Derbyshire.
The Trust was founded by Mike in 2014 at John Taylor High School – an outstanding secondary school in Barton-Under-Needwood, and the first in Staffordshire to convert to become an Academy in 2010. Also located on the same site is the John Taylor Teaching School Hub which has a strong reputation for creating the Department for Education’s “golden thread” of outstanding professional development and support for teachers and leaders, including the John Taylor SCITT (School Centred Initial Teacher Training) since 2015.
In addition, the Staffordshire Research School was created within the Trust in 2019, whose aim is to help leaders and teachers make evidence-based decisions to improve teaching and learning outcomes for all children, with a particular focus on those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The Trust has a strong Free School programme and is currently working to deliver Staffordshire’s first “all-through” School for pupils from 3 years – 18 years. The secondary phase of Rugeley John Taylor School will open with 150 Year 7 places in September 2025, with the primary phase to open to Nursery and Reception pupils in September 2026, on the site of the former Rugeley Power Station.
Prior to becoming Headteacher of John Taylor High School in 2010, Mike served as a teacher and leader in secondary schools in Staffordshire and Walsall, and in Swindon where his teaching career began. He is married with two grown up children.
