Rachel De Souza

Dame Rachel Mary de Souza ''(née'' Kenny; born 1968, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire) is the Children's Commissioner for England. She is a British educationalist and social reformer, a former headteacher and founding chief executive of the Inspiration Trust.

She was appointed DBE in the 2014 New Year Honours "for services to education".

Early life

Born in Scunthorpe in 1968, Rachel Kenny is the only female of four siblings. Her father David was a steelworker, while her mother Renate Telewny arrived in England as a refugee; Renate's father was a German railwayman from Leipzig, and her mother a Hungarian. Her stepfather Simon Telewny was Ukrainian.

She attended St Bede's, a local Catholic comprehensive school, then attended the John Leggott College, gaining A-levels in English and Religious Studies in 1986. She graduated as BA in Philosophy and Theology from Heythrop College, University of London. De Souza then received a PGCE and MA in Education at King's College London.

Career in education

During her career, de Souza taught in Oxfordshire, Tower Hamlets and Luton Sixth Form College, and later served as deputy head at Denbigh High School, Luton.

Her first headship was at Barnfield West Academy in Luton, before being appointed principal of Ormiston Victory Academy (Costessey, Norwich). In 2012, she co-founded the Inspiration Trust, a multi-academy trust based in Norwich. She grew the Trust to include 14 schools across Norfolk and Suffolk.

She was appointed DBE in the 2014 New Year Honours "for services to education" following her successes rapidly turning around failing schools.

Children's Commissioner

De Souza became Children's Commissioner for England on 1 March 2021. As the most powerful child protection post in the country, she advocates for the views children in England, as well as children in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on UK Parliamentary reserved matters, such as immigration.

During an evidence session to the Education Select Committee preceding her appointment, at a time when numerous Children's Commissioners, including those for Wales and Scotland, had already committed to banning corporal punishment against children, de Souza was criticised for failing to do so. However, early into her role, having started on 1 March 2021, she said she was against violence of any form towards children, and in an article for the Times 20 April 2022 she said she was supportive of a ban being introduced in England. In December 2024, following the murder of Sara Sharif, she reiterated her position, calling for the end of the ‘reasonable chastisement’ clause that exists as a defence to assault against children in English law.

Since 2021 she has carried out several large-scale surveys of children, parents and carers, and professionals working with them – The Big Ask, The Big Ambition and her School and College Survey – to take their views to politicians and decision makers. In total she has engaged with one million children, reflecting their experience in her work and she has established a youth participation programme of Youth Ambassadors.

The Big Ask

In March 2021 de Souza announced plans to commission a major survey of children’s views on policy ideas that would improve their lives and opportunities. ‘The Big Ask’ was launched on 19 April 2021, supported by international footballer and children's campaigner Marcus Rashford. Over six weeks the survey gathered 557,077 individual responses, making it the largest detailed survey of children ever conducted. According to the survey, the three primary concerns reported by children recovering from the pandemic were their mental health, their education experience, and the lack of local activities.

The Big Ambition

In March 2024, ahead of the 2024 UK general election, de Souza published the findings of her next survey, The Big Ambition, which heard from 367,000 children. Launched in parliament, The Big Ambition found only 22% of children and young people agreed that people who run the country listen to what they had to say – the most negatively answered question in the survey. In The Big Ambition, de Souza called on all politicians to listen to children and act on what they said. She also set out recommendations to improve children’s lives including the closure of all Young Offenders Institutions, raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, and calling for the end of the two-child limit.

School and college survey

In September 2024, de Souza announced plans to use her 2F powers of the Children Act 2004 on all 20,000+ schools and colleges in England for the first time. The survey, consisting of 25 questions, asked schools and colleges about the support offered to pupils and their families, staff roles and responsibilities, and the characteristics of vulnerable pupils. The survey closed in January 2025 and will be published in 2025.

Work as Children’s Commissioner

Online safety and children’s access to pornography

In response to Ofsted's review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges on 10 June 2021, which was prompted by the Everyone's Invited movement, de Souza was commissioned by Government to review online safety for children, with a focus on the prevalence of sexualised content. Over the following three months, she met with the owners and administrators of adult content sites, all major social media companies, and content sharing platforms, and co-chaired a meeting with Ministers and senior representatives of the eight largest internet and social media companies
to urge for greater protections for children
and support for the Online Safety Bill, which became law in 2023.

De Souza has campaigned for robust age limits on adult content sites and has called for tighter age verification on sites that children already engage with and use. Her work to strengthen the UK Government’s Online Safety Act, through workshops and focus groups with young people and other leading child’s rights organisations
led to her recommendations being accepted
during the passage of the legislation, and to her being named as a statutory consultee on the face of the Act.

School attendance and absence

In early 2022, as Covid restrictions lifted in the UK, de Souza announced her office would research and explore how to get children either persistently absent from school, or out of school altogether

Since then, she has advocated for a collaborative approach involving schools, local authorities and other agencies, while recommending a unique identifier for children so no child falls through the gaps. Her work on attendance, finding children missing from education, and encouraging and supporting them back into education is ongoing.

Mental health and wellbeing

Since February 2022, de Souza has publishe
an annual mental health briefing on children’s experiences of mental health services
Her reports have consistently highlighted challenges and areas for improvement in children’s mental health services in England, including access to services, long waiting times and investment disparities. In her reports de Souza has called for long-term strategies to address these issues, emphasising the need for early intervention.

Family Review

De Souza’s independent Family Review looked at modern family life, highlighting the importance of strong, supportive relationships and the role of public services in family life.

Strip searching of children by police forces

The case of Child Q, a 15-year-old black girl who was strip-searched at school without an appropriate adult present, led de Souza to investigate the practice of strip-searching of children by police
She has produced three reports on strip-searching
with her last finding between January 2018 and June 2023 a child had been strip-searched every 14 hours by police in England and Wales.

Immigration and migrant children

As part of her role as Children’s Commissioner, de Souza regularly visits reception centres and processing sites in Kent where migrants crossing the Channel in small boats enter the country. She publishe
a briefing for MPs on the Illegal Migration Bill
and gave oral evidence to the Immigration Bill Committee in February 2025. Riots and children’s motivations Following the riots in Southport, de Souza used her powers of entry to speak to children involved in the violence. Findings revealed children’s involvement was largely unconsidered and did not follow the expected pattern of being driven by social media and right-wing ideologies.

Advocacy and participation

As Children's Commissioner, de Souza has introduced both Youth Ambassadors and the Care Experienced Advisory Board, increasing advocacy and participation for children and young people.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Souza, Rachel de
1968 births
Living people
Alumni of Heythrop College
Alumni of King's College London
People from Scunthorpe
Heads of schools in England
British women chief executives
Schoolteachers from Lincolnshire
Children's rights in the United Kingdom
Children's Commissioners for England
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire