Lucy Pearson

BA English 1990
Former England Cricketer
Head of Education, Football Association

Lucy Pearson is only the second woman to take 11 wickets in a Test match, which she did against Australia in 2003. During her nine year career opening the bowling for England, she played more than 75 matches for her country across all formats of the game and was twice named Women’s Player of the Year. She retired from cricket in 2005 with the recurrence of a stress fracture.

Lucy combined her cricketing career with a successful career in teaching, which she started in Norfolk before taking up a permanent post at Wolverhampton Grammar School and qualifying as an English teacher through the Open University. Lucy moved to Solihull School as Head of Sixth Form (and cricket coach) before being appointed Deputy Head at Wellington College, where she led on the College becoming fully co-educational, assisted with the establishment of The Wellington Academy and was the first Director of the Sunday Times Festival of Education.

In 2010, Lucy became Head of Cheadle Hulme School, the first female leader in the school’s 150 year history. She was appointed to the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2016 as a non-executive Director.

Following eight years as Head, Lucy’s career took a new direction and in August 2018 she began her current role as Head of Education at the Football Association (despite, by her own admission, knowing nothing about football). Her remit is to transform the department, which qualifies the football workforce, and ensure the coaching workforce is inclusive and diverse.

As an openly gay woman, Lucy believes in the importance of different role models in helping others become comfortable with who they are: “Keble enabled me to be who and what I wanted to be. I am proud to be one of its alumni, because of its stubborn refusal to be like all the rest.”