Permanent Head of School Appointment

On Tuesday 11th September 2018, our Trustees were delighted to appoint a permanent Head of School, Mr Martyn Berry, who joins us with a wealth of experience at Senior Leadership, having worked with a wide and diverse range of children and parents in a variety of schools. We have been searching very carefully for the right candidate and I genuinely did not expect to get so strong a candidate, and so right a fit for our school, so soon in the recruitment process. To be able to let you know that we have successfully appointed is, therefore, a delight and a relief in equal measure.

Mr Berry starts with us in his full time, permanent role on Monday 8th October, which is also more than we could ever have hoped. This is good news for a number of reasons, not least because we won’t need to wait until Christmas for another big change and we can all settle again to the business in hand much sooner. In the meantime, Mr Berry with be attending our Parent Information Evenings (Tuesday 18th @ 6pm for Year 7, Wednesday 19th @ 6pm for Year 10 and 7pm for Year 11 and then Wednesday 26th @ 6pm for Year 8 and 9). For those of you unable to attend, we will share the PowerPoints from the evenings with you so that you know what has gone on. Mr Berry will hopefully pop in at other times so you can meet him, but I have no doubt the 8th October will come round soon enough.

In the meantime, we have made an incredibly positive start to the term and I am delighted with the response from students, staff and parents. There are lots of things that need sorting of course, and we won’t always get everything right first time, but it is genuinely enriching and inspirational to work with you all. The changes are tangible day by day. Do keep feeding back to us and, for those of you who have been in touch, we will get back to you as soon as we possibly can.

Because of the way everyone is working together so effectively, and now that we have a permanent Head of School starting soon, Mr Trickett has decided that there is more work he could be doing elsewhere, and hence he has decided to leave us today. I want to thank him for helping us these last two weeks. We needed that extra pair of hands, and to be parachuted into the midst of this was quite a task. I know you will join me in wishing him every happiness in his future.

In the meantime, myself, members of our Executive Team and our Senior Leadership Team in school will continue to work together to improve our school on a daily basis. We remain excited to be working together and incredibly optimistic for the future.

Keep feeding back, keep asking questions, and I look forward to meeting as many of you as can make it at our Parent Information Evenings next week.

Best wishes,

Mrs Gwinnett

Executive Headteacher