Alison Bingham is the new director of business and enterprise at the Bulwell Academy in Nottingham. Mrs Bingham, who will work with newly appointed head Graham Roberts, joins the academy from the East Midlands Development Agency, where she worked for five years. Previously, Mrs Bingham worked at the Learning and Skills Council. The Bulwell Academy is opening in September this year and will replace the Henry Mellish and River Leen schools.
Sarah Longville has been appointed head of The Marches School and Technology College in Oswestry, Shropshire.
She will start in September. She was deputy principal and head of school at The Hereford Academy, Herefordshire, for four years. Ms Longville replaces Graham Davies, who moved on to a new position at the end of 2008 after six years as head. Jan Glover is acting headteacher.
Sian Carr is to become the new principal of Tunbridge Wells Academy in Kent, which will open in September this year and replace Tunbridge Wells High School. Mrs Carr, who has spent five years training and developing headteachers, will start in May. The academy will open in the buildings of Tunbridge Wells High School, but move into new Pounds 30 million buildings on the site in 2012.
Ruth Linsley is the new head of Romsey Primary in Romsey, Hampshire. Mrs Linsley, currently head of Eling Infant School, Totton, also in Hampshire, and Harbour Children’s Centre, takes up her new job in April. She will be the school’s fourth headteacher since it was created in September 2006.
Chris Firth, a Whitby English teacher, has been commissioned to edit a book of contemporary poetry from writers in this country influenced by Islam and poetry of the PersianArabic tradition. Sama Ghazal Salaam UK, due for publication this year, will feature poems by Muslim and non-Muslim writers from the UK. Mr Firth was asked to commission the cross-cultural book after a selection of his poetry was shortlisted for the 2008 UK Muslim Writers’ Awards. email entries by March 30 to: electraglade@aol.com
Headteacher Liz Ramsay has taken early retirement from Arthur Dye Primary School in Cheltenham. Arthur Dye, which is in special measures, has just been awarded Pounds 250,000 from Gloucestershire County Council to improve its learning environment. Mrs Ramsay, who has been at the school in Springbank Road, Cheltenham, for five years, is planning to write educational books for children.
Kate Mason is to be the first woman to head King Edward VI Community College in its 456-year history. Ms Mason has been vice-principal of the school in Totnes, Devon, for six years. She will take over in September from Stephen Jones, who is retiring.
Jill Berry
The new president of the Girls’ Schools Association is refreshingly upbeat about modern culture. She has received the ultimate accolade for a professional cynic.
“Politicians tend to sound the same when they come to talk to GSA conferences,” she says. “Education isn’t important to them. It’s just a vehicle. I said that to John Humphrys at a Princes Trust conference and he said, ‘You are being cynical.’ I felt quite flattered to have been accused of cynicism by John Humphrys.”
Profile, TES Magazine, page 18.
