Guy Hutchence has been appointed principal designate for the East Manchester Academy in Beswick. The new academy will open in September 2010 and will be a centre of excellence for everything relating to the built environment, providing 900 places for 11 to 16-year-olds, as well as a sixth form.
Bruce Guthrie, head at Bishop Barrington School, a sports with mathematics college in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, is to retire at the end of term after 35 years. He joined the school in 1973 as a science teacher and became head in 2003. Mr Guthrie has also had a long association with the AQA exam board and its predecessors; he will also retire as chair of its finance committee at Easter.
Jackie Gent, deputy head, will be acting head from Easter.
Lancashire County Council has appointed three new directors within its children’s services.
Ann Pennell has become director for commissioning, performance and business support. Her most recent role was in the Building Schools for the Future programme. Bob Stott will be director for universal and prevention services, and will support and improve educators in schools, children’s centres, youth centres and in residential care. Faith Mann, an assistant director of children’s services with Salford City Council, will be director for targeted and early intervention.
Bridget Evans has become director of Enfield’s Building Schools for the Future programme. In May last year, she was seconded to lead the BSF project and has now been confirmed in that post after eight years as head at the borough’s Bishop Stopford’s School. Her first task is to help develop five Enfield secondaries.
Maureen Strudwick has been appointed head of Thomas Clarkson Community College in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. Ms Strudwick has been acting head of the college since July 2008 following the resignation of the previous head, John Bennett.
Janet Hayward, head of Barry Island Primary School in the Vale of Glamorgan, has won the prestigious Leading Wales award for her work in the public sector. The accolade celebrates achievements in leadership and management. Mrs Hayward is the first primary head to win it. She was chosen for her “inspiring” leadership at a school that has received glowing praise from Estyn, the Welsh inspectorate.
Trevor Averre Beeson has become director of education for Lilac Sky Schools, supporting schools in need of transformation, typically those in the National Challenge or those which have failed Ofsted. In 1996, at 35, he became the youngest secondary headteacher in the UK at Mayfield School in Redbridge, north-east London, then moved to become head of Islington Green School in 2002. In 2007, he was appointed executive head of Salisbury School in Edmonton, north London, run by the US firm Edison Schools.
Noorul Choudhury
You are a would-be property magnate. Where to start? Maybe in a science classroom, teaching 13-year-olds.
Noorul Choudhury, science teacher, is among the contestants promising to give Sir Alan Sugar 150 per cent as he hunts for his next apprentice.
Noorul’s entry on the BBC’s website reveals the 33-year-old is “fashion obsessed” and his approach to making his fortune includes starting a men’s tailoring firm. Business, he says, “is a cut-throat, dog-eat-dog game that you must play to win”.
‘The Apprentice’ will be shown on BBC1 at 9pm on Wednesdays.
