A Brighton primary school has appointed a new head teacher.
Wendy King, 49, will join the Bilingual Primary School on Tuesday 1 September. It will be her third headship in the town.
Ms King will join the Bilingual Primary School, in Falmer, from Bevendean Primary School, in Heath Hill Avenue, Lower Bevendean.
She became head in Bevendean in January 2009. Within months of her arrival an inspection by Ofsted, the official watchdog, rated the school as requiring improvement.
More recently it has been graded as good – progress she will be aiming to repeat in her new job.
Previously she was the head teacher of St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School, in Whitehawk Hill Road, Brighton, from 2000 to 2006.
In between her two previous headships she worked for Brighton and Hove City Council as school workforce consultant.
Ms King taught in Spain for six years when she was in her twenties. She spoke fluent Spanish – the main language other than English learnt by pupils at the Bilingual Primary School – and looks forward to regaining her fluency.
The Bilingual Primary School chair of governors Marina Gutierrez said: “We are delighted that Wendy will join our team.
“Wendy is an experienced head. She has led two local schools over 15 years.
“We look forward to the continuing improvement in our school with Wendy’s experience and the very good work that has already begun for this.”
The governors thanked acting head Laura O’Grady, who took over from the founding head Carolina Gopal last September.
Miss O’Grady said: “I am delighted to welcome Wendy to the BPS team at such an exciting time.
“As the school continues to grow I look forward to the leadership, expertise and support that Wendy will be providing as well as collaborating with her so we can take BPS to the next level.
“I am sure the BPS community will join me in giving Wendy a warm welcome.”
Ms King said: “I am really looking forward to working with the whole school community on the next stage of the school’s journey.
“I am very excited about the Bilingual School although it hasn’t been an easy decision to leave Bevendean which I love.”
The Bilingual Primary School is a free school. It opened in September 2012. It is due to move to a new site next to Hove Park, Waitrose and the Engineerium during the 2015-16 school year.
