‘Sky is the limit’ for new school principal
‘Double celebrations’ are in order at Chichester Free School after it retained its ‘good’ Ofsted rating and appointed a new principal.
Louise New, who has been assistant head teacher since 2016, will replace interim principal Jenny Clough in September.
Mrs Clough said: “The governors’ interview panel was hugely impressed with Louise’s knowledge, commitment and inspiring vision for the school and was unanimous in its decision to appoint her as principal. I warmly congratulate Louise New on her appointment. She will provide outstanding leadership at what is an exciting time for our school.”
Mrs New said she was ‘absolutely delighted’ to have been appointed. She added: “I have been fortunate enough to work here for a number of years with wonderful children and a team of staff who are dedicated to ensuring all our pupils are happy, successful and achieve their full potential. I am looking forward to working with pupils, staff, parents and governors in the next phase of the school’s continued development.”
Speaking to the Observer about her new role, Mrs New revealed she first went to the school in 2014, as head of English, ‘for the excitement of building something new’.
She added: “That was such an appeal to me. The school had only been open a few months when I first got my job and having led a very large English department successfully, the idea of coming in and actually building something from scratch was really exciting. I’ve been here ever since.”
Having now moved into its permanent site in Hunston Road from September 2018, Mrs New said she was delighted with the school’s progress in education despite being in temporary sites in Vinnetrow Road since 2013.
The area’s only all-through school scored a rating of ‘good’ in all areas and Mrs New said she will now be aiming for outstanding.
The report states that, ‘across the school, the curriculum is based on carefully thought-out aims, which support leaders’ high aspirations for what pupils can and should achieve’.
“Ofsted was a really fair reflection of the school. It really celebrated the success we’ve had,” Mrs New said.
“We haven’t let our temporary site get in the way. It has given us a really strong springboard to be even better and strive for outstanding. It was also reassuring to have an outside person confirm what we already knew needed to improve.”
Mrs New confirmed that the free school’s contract with the Bartons Road property ended on October 31, 2018, ‘so from November 1, the property went back over to West Sussex County Council and so is no longer linked to the school’.
She added: “We have obviously had quite an interesting infancy with being on the temporary site for longer than we had expected but the Ofsted shows how well that has been dealt with. We have still been able to offer a really strong education.
“Now we are in our permanent site, the sky is the limit really and we are aiming for outstanding.”
The new principal also highlighted her intention to ‘really build on the allthrough model’.
“The children can arrive at four and leave when they’re 18. That’s so unique and it was the main reason this school began,” she said.
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