New Headteacher appointed at St Peters

A new headteacher has been appointed at St Peters School in Exeter.

She is Rachel Hutchinson, who is currently vice principal of King Edward VI Community College in Totnes.

Mrs Hutchinson will take up her new post after the Easter holidays.

St Peter’s chair of governors, Heather Morgan, said: “We are delighted to announce the governors’ decision to appoint Rachel as our new headteacher following a rigorous selection process.

“We were very impressed by the quality of all the candidates we interviewed.

“We believe Rachel will make a dynamic leader for St Peter’s who will ensure every single student in our learning community enjoys the very best education we can provide.

“I want to pay tribute to our deputy head, Lyn Bourne, who has been acting head since June and to all the senior leadership team.

“They have led the school with calmness and confidence. The governors believe that they and Rachel will make an outstanding team.”

Mrs Hutchinson said: "I am absolutely delighted to be appointed as headteacher of St Peter’s Church of England Aided School.  

“I thoroughly look forward to getting to know the pupils and staff and to building on the strong record of existing achievement and success.

“I am keen to serve the school and its community by working in close partnership with all staff, governors, parents and associated primary school colleagues in cultivating the school’s Christian values and providing education of the highest quality.

“I relish the challenge that the years ahead will bring, and have one simple aspiration – to work together as a school community to ensure our students are happy, successful and achieve the very highest standards”.

Mrs Hutchinson will take over the headship after a disappointing Ofsted report last October found the school ‘requires improvement’ in some areas.

Inspectors said that the school required improvement as many of its highest ability students were not achieving as well as expected.

The same issues were raised on the performance of middle ability boys and for pupils with special educational needs.

Issues were also raised over marking and feedback but teaching in English, maths and science were praised by inspectors who said that there were many examples of both ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ teaching in this subject.

Inspectors advised that the school should ensure that expectations of students are ‘appropriately high enough’.

Inspectors also wrote that the school should ensure: “all outcomes are used effectively in order to plan for individual differences and to support the learning of all groups of students so that they can make good progress.” 

This could see students entered into fewer GCSEs in future to ensure that they can focus on achieving in subject.

Issues were also raised over marking and feedback, in the report, but teaching in English, Maths and Science were praised by inspectors who said that there were many examples of both ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ teaching in this subject.

St. Peters is expected to undergo a further full inspection sometime within the next two years.