The headteacher of Skipton Girls High School has been appointed in a prestigious national role to help support schools around the country.

Jenn Plews is one of around 90 headteachers who have just been appointed as a National Leader of Education (NLE), which means both she and her team at the school will be expected to use their experience and successes to support schools in more challenging circumstances.

Mrs Plews said: “I am absolutely honoured to be awarded this national responsibility. Central to all that we do at SGHS is our over-arching commitment to working in partnership with all other schools and to the development of great educational opportunities for all young people irrelevant of background, context or type of school.

“In the last three years SGHS has delivered over 9 successful DFE School to School projects, supporting schools across Bradford and North Yorkshire whilst continuing to uphold our exceptionally high achievements for our own young learners - this is testament to the passionate and expert staff team who support me every day in doing this job.”

Roger Pope, chair of the National College for Teaching and Leadership, said:  “It’s fantastic that heads like Jenn Plews have the passion and ambition to help improve the life chances of young people, not just in their own but in other schools as well.

“The aim of National Leaders of Education is to drive improvement in underperforming schools. We now have over 1,100 NLEs and we’re working to increase this number further to spread educational excellence everywhere.”  

NLEs are deployed to suit the needs of each school needing support. The type of support provided is flexible and can sometimes involve NLEs becoming Executive Headteachers.

They also have responsibility for developing the next generation of NLEs and national support schools.