Superhead quits to save school

Superhead Dame Mo Brennan is to leave her Black Country school after six years. The 53-year-old has handed in her notice at Hillcrest School, Dudley.

She will become the eighth principal in just two years at Walsall’s troubled Barr Beacon Language College.

Speaking exclusively to the Express & Star, she said she was looking forward to the challenge but said she would be sad to leave Hillcrest in Netherton at Easter.

“It’s like leaving a piece of your heart,” she said.

“Everyone needs new challenges in life and I am looking forward to taking on a new challenge.

“The governors at Hillcrest supported the notion of traditional values and I think the governors at Barr Beacon have appointed me because they believe the same thing.”

She took over at Hillcrest in Simms Lane when it was in “special measures” in 2000, with only 17 per cent of pupils having gained five GCSEs at grades A to C.

But inspectors removed the tag within six months of her arrival, while the GCSE results have risen steadily to a record high of 48 per cent.

Hillcrest now lies in the top four per cent of “value added” schools in the country and Mo became a Dame in the Queen’s 2005 birthday honours for her services to education.

She said she had decided against moving into a role within the education authority. “I’m not a politician, I like working with children,” she said.

Cledwyn Davies, Director for Learning at Education Walsall, said: “We are delighted the Governors of Barr Beacon have appointed a headteacher who is recognised at the very highest level as an outstanding headteacher, educational leader and thinker.”