La Mare head to move to new Les Varendes School

Verona Tomlin has been headteacher of the Castel secondary school since 2020 and has worked at the school for 10 years.

La Mare is set to close in 2025 and students will got to Les Varendes, which was formerly the Guernsey Grammar School.

Kieran James had been headteacher of the Grammar School and Sixth Form Centre since 2018, but will now revert back to heading up the Sixth Form Centre.

Les Beaucamps High School principal Martin Haimes and St Sampson’s High School head Vicky Godley will be staying in their existing roles, with Liz Coffey as the Secondary School Partnership executive principal.

Director of education Nick Hynes said those in the school community would be familiar with the principals.

‘This announcement is a very important part of the ongoing implementation of secondary band post-16 transformation,’ he said.

‘It is undoubtedly an exciting step forward in our journey, and I would like to wish all of our secondary principals the best of luck, whether they are continuing in a role they already do or moving into a new role within the new structure.’

The new structure will see three 11-16 schools and the separate Sixth Form Centre.

The Transforming Education Programme team has been working to implement new staffing structures for the secondary schools and Sixth Form Centre, which were developed last year by the Secondary School Partnership’s executive leadership team, in consultation with all secondary staff.

All staff have now been ring-fenced for roles within that structure. In recent weeks, roles from the existing structures have been matched to specific positions within the new structures, starting with the school’s senior leaders.

All staff across the Secondary School Partnership have now been notified about the roles they have been ring-fenced for.

Job-matching for school senior leadership teams is under way.