Dear Parent/Carer,
It gives me great pleasure to advise you that following an intensive recruitment process, which generated more than 20 high calibre applicants, Cumbria Education Trust (CET) has appointed a new Headteacher for The Whitehaven Academy (TWA), Nigel Youngman.
Interviews took place over a two-day period which included the involvement of staff and student panels as well as presentations to staff. A member of TWA’s Local Advisory Board (LAB) and a Trust Board Director also participated in the final recruitment panel.
Mr Youngman comes with glowing references and a keen desire to become part of the community at Whitehaven. He was attracted to the role after working for a diverse range of schools – both in the city and in rural and coastal areas – and he passionately believes that all young people should have the chance to succeed and thrive.
As he currently lives in Norfolk with his family, he intends to relocate to Cumbria over the summer months and plans to visit TWA before the summer holidays so that he can meet with parents, carers, staff and students.
I am sure you will join me in welcoming him and his family to the area and of course to the Academy.
We are also delighted that TWA has also made several middle leadership appointments in Performing Arts, PE, Humanities, MFL and Design and Technology. We now have a strong team in place to take TWA forward. The new middle leaders will be led by Jo Fox, CET Deputy Headteacher and Dan Smith who recently secured the position as Assistant Headteacher.
Andrea Bateson will continue as Head of School during this transitional phase pending Mr Youngman’s arrival in September and TWA’s new teaching staff taking up their roles.
Another piece of very good news relates to our Year 7 intake figures for September, which have increased significantly.
We are looking forward confidently to a bright new future with a team of specialist staff and leaders in place and the prospect of a wonderful new, state of the art school building on the horizon.
We acknowledge there is still a lot of hard work to be done, but with this new team in place, I know we can, and will, succeed. We will continue to keep you updated.
Yours sincerely,
Lorrayne Hughes
CEO – Cumbria Education Trust
