IT'S a varied and fascinating journey from North Africa to West Devon via East London, but the new headteacher of Tavistock Primary School says she is here to stay — and she is strongly committed to providing an excellent environment for staff and pupils.

Lynnette Selbie took up her post at the school in April and said she has enjoyed every minute thanks to her dedicated staff and the local community.

Her passion for the job is evident as soon as you meet Mrs Selbie, who said that she is dedicated to bringing to the school an 'excellent' standard.

Already she has been busy with updating play areas around the school and securing the surroundings.

Mrs Selbie said: 'My plans are to improve the physical improvement, ie, the grounds and the buildings, making a better learning area for the children.

'I really want to improve the environment for the children and the people that work here. With the building work that is going on at the moment it is lovely seeing the children's faces light up when they see something new that they can play with — the adults enjoy it too.'

But Mrs Selbie added that it was not just the aesthetics of the school that she wanted to improve: 'My other aim is to improve the curriculum. I want people to recognise the supreme work that is going on here at the school.

'Everyone in this building is dedicated. Staff here have worked so hard in the last couple of years.'

Mrs Selbie began her career teaching nursery reception children in Alexandria in Egypt. She stayed there for a year before moving on to teach English at a secondary school in Sicily.

She said: 'I was young and wanted to experience the world. In Egypt I was teaching trilingual four-year-olds, I loved it.'

Mrs Selbie then went to Newham in South East London where she spent ten years teaching in various schools in the area.

She became deputy head of a large school in Newham, before she moved to Plymouth to become deputy head at Marlborough Primary School, where she stayed for seven years.

After Plymouth, Mrs Selbie moved to Cawsand to become headteacher of Fourlanesend Primary School for three years.

'I came to Tavistock because I wanted to return to a big school. In Fourlanesend it was a school of 80 children and in Newham I was deputy of a 600-pupil large school — I enjoy working in a large school as there are more people and more children — I like the busy-ness of it all.'

Mrs Selbie said she likes nothing more than a challenge she can sink her teeth into. After a tough challenge at Fourlanesend, she relishes the chance to bring Tavistock Primary School an 'excellent' Ofsted report.

She said: 'In my previous job at Fourlanesend I managed to bring the school from a "serious weakness" Ofsted report to a "good" report in two years.

'Tavistock primary is currently on "satisfactory" and I am aiming for "excellent" — that's not about receiving a pat on the back for the hard work, it is that if we can get an "excellent" for the school it means that you are providing an "excellent" for children's learning.'

Mrs Selbie expressed thanks to all her staff and local community for making her feel so welcome over the past five months.