THE newly appointed principal of Callington Community College said she would have ‘given her right arm’ for the position, as she gears up to take the reigns next month.

This is the first headship role for Wendy Ainsworth, who moved down to Cornwall only a couple of weeks ago to settle into a new house and to get the lay of the land. She was previously vice principal at Sir Herbert Leon Academy in Milton Keynes, a role she has been in for the past five years, and will be taking over from Callington’s interim principal Kevin Dyke.

Mrs Ainsworth said she was ready to step into a head role and applied for positions across the country but after a three-day interview at Callington, her heart was set on joining the college.

‘I was looking specifically for a school that met my own principles and values so I applied all over the UK,’ she said. ‘ On the second day of being in the school, I knew that’s where I wanted to be. It’s been on a journey and I felt it was on the edge of something brilliant. The young people were polite and they exhibited some great learning behaviours. A considerable amount of work has been done by the school to get it to where it is now and the trust that works with the school is small and outward facing. The adaptability was really appealing.

‘I would have given my right arm to work there. On my drive home I was willing my phone to ring. This is everything I could ever want for my first headship.’

Mrs Ainsworth has been a teacher of science for more than 20 years and will continue to teach in her new role. She said that being able to continue teaching was among the things that appealed to her about the school.

‘I adore working with kids so I’m happy I’ll be teaching Year 11 science. All the leadership team teach, which is great. I believe that continuing teaching will keep me grounded and enable me to continue to reflect on best classroom practice.

‘I originally trained to be a social worker but I found that some of the things I saw affected me a lot and I couldn’t just leave the feelings at work at the end of the day. I just knew I wanted to work with young people.

‘Then my friend became a teacher and I saw how passionately she talked about her class so I decided to teach.

‘I love my subject [science]. It’s a subject that is always going to change — science is awe and wonder to me.’

The college has had a difficult few years, after being put into special measures over safeguarding issues and a series of interim headteachers but Mrs Ainsworth is keen to build the school back up to its former glory — starting with winning back the trust of the community.

‘I want it to be that outstanding school again,’ she said. ‘But I know it will take time and effort. You don’t achieve greatness overnight — we’ve got to win back people’s trust first. Previous incidents have stuck in people’s minds. The school is safe. Its safeguarding protocols are excellent and its teachers are committed to the best teaching practices.

‘We’ve got to work hard to ensure that Callington is known for its excellent teaching, nurturing climate and world class outcomes for its pupils. We want both Callington and the wider area to be proud of its school and the community within it.’

Mrs Ainsworth will be diving head first into her new role as she will most likely be welcoming Ofsted inspectors at some point in the first couple of weeks of the new school year.

‘One of my first jobs will be getting the school ready for Ofsted so they can see the huge transition the school has already undergone and the work that is still being done. The school has already had lots of change — a new behaviour system, new leadership team, new pastoral team, new uniform — so I don’t want to bombard them with more big changes — so there will be small incremental steps while maintaining harmony.

‘The school has a good, strong governing body which visits every two weeks. There are secondary heads in the trust and the CEO of the trust is a strong support also.’

In a letter to parents, informing them of the new appointment, a spokesperson for the college said: ‘The governors were delighted by the response to their advertisement which produced a substantial field of high calibre applications from the UK. Having drawn up an excellent shortlist of six candidates, a three-day process ensured that candidates were interviewed by teaching and support staff and the student body as well as school leaders, Westcountry Schools Trust and the governing body. Mrs Ainsworth arrives at the college with a wealth of experience and a passionate commitment to ensuring that all students are provided with the opportunities to excel and achieve aspirational goals.’

Mrs Ainsworth moved down to the county with her husband Alan. She has three daughters aged 24, 22 and 20.