Head takes on regional role for watchdog

A LEADING Bristol head teacher has been appointed a regional director of the learning watchdog Ofsted.

Lesley Ann Jones will leave Colston's Girls' School (CGS) in the summer to take up the new post.

Ofsted's chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw has created the eight regional positions to help promote improvement in schools and drive up educational standards.

Mrs Jones will become director in the West Midlands, where she will be responsible for the quality of inspection. She will identify areas of weakness and share good practice.

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Mrs Jones has been at CGS in Cheltenham Road for ten years, arriving as head teacher of what was then a girls' independent school run by the Society of Merchant Venturers.

She oversaw its conversion in 2008 from a fee-charging school to a state-funded academy – one of the first private schools in England to make the switch. The change of status led to the school expanding in size. It now takes in 140 girls from across greater Bristol each year and was the top-performing maintained school in Bristol at GCSE in 2012. Ofsted rated the academy as outstanding in 2011.

Mrs Jones is chief executive and executive principal of the Colston's Girls' School Trust, which last September opened its first primary school, The Dolphin School, a co-educational provision next door to the secondary school. In April, CGST will open The Kingfisher School, a primary academy based at the site of former St Anne's Primary School.

Mrs Jones said: "My experience encompasses the best of the private sector and the state sector and by taking this role at Ofsted I will be able to share excellence more widely in the system. I believe every child deserves the very best education."