A NEW Chester headteacher aims to use her school’s city position to its greatest advantage.
Sarah Clark, headmistress of The Queen’s School, has been in post since the beginning of September and is keen to get the girls more involved in city life.
A classics scholar, she plans to involve pupils more with Chester’s Roman heritage and has already committed to producing a giant for next year’s Giant Parade.
“I want to celebrate our location in the heart of the city.
“The majority of our girls come from Chester, although we do attract pupils from as far as Denbighshire, Shropshire and south Manchester.”
The mum-of-two moved to the area during the summer with husband Richard and children Eleanor, 12 and Oliver, 10.
She says she has had a very positive welcome to the Victorian independent school for girls.
“The staff are warm, supportive and clever; the girls are self-deprecating and charming.”
Mrs Clark has already got stuck in to getting to know the 378 pupils at the senior school. She joined students on a Duke of Edinburgh award camping weekend, watched a hockey tournament, accompanied Year 8 pupils to the Kids’ Lit Quiz in Bolton and taken Year 10 and 11 students on a school trip to Cambridge University.
Mrs Clark is also looking to develop partnerships with other schools in the area and further afield. The Queen’s School has Confucius Classroom status, for its work in teaching Mandarin Chinese, and she is looking at working more closely with a similar grammar school in Altrincham.
It hasn’t been all work and no play for the energetic headteacher. She is keen to get back into her hobby of bell-ringing and she and her family have already got on their bikes to investigate Cheshire’s canals.
