A WINCHESTER school has announced the appointment of a new headmistress.

St Swithun’s Junior School will welcome Miss Rebecca Lyons who will begin work at the start of the summer term in 2017.

Miss Lyons has been the deputy head at Stroud, King Edward VI Preparatory School, since 2013.

As well as the day to day management at Stroud, she has been responsible for pastoral care and has played a significant role in the strategic development of the school.

She was director of studies at West Hill Park School from 2011 to 2013, and head of English at Stroud from 2007 to 2011. Prior to that, she taught across the primary age range in both the maintained sector and internationally from 1997.

As well as a first degree from the University of Northumbria and a PGCE, Miss Lyons holds an MBA from UCL. She sits on the governing body of a local state junior school and has recently become an inspector for the Independent Schools Inspectorate.

Miss Lyons lives in the New Forest with her partner Trevor, a consultant gastroenterologist at Southampton General Hospital, and her two step-sons, aged 10.

Miss Lyons said “It is a great honour to be joining a school with such a strong reputation, and an ethos that resonates with my core belief – that as well as striving for academic excellence, the broad talents of all children must be nurtured and celebrated. 

“I was immediately stuck by the warmth of relationships between children and staff at St Swithun’s, and I look forward to working with staff to build on the considerable strengths of the Junior School in the coming months.”

There was a very strong field from which to choose, and headmistress of the senior school and acting headmistress Jane Gandee, and the School Council are delighted with the appointment.