Les Beaucamps Head leaving the school to take on ESC Committee role

Thursday 21 June 2018

The head teacher at Les Beaucamps High School will leave her role, to take on a newly created post within the Education Office from September.

Teaching staff are usually contractually bound to give a term in notice before leaving their role, but Sophie Roughsedge has written to parents of current pupils advising them that she will be starting a "one year leadership secondment within the Education Office" at the start of the next school year, implying she will be leaving Les Beaucamps at the end of this term, on Thursday 19 July.

Ms Roughsedge's departure from her head teacher role is the latest development following a number of changes within the senior management teams of Guernsey's education services.

So far this year, the Chief Officer of the Education, Sport and Culture Committee has announced he is leaving his post after just a few months in the role, a new Director of Education has been appointed, the Grammar School headteacher has been appointed Executive Head of all of the island's States run secondary schools and there are believed to have been a number of other changes within the department due to retirements and resignations due to ill health or other reasons.

Deputy Matt Fallaize, the ESC President, told Express this was due to "the need for cultural change." 

With Ms Roughsedge leaving Les Beaucamps and Ms Coffey taking on her new Executive Head role from September, it means two of the island's four States run secondary schools will start the new school year with new head teachers. Replacements for neither have been announced yet.

In her letter to parents, Ms Roughsedge said she has "every confidence in Liz Coffey's ability to recruit an excellent Headteacher to carry on the work at LBHS." She said work has already started to find her successor and parents will be updated on the outcome of that recruitment process. 

Ms Roughsedge has also said she will spend her remaining time at Les Beaucamps High School "implementing all our plans for this academic year" adding there will be "ample opportunity for a successful handover to my successor."

Pictured: Parents of pupils at Les Beaucamps High School received the above letter on Wednesday 20 June