New school gets its first head

Matford Brook Academy has a teacher, if not yet walls

A new school being built to serve a huge new development on the outskirts of Exeter has named its first head.

Emily Simpson-Horne will take charge of Matford Brook Academy, an 'all-through' school for children from two to 18, which right now doesn't have four walls and a roof, never mind any pupils.

When it opens in September next year, it will only have nursery school and reception children, and pupils in year seven, the first year of secondary school.

Ms Simpson-Horne has already been a headteacher in the south west, most recently at another 'all-through' school.

Her new school is part of the Ted Wragg Trust, which runs a number of primary and secondary schools in Exeter and Plymouth, and also the all-through Cranbrook Education Campus.

She says: “All-through schools are an excellent model for education that empower children to believe they can, and should, change the world around them. I look forward to meeting families and members of the local community soon and welcoming our first cohort of pupils for September 2023.”

The school is part of the Haldon Reach development, which eventually will have more than 1,200 new homes to the south west of Exeter and crossing the district council border into Exminster.