A ‘SUPER head’ is being drafted into a school after the long-serving head teacher announced her retirement shortly before the publication of an anticipated poor inspection report.

Maureen Crofton is leaving Wellesley Park Primary School in Wellington at the end of term after 24 years as a teacher, deputy head and head.

Lindsay Gabriel, currently head at Stawley Primary School, will take over until the end of the academic year as acting head, a role she has carried out in other primaries at the request of Somerset County Council, the local education authority.

The governors at Wellesley Park, who will appoint a new head from next September, will push for the school to become an academy in a bid to improve its performance.

In a letter to parents, Simon Duncan, chairman of the governors, said: “Mrs Crofton has been totally committed to wanting what is best for all the children who have passed through the school and she will be missed.”

Mr Duncan said he was unable to comment on the outcome of a recent Ofsted inspection until the report was published.

But he added: “What I can tell you is that through the feedback we received from the Ofsted team, it is clear that there will be a great deal of work for us all to do in the coming months to address the issues we expect the report to identify.”

Meetings are to be held with parents to discuss the report once it comes out and to explain the process of converting to an academy.

Miss Gabriel is a nationally accredited local leader of education and a trained Ofsted inspector who has been called on to help raise standards in a number of other schools.

Mrs Crofton was unavailable for comment when the County Gazette contacted Wellesley Park this week.