A new headteacher at Halstead’s Ramsey Academy has plans in place to improve the school and make it the talk of the town.

Rob James took up the position at the Colne Road school at the beginning of the month after he worked as acting and deputy headteacher at Philip Morant School, in Colchester.

He has been appointed to replace former principal Dan Gee, who left after 18 months in charge to take up a position in Wickford.

Mr Gee took over in September 2012, following a damning Ofsted report which led to Ramsey being placed in special measures.

Within a year, teachers and pupils were celebrating after Ofsted rated it as “good” and deemed special monitoring was no longer required.

GCSE results published in August showed that 60 per cent of pupils received five or more A* to C grades, including English and maths - a jump of 19 per cent on last year’s results, when the school dropped into the county’s bottom ten per cent.

See this week's Halstead Gazette for the full story.