Bosses at a Cambridgeshire school who announced last summer that they had “agreed” to the principal leaving, have appointed his replacement.
Ernulf Academy at St Neots said that “after three years of committed service to the school, the local community, and the Trust, we have agreed that Avin Bissoo will be leaving his post at the end of August”.
Astrea Trust, that took over the running of the school in 2018, has appointed Mark Neesam as the new principal; he had served as interim principal since Mr Bissoo’s departure.
The trust, in announcing Mr Bissoo’s departure, said he was “indebted to the academy, all its staff, students, and their families for the incredibly positive and enriching experience he has had during his first tenure as a secondary principal”.
Astrea said he had played a key role in shaping Ernulf Academy over his three year tenure “and his leadership on its improvement journey has had a positive impact on all the children who have attended the school, the staff who continue to help improve the academy and the local community it serves”.
The school is slowly increasing the number of pupils who attend – it now has 701 and the school says the number is “growing year on year”.
Low pupil numbers have blighted the school in recent years, and it has greater capacity than the numbers attending. Numbers on the school roll are used to calculate government funding.
Mr Neesam is described as “an experienced senior leader with proven track record of improving outcomes for children.
“He joined Ernulf in 2019 as vice principal and during that time has shown his commitment and dedication”.
Before his time at Ernulf, he was Astrea’s national lead for modern foreign languages and a specialist leader in education for languages across all the trust’s secondary schools for three years.
He said: “I have always had a passion for enriching the lives of young people. My drive and motivation are to provide every child, irrespective of their starting point, the opportunity, and experiences to be the very best they can be.
“My clear vision is to ensure that Ernulf Academy provides an excellent education that everyone in our community can be proud of.”
He added: “I am passionate about Ernulf, our pupils and our community and I believe that we are on a clear path to excellence.
“I am fully committed to raising the aspirations of our pupils and ensure we have tolerant, empathetic, and resilient young people, who are prepared for life in the 21st Century.”
Astrea took over the running of both Longsands and Ernulf when they were transferred to Astrea following the demise of the St Neots Learning Partnership (SNLP).
Mr Bissoo was described by the trust as “a dynamic and energetic leader; we have every confidence that he will lead the academy through this next phase of its development”
No Ofsted reports are available for Ernulf since it has not been inspected prior to the take-over.
However, Ofsted is now working on a new report after a January inspection.
