A HEADTEACHER who helped raise standards at a Witney school will bid farewell to staff and students this week.

Nicky Edmondson, 45, has been headteacher at Henry Box School in Church Green, Witney, since 2007.

She has increased pass rates and guided the school through its 350th anniversary, new buildings and its conversion to an academy.

But on Friday, she will lead her final assembly before leaving to become headteacher at a school in Cornwall.

She said: “It will be very sad. I have really enjoyed it here and it has been a real privilege and pleasure to work with the staff and students, who I am going to miss very much, parents and governors.

“I think I will find the final assembly emotional because the school has been a big part of my life, so I will try to keep a stiff upper lip.”

Mrs Edmondson, who lives near Bibury, was born in Hereford. She attended Colwell School in Gloucester, before studying a degree in English at Royal Holloway, University of London, in 1986.

After university, she attended Worcester College of Higher Education to study her postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE).

Asked if she had always wanted to be a teacher, Mrs Edmondson said: “Yes, I think I did. I think I have always been rather bossy and I love my subject, so I knew I wanted to do something with English “A job where I could be in charge and get to read poetry and literature and inspire people like I was inspired at school really appealed to me.”

Her career began as an English teacher at Saintbridge School in Gloucester in 1990, before joining Farmor’s School in Fairford in 1992.

In 1998, she became head of English at Tewkesbury School and went on to become deputy headteacher of Kingsdown School in Swindon in 2001.

She became headteacher at Henry Box School in 2007.

Mrs Edmondson said: “It was a bit daunting because it is a very big school, but it was just the sort of school that appealed to me.”

In her first year she increased the number of students achieving five A to C grades in GCSE – or equivalent – from 60 per cent in 2007 to 71 per cent in 2008.

She also “smartened up” the uniform and led the school through a year of celebrations for its 350th anniversary in 2010, during which Prime Minister and Witney MP David Cameron opened a new music centre.

The school became an academy in 2012 and took over a former county council building to create a new reception area and student support centre.

Mrs Edmondson will become headteacher at Penair School in Truro, Cornwall, which has just taken over a primary school that was in special measures.

She said: “It is a very exciting challenge professionally, but it is also a dream for my family to relocate to that area.”

Mrs Edmondson is married to Nigel, 59, and they have a son, William, 18. Mr Edmondson, who is head of art at Farmor’s School – where they met – plans to take early retirement.