Former Preston headteacher goes absent from new school

Parents of pupils at Ripley St Thomas CE Academy in Lancaster have been told that their old headteacher is stepping in to take over the reins from her successor.

Gill Jackson quit her post at Archbishop Temple High in Preston last April to run the Lancaster school but is now said to absent - and the old incumbent Liz Nicholls is back at the helm.

In the letter, chairman of governors, Mrs Jackie Garnett, said: “I am writing to inform you that from today, Mrs Gill Jackson, principal, will not be in school, and Mrs Liz Nicholls will take on the role of interim principal in her absence.”

The letter said the school, which is run by the Bay Learning Trust, for which Mrs Nicholls is CEO, was unable to provide any further information at this time.

Before Mrs Jackson left Archbishop Temple CE High in Preston in April 2019 to take on the role at Ripley

she had previously been deputy head at Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School.

Ripley became an academy in 2017 and the trust also operates Carnforth High School and Morecambe Bay Academy and Central Lancaster High School.

It is currently in talks to try to include Preston's Ashton Community Science College into the fold.

The Bay Learning Trust is a company limited by guarantee and is listed on Companies House.

JPIMedia has contacted the school directly, but staff did not wish to comment.