The King's School has appointed experienced business professional and teacher Donna-Marie Jestin as their new Principal of the Sixth Form.
Students currently in Year 11 and their parents can meet this inspirational new leader at the King's Sixth Form Open Evening on Wednesday, September 28 starting at 6:30pm.
After leaving Manchester University with a degree in Business and IT, Donna-Marie, 43, had a rapid rise in retail management running a retail store with 40 staff and a £2.5 million turnover before becoming a department manager in the flagship Selfridges store in the Trafford Centre, still in her early twenties. However, wanting 'to give something back' she took her PGCE and a then Masters Degree in Leadership and Management at Leeds Beckett.
Donna-Marie then worked for 11 years at Notre Dame in Leeds, for two exciting years at the international school in Bermuda before going to the Holy Cross Catholic Sixth Form in Bury. During this time becoming a curriculum developer, teacher trainer, and principal examiner for a major UK exam board. As well as working for The Open University Business school for 10 years as a mentor, lecturer and quality assurer.
Donna-Marie has worked for King's for the last seven years as a Teacher of Business, Head of Year 13, Head of Year 10 and Head of Extended Studies. She has also spearheaded King's Applied Business course, in which two thirds of the qualification is based on practical entrepreneurial skills with the other third assessed by written examination.
Donna-Marie takes over at a time when public examination results at the 520-year-old school are on a strong upward curve, with the new £60 million campus attracting top students and inspiring students and teachers alike to excel.
"However," Donna-Marie, added: "We feel we can do even better," and she has instituted some reward schemes taken from the business world to motivate her charges. There isa new Star of the Week award for Year 12 and 13 students, earning rewards in the cafeteria; postcards home for excellence inside and outside the classroom, and a new mentoring scheme in which Year 13 students support pupils lower down the school, fostering their own leadership skills as well as helping the younger children.
However, Donna-Marie was keen to stress: "For all King's wonderful new facilities and our great results, it is the emotional support we give to our students that sets up apart. As well as preparing students exceptionally well for the world beyond school, whether that is university or employment, at King's we know the ages of 16 to 18 can be a period of great anxiety, which is why we have a focus on wellbeing, compassion and support for students."
She certainly practises what she preaches, teaching Yoga classes to her sixth formers, promoting not only "flexibility and strength but, as importantly, relaxation and good mental health as well."
King's Sixth Form Open Evening is on Wednesday 28 September, 6:30pm, and places can be booked at www.kingsmac.co.uk