RADCLIFFE High has appointed a new head to take the school into the new millennium.

Mr Graham Rollinson will take over from Mrs Glenda Parker when she steps down at the end of the school year after seven years in charge.

And he says his main priority is to get more children attending the Abden Street school and improve GCSE results. Mr Rollinson is deputy head at Norden High School in Rishton, Lancashire.

A teacher for 23 years, Mr Rollinson started at Rivington School in Blackrod, teaching PE. He worked at Withins School in Bolton, as head of PE, later becoming head of year, then head of middle school, and then of the lower school. He moved to Norden High as deputy head in 1996. He recently completed a masters degree in education administration and the National Professional Qualification for Headteachers.

"I was attracted to the Radcliffe job because it was promotion," said Mr Rollinson.

Married with two sons, aged eight and 11, Mr Rollinson has lived in Bury for 20 years. He says the reputation of the local education authority also appealed to him.

Mrs Parker announced her resignation last month, after a career which started in Radcliffe in 1972.

Mr Rod Fairbrother, the school's chairman of governors, said Mr Rollinson had been the unanimous choice of the interviewing panel.

He said. "We had several outstanding candidates with a great deal of talent. But Mr Rollinson has a lot of experience and expertise which will prove very valuable to our school."

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