BURY Grammar School for girls have appointed a replacement for headmistress Miss Janet Lawley, who is retiring at the end of the school year.

The new head will be Miss Caroline Thompson, currently deputy headmistress at Portsmouth Grammar School.

"I feel immensely privileged," said Miss Thompson after her appointment last week.

"Bury Grammar School for Girls has a history of appointing distinguished headmistresses.

"Miss Lawley has been quite outstanding, not only leading a school with an enviable reputation both locally and nationally, but also her prominent role on the national scene, and I hope I can rise to the challenge of being a worthy successor."

Miss Lawley has served on a number of national educational bodies during her headship.

Miss Thompson (42) is a graduate of Royal Holloway College, London University, where she gained a first-class honours degree in history.

A teacher for two decades, she has spent much of her teaching career in girls' grammar schools in Gloucestershire and Dorset.

She has been deputy head at the Portsmouth Grammar since 1993. It is a co-educational school for 1,160 pupils aged four-18.

Outside the classroom her interests include choral music - she has sung soprano in three choirs - and equestrian sports, particularly three-day eventing. She is also a needlework expert.

Like her predecessor she is a proud cat owner, and will be bringing her tabby cat, Vermuyden, and hopes to teach him to miaow with a Lancashire accent in time for her move north!

For those who don't know, Vermuyden the cat is named after Sir Cornelius Vermuyden, the 17th Century Dutch engineer famed for his drainage works in East Anglia.

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