THE new head teacher at a York primary school wants to take it to the top of the Ofsted rankings.

Cath Precious has been given a warm welcome by staff, pupils and parents at Tang Hall School after taking the helm at the start of the new term.

Mrs Precious came to the school after teaching in primary schools in Liverpool and Leeds, but she says she is a Yorkshire girl at heart, originally from Ripon.

She said: “Since starting in September, I have been working hard getting to know everyone involved in the school community so that we can all work together to make the school even more successful.”

Mrs Precious replaces Anne Hooley, from Derby, who was the interim head teacher following the departure of Janet Colling in December last year. Mrs Hooley’s appointment for two terms was only ever meant to be temporary.

Mrs Colling took early retirement at the age of 47 to live in Spain, where she has a home. Just before she left, the school underwent an Ofsted inspection, with the school recognised as both a good school and as an improving school.

At the time Peter Storrie, chairman of governors at the 153-pupil primary, said the successful inspection reflected years of hard work by staff, the strong support of parents and the positive attitudes and commitment of the children.

He said: “The school leadership and governance have driven year-on-year improvements in children’s key stage results and created a school where the behaviour and safety of pupils is outstanding.”

Mrs Precious said: “Tang Hall Primary School has been assessed as ‘good with outstanding features’ by Ofsted, and my ambition is to raise that standard even further to ‘outstanding’ in all aspects.”