HAYGROVE School’s new headteacher says he is delighted to have taken up the role and has high ambitions for the Bridgwater secondary school.

Aaron Reid has worked at the school for seven years now, having been teaching for 25 years.

He previously worked as a maths teacher and assistant headteacher at schools in Poole and Bournemouth before moving to Bridgwater.

He has taken over the role from Karen Canham, who has become the leader of the Quantock Education Trust, which comprises Haygrove, Spaxton Primary School and Stogursey Primary School.

Mr Reid said: “I’ve always had a ambition to be a headteacher.

"I love the school and felt like I could make a difference.

“The kids are great, the staff are brilliant and the community is a really good place to be.

“Bridgwater was appealing to me, I felt I would be working in a community where people had similar values to me, similar work ethic, people that had those really strong traditional values.”

Asked what he felt he would bring to the role, Mr Reid said he was ‘ambitious for the children’, wanting to develop their character and employability, making them aware of the huge number of opportunities available to them.

“We want our students to become people who are ambitious, driven and want to contribute positively to society,” Mr Reid said.

Haygrove is set to have a new school building which Mr Reid describes as ‘transformational’.

He said: “As you arrive at Haygrove School it has that Art Deco, sort of 1920’s styling, and of course its really beautiful.

“But really I think the building itself has reached a point where it would need massive, extensive renovations, or, what they have decided to do, which is more cost-effective, to put something new into the school.

“The new building currently under construction will offer huge advantages for the children.

“There will nine new science labs which will be state-of-the-art and brings all our science facilities together in one place.

“We will have a suite of new classrooms for our English department, for modern foreign languages, and fantastic new facilities for physical education at the school, a dance studio, a dedicated canteen which we’ve never had before.

“The kids are really excited about the new drama space they are going to have, and hopefully that will have a big impact in terms of creativity within the school.

“Our new hall will allow us to put on much better performances for drama productions and staged seating. The front of the school will have new tennis and netball courts.”

Students will continue to learn in the existing building until the new facilities are completed.

Mr Reid said being part of the Quantock Education Trust was already making a difference.

“We recently had our first conference surrounding education and character development.

“We had a performance from our children, involving children from primary and secondary.

"It was great to see kids sharing experiences, working in teams and inspiring each other. The Trust also gives opportunity for professional development for our staff."