FAREWELL MRS OPENSHAW – King’s Rochester

02 Dec 2020

Having provided five years of excellent leadership to the Nursery & Pre-Preparatory School, our Headmistress, Catherine Openshaw will be leaving the school at the end of this academic year, in August 2021, to become Headmistress of The Mead School in Tunbridge Wells.

Whilst this is a very exciting move for Mrs Openshaw, we will be very sad to see her leave our school. During her time here, Mrs Openshaw has overseen the development of the curriculum to focus on mastery and breadth, the expansion of the house system to include the Nursery and more fun house events, run the choir, continued the development of the outside space and introduced a well-loved school dog, Mitzi, to enhance wellbeing throughout the school.

Principal, Ben Charles, commented, “Catherine’s experience and enthusiasm for her role here has been child-centred with a clear focus on improving teaching standards and extending learning opportunities, as recognised by ISI inspectors when they visited the Nursery & Pre-Preparatory School earlier this year. As the whole school Designated Safeguarding Lead, Catherine has ensured that robust safeguarding systems have also been put in place, which enable pupils and staff to flourish as individuals while remaining part of a happy and caring community.”

The Mead School is part of the Wishford Group of Schools – a family-run group of independent schools with a commitment to delivering the highest standards of education and providing the best possible experience to both pupils and parents. The school’s ethos has much in common with King’s with an emphasis on the culture of family, support, pastoral care, and excellence which creates an environment where children enjoy learning and success.

Mrs Openshaw said, “I have been very happy at King’s and I leave with a whirling mix of emotions. The Nursery & Pre-Preparatory School is a wonderful place and I have been very lucky to be part of it. I will be very sad to leave the amazing team of children, staff and parents as well as the wider community which has been my home for the past 5 years. I am, however, excited about my new role at The Mead School and am very much looking forward to the future”.

Ben Charles concluded, “Whilst this is a very exciting move for Mrs Openshaw, we will be very sad to see her leave our school. We are now turning our attention to the task of appointing a worthy successor to take over from Catherine in September 2021 or January 2022. With the Nursery & Pre-Preparatory School in fine shape and with exciting plans in place for the future, the Headship of the Nursery & Pre-Preparatory School will be an attractive proposition and we have every confidence that our search will produce a strong field of talented applicants.”