Samirah Roberts becomes permanent head of Rugby Free Secondary School after Ofsted praised her work

The Learning Today Leading Tomorrow trust said they are delighted to announce that, after a rigorous recruitment process, Miss Samirah Roberts has been appointed as the permanent headteacher of Rugby Free Secondary School (RFSS).

Miss Roberts has been leading the school as acting headteacher for the last six months.

An Ofsted monitoring report from December 2019 praised her work in improving the school after she took over as acting head when the school was given an Ofsted 'inadequete' rating that summer.

Dave Johnson, chair of the trust said “Trustees are confident that we have the right leader in place to take the school forward.

"Over the past six months she has demonstrated all the attributes required to ensure RFSS becomes the school we promised the community as we did with Rugby Free Primary School, our very popular school in the north of the town.”

Brenda Mullen, CEO of the trust, said “The RFSS staff team is unrecognisable from last summer and this is almost entirely down to the dedication and commitment shown by Miss Roberts as acting Headteacher over the last six months.

"She has worked tirelessly to inspire students and staff alike and I am personally very excited to continue to work with such a committed, dedicated and hardworking professional.

"We are privileged to have Miss Roberts within our Trust.”

Tom Legge (chair of the RFSS Sustainable Improvement Board) said: “Miss Roberts is hugely respected by our school and stakeholder community.

"Students and staff alike gave unanimously positive feedback through the recruitment process and I have seen first hand the immense impact she has had since joining the school.

"I’m excited by the prospect of continuing to work with Samirah and her team on the next stage of the RFSS journey.”

The announcement comes after more than 700 pupils and staff from the school began using their new site on February 24.

Previously, the school had been temporarily housed on Anderson Avenue for three-and-a-half years while the new site was built on the same road.