A LONG-serving Pendle headteacher is to step down at the end of the academic year.

Debbie Morris has been at Pendle View Primary School in Colne for almost 20 years.

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The Gibfield Road special school has already advertised for a successor in a bid to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Mrs Morris joined the school as a deputy headteacher and stepped up to the top role after two terms when the previous headteacher became ill.

By the time she will retire in August 2016, she will have been in charge for 19 and a half years.

She said: “I have been through many changes at the school which has presented many exciting challenges and achievements.

“It has been a pleasure working with such a great team of excellent, dedicated staff and governors and I will greatly miss the school, staff, pupils and parents when I retire.

“The school has decided to advertise for a new headteacher to give them the most time possible to find a suitable candidate.

“That new headteacher will also have as much time as possible to get up to speed with the school so that the handover is as smooth a possible.

“Change is always hard in any environment and it it is even more so in a special school. It’s about good school management. The school has made such a lot of progress since I took over.”

The school, which has 93 pupils, is accepting applications until 5pm on Friday, October 16. The proposed interview date is Wednesday, November 18, and a tour of the school is available the day before.

The school was rated as ‘outstanding’ when it was last inspected by Ofsted in 2012. The school was formerly Townhouse School which was an all-age special school located in Nelson. Due to a re-organisation of special schools in 2005, it became Pendle View Primary School and then, in 2008, it moved to its current site in Colne.

Chair of governors Yvonne Foster, in a letter to candidates, said: “The governing body are looking for a new headteacher.

Pendle View is a primary special school for pupils with generic learning difficulties, which include moderate, severe and profound difficulties and disabilities, multi-sensory impairments and autistic spectrum disorders.”