AN Accrington teacher is celebrating double success after becoming the first in East Lancashire to pass a new national headteachers exam.

Valerie Malcolm, a deputy head at Hollins County High for the last five years, missed her graduation ceremony - because she was being offered a job as the head of another school.

Mrs Malcolm, who began the new National Professional Qualification for Headship in April last year, passed the exam in June.

And she reaped instant rewards when she was offered her new post at an interview this week.

Mrs Malcolm, who lives in Blackburn, said: "It was the graduation ceremony on Monday but I had an interview for a headship and it proved successful.

"It's been an ambition of mine to become a headteacher for a few years. I saw the course as one way forward to prove I was capable."

The Department for Education has stated that all new headteachers must have the qualification, and the first successful batch of 38 candidates has just been announced. Mrs Malcolm, a science teacher with a BSc in Botany Zoology, has been teaching for 19 years and was a deputy at a school in Hereford and Worcester before moving north.

The new course consists of four modules, taken according to experience, including leadership, teaching and planning, personnel management and financial management training. Mrs Malcolm added: "I only took the compulsory course on leadership because I had experience in the other areas.

"But there is a two day written and oral exam on everything at the end of the course. It's rigorous, but it should be.

"I spotted the course myself and wanted to do it and the governors and headteacher have been very supportive.

"The staff development is very positive at Hollins and they are delighted on both fronts that I have passed and been offered a headship.

"I was unsuccessful at other headship interviews before I received the qualification. I don't know whether it made the difference in the end, but it's a very valuable qualification."

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