A HEADTEACHER has still not been found to lead a Basingstoke secondary school.

As previously reported in The Gazette, Brighton Hill Community School, in Brighton Way, has been without a permanent, full-time headteacher since April, after Charlie Currie left for “personal reasons”.

He had announced in February that he had decided to retire at the end of the school year in August, giving governors more than five months to try and recruit a new headteacher to start in September.

Parents of pupils at the school have now been informed by Jane Pratt, chair of governors, that interviews held last term before the school summer holidays were unsuccessful.

She said: “In a bid to find our next headteacher, the governors, supported by many members of the school and local community, completed a very comprehensive and rigorous three-day recruitment process. We are very grateful to everyone who gave their time so willingly to help us. Although the candidates had many strengths, we unfortunately did not find the right leader for our school on this occasion, so we made the decision not to appoint.

“Although this was a difficult decision to make – we have no doubt that it was the right one for all concerned. We have always said that appointing the best person to this position was crucial for the school and that we would not take the easy option of appointing someone whom we felt did not have the capacity to fulfil all of our key issues to drive our school forward.”

Ms Pratt previously told The Gazette that the reason governors were not looking to appoint a new headteacher to lead the school from the start of the new academic year in September, was because “any successful candidate has to give a full term’s notice to their current employer”.

This would mean that the opportunity to recruit a new head to start in January has been missed, as the current school term is already under way.

But in her letter to parents, Ms Pratt said governors would re-advertise the position in early September, which would “still give time for a successful candidate to start in January 2017”.

Ms Pratt told The Gazette: “We have until September 30. A successful candidate has until then to resign for a January 1 start.”

The school is currently being led by Paul Nicholson, who is head at The Westgate School in Winchester, who is splitting his time between the two schools.

He is being supported by Jane Halsey.

Ms Pratt said: “We feel confident that the school is improving and is in very good hands. The positive changes that are being made across the school are leading to improved teaching and learning and better outcomes.”

Brighton Hill is one of three schools in Basingstoke without a permanent headteacher.

Fort Hill Community School, in Winklebury, and Cranbourne Business and Enterprise College, are both without a permanent head after Betty Elkins, who was leading both schools, quit at the end of the summer term.