Rachael Black moves from Suffolk to become Director of School Services
Ealing Council has appointed Rachael Black, currently assistant director of education at Suffolk County Council, to the new post of Director of School Services.
Rachael will take up the post in early 2006 and her experience spans a range of local authorities in both England and Scotland.
She will join Ealing at a time when GCSE results are at an all time high, nursery provision is amongst the best in the country and the authority ranks as among the top ten in the country, in terms of value added.
Originally a teacher, Rachael began her local authority career in Strathclyde Region, a regional authority with 1,700 schools and six large area offices before joining East Renfrewshire. For the past seven years she has held the post of assistant director of education at Suffolk, a shire county with 350 schools, and has responsibility for the national primary and secondary strategies and the school improvement strategy.
Along with Judith Finlay, who will take up the post of director of children and families early next year, she will work with David Archibald, the council's statutory director of children's services, to spearhead Ealing's drive to deliver the Government's Every Child Matters agenda.
She said: "It is a privilege to be joining the team in Ealing at a time of significant opportunity and challenge. Schools are uniquely placed to make a real and lasting difference to the health, wellbeing, safety, protection, learning, attainment and achievements of every child and young person in the borough.
"The expectations of the children and young people I met in Ealing are rightly high. We must ensure that they have a voice in shaping their own future and that that future is characterised by opportunity, choice and prosperity."
David Archibald, Ealing's executive director for individuals, added: "I am delighted that Rachael is joining us in Ealing. She brings a wealth of experience, and will play a very important part in our work with schools, and in the implementation of the Children Act."
November 16, 2005