A secondary school and sixth form has announced the appointment of its next headteacher.

Whitefield School, in Claremont Road, Barnet, has announced that Liz Rymer will take over the leadership of the school from January 2015, when the current headteacher Martin Lavelle moves on to a new job in Enfield.

Mrs Rymer is already well known to students and parents as she joined the school in September 2009 as an improvement consultant before becoming associate headteacher in June 2011.

Mr Lavelle said: “This appointment maintains important leadership stability across the school and ensures the school stays on track for outstanding as many of the improvements made across the school in recent years have been driven by Liz in her current role.

“Liz was also an integral part of the successful Ofsted inspection in January 2014, in which the leadership and management of the school were graded ‘outstanding’.

“This appointment will ensure that the school continues on its journey from a good school to a great school."