Dumfries' North West Community Campus: Head teacher to step down

The head teacher at a £28m school campus which was shut for months on safety grounds is to leave her post.

The North West Community Campus in Dumfries was closed just weeks after it opened in August last year.

Dumfries and Galloway Council had announced Derryth Hope as its head teacher four months prior to that.

However, she is to step down on 25 November for "personal reasons" and take up a new post as deputy head at Sanquhar Academy.

The Dumfries facility was shut in September 2018 after a number of incidents in which staff and pupils were hurt - including a child being hit by a smart board.

It fully reopened in June this year when secondary pupils made their return.

Dumfries and Galloway Council confirmed Ms Hope had asked to "relinquish her post" and would take up a new position "by mutual agreement".

She had previously worked as executive headteacher of Berwick Middle School in Northumberland, having begun her career as a religious education teacher.

The move will see Jim Brown - current head teacher at Annan Academy - become acting head teacher until the post is filled permanently.