AS the new term begins, newly appointed Wycliffe College principal Margie Burnet Ward is celebrating her appointment as the school's first female head teacher.

Wycliffe College was founded as a boys' school in 1882 and became co-educational during the 1970s, but has never before had a woman as head.

But Mrs Burnet Ward is honoured to be leading the way.

She said: "I'm extremely proud - I have always been a bit of a trailblazer in that sense as I was the first girl to attend an all boys sixth form, where I grew up in Scotland."

Having been deputy head for four years and acting head for the summer term, Mrs Burnet Ward already knows the school and pupils well.

Now she has taken over from the previous head, Tony Collins, she plans to remain a visible presence around the school in Stonehouse.

"I still intend to be very much hands on, which is one of the most important things for my job - the pupils should always feel as though I'm there for them and visible.

"It's very easy to get stuck in meetings and lose touch - but you've got to keep your finger on the pulse."

Mrs Burnet Ward is excited about taking over as head, but has no plans to make any big changes.

She said: "I want to keep things very much the same as they are - stressing that we want pupils to be heard and to feel part of a community.

"My predecessor, Dr Collins, was fantastic and instigated a lot of new things that work well, so I don't really want to change anything but continue to develop things already in place."

The 50-year-old mother-of-two moved to Wycliffe from Bellerbys College in Wadhurst, Sussex, where she was head.

Her son, Alex, 17, attends Wycliffe and Adam, 19, is heading to university having just taken his A-levels there.

"It means you look at things with a parent's view as well," she added.

Around 800 pupils attend both the college and the preparatory school, which are independent boarding and day schools where parents pay from £1,550 per term for a reception class day pupil and up to £7,025 for a full-boarding sixth-former.

An avid traveller, Mrs Burnet Ward began her career teaching English as a foreign language abroad after graduating from St Andrew's University. Having taught in China, Spain and the Middle East she returned to Britain in 1990 to begin a career in Britain.

"I think it's very important to be able to go and experience another culture and look at other people's set of values as well as examining your own," she said.

As well as travel, Mrs Burnet Ward enjoys learning languages and loves walking on the Cotswold Way to relax, but as a dedicated head she is left with little time for extra curricular activities.

She added: "It's like being married to your job - it's what is expected of you and it's immensely rewarding."