ONE of Southampton’s most high-profile headteachers has taken on the top job at a troubled city school.

After ten years as head of Bassett Green Primary School, Liz Filer has now taken on the job of head teacher at Valentine Primary School in the Sholing area of the city.

Ms Filer is widely respected in the city, having led a successful school at Bassett Green, turning it from an underperforming school to one that now posts above average SATS results at key stage two and securing it as a ‘good’ school following successive Ofsted inspections.

She now has the task of leading Valentine Primary, which was formed in January when Valentine Infant merged with Heathfield Junior, which was, at the time, in special measures following a critical Ofsted inspection.

As reported by the Daily Echo, parents of children at the former junior school wrote letters of complaints to the school and organised an 80-signature petition in protest at the way the school was being run and the lack of communication to parents.

One parent also told of how the school had “lost” her child. Krystle Singleton explained how her eight-year-old daughter Scarlett was found half a mile away after walking alone to her grandmother’s house.

Their main complaints centred around leadership at the school which had seen three headteachers in post in the space of a year.

Billy Davies, who was the head at the time the school was placed in special measures, left to be replaced by Peter Howard who was on secondment from Fair Isle school. He was replaced by Diane Hobbs who retired at the end of last term.

Mrs Filer said she was looking forward to leading the Valentine Road school: “I am looking forward to the challenge. It is a big move for me to leave Bassett Green where I have had some very happy memories.”

Deputy headteacher at Bassett Green school Matthew Robinson is in interim charge of the school while the governing body appoints a new head.