Parents and pupils at a primary school have been told the head teacher is not returning almost two years after she was last seen on the premises.

Sharon Alexander suddenly went absent from St Katherine’s Primary School in Snodland
for “personal reasons” in May 2013.

Now families have received a letter confirming she is not coming back, adding she officially left her role on December 31, 2014.

Her tenure included a spell of staffing turmoil, which saw 11 members of staff leaving or preparing to go in the months after she joined the 600-pupil school.

Now, 21 months on, the school has finally written to parents to tell them she will not be returning and it is hoped the announcement will lay to rest the trouble at the top.

KCC will now advertise for a permanent head teacher.

Mrs Alexander had taken over from long-serving predecessor Allan Adams.

Since her departure, St Katherine’s has been led by acting head teacher Gerry Cadwallader and associate head teacher Barbara Scott since 2013. It was rated as good by Ofsted that year.

A KCC spokesman said: “Following a long absence from St Katherine’s Sharon Alexander left the school with effect from December 31, 2014, to concentrate on her family.

“The governors would like to thank her for her focus on raising the standard of teaching and learning throughout the school, which led to an improvement in the practical understanding of how children learn and demonstrated ways in which classroom practice could be made more effective.”

In May 2013, despite the upheavals, the school celebrated being placed in the top 500 list of best-performing primary schools in the country.

Snodland town councillor Paul Hickmott added: “I had heard the school is now enjoying better academic results and my hope is that with a permanent head in place, things will remain settled.”

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