The new headteacher of Helston Community College has spoken of her passion for being at the heart of the town.

Donna Bryant has taken over from Dr Pat McGovern and hopes to strengthen even further the ties between the college and the community.

She has already received a warm welcome, and just four days into the new term admitted: “I have to say, I feel like I’ve been here forever.

“People have been so friendly and welcoming, both the community and the school itself, students and staff.”

Mrs Bryant said she hoped to build on the strong foundations that already existed at the school, adding: “The school has got aspiration, ambition and achievement underpinning education – there’s no reason to change that.

“What we want to do is keep moving forward, to make it a reality for more and more young people.

“The local school should be the best it can be for the young people in its community. They shouldn’t need to go anywhere else – it should be the first choice, because it’s providing the best they can wish for.”

Several things attracted her to the post in Helston, not least the challenge of being in charge of a larger college: almost 1,600 students, compared to between 1,000 and 1,200 at her last headship in Liskeard.

A big draw was that the college is part of a large co-operative trust, the Helston and Lizard Peninsula Co-operative Education Trust, allowing improvement between schools – something she said there was a lot of potential for, which she found “really exciting.”

Mrs Bryant added: “The fact it’s a community college, so it’s part of its community, is really important to me.

“We want to work in partnership with the whole community. If people want to get involved with the school, our doors are open; come and see us.”

One opportunity to do this will be at Flora Day next May, when she leads the college in the children’s dance – and having attended this year’s event, she is looking forward to it.

One battle she has inherited from her predecessor is to finally see a revamp of the ageing building, after the college twice missed out on what appeared to be agreed funding.

With a bid now in for a share of a new government pot of money, the verdict should be known at Christmas.

“We will continue to fight that corner for social justice for our young people,” she promised.

“It’s a really exciting prospect; but we are committed to being the best we can be, with what we have got. Across the world people are being educated in schools that would give their right teeth for this building.”

She spoke of the passion of staff, adding that they worked “incredibly hard” and describing their willingness to take on new ideas as “tremendous.”

Mrs Bryant trained in Bristol as an |English and drama teacher before taking |up a post at Penair School in Truro. From there she moved to Wadebridge, with responsibility as second in command in English, and then on to Camborne where |she was head of English and creative arts, before becoming deputy head.

For the last seven years she has been headteacher at Liskeard School and Community College.

Mrs Bryant lives with her husband in Truro and they have three sons.

A member of Truro Baptist Church, she admits there is little time for hobbies but does enjoy reading and “pottering in the garden.”