A NEW headteacher is making her mark at St Paul's Primary School in Chipperfield.

Norah Tattersall, 46, joined the school last month, after a three and a half year spell working as an advisor for the Hertfordshire Learning Authority (HLA).

She travelled across the county giving advice to other teachers, but now faces a fresh challenge to maintain St Paul's reputation as one of the best primary schools in the area.

Before joining HLA, Norah, from Abbots Langley, was deputy headteacher at another St Paul's, in Langleybury, and also enjoyed lessons at schools in Watford, including Parkgate Junior, and Hemel Hempstead. This is her first headship.

Norah said: "It's a wonderful school. It has a lovely ethos.

"The staff have been fantastically supportive and work very hard."

Ofsted gave St Paul's, of The Common, an impressive report in July and Norah is already working to improve the school further.

She said: "The challenge is not to be high achieving but how do we keep it and go beyond that.

"Pressures on schools who do achieve are just as great as those that underachieve.

"Those schools at least know the path they are on but at a school already doing very well, it has a lot of pressure from everybody to keep there.

My job is to support staff and enable them to teach as well as they can.

"It's the sort of school where they've had a period of great stability.

"The previous head Lyndon Evans, who stepped down in July was very successful and it's very important to me that the school feels positive about the next step of the journey and not period of uncertainty."

Norah also wants to increase the participation of pupils in the community, as she recognises that the school plays a vital role as the only school in the village.