This year sees the end of an era for Principal Maggie Hughes, who has been in the teaching profession for 38 years.

On Friday the 31st of August, Mrs Hughes will retire from her role of Principal and pass on the role to Vice Principal, Mrs Hazeldine.

After securing her degree at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Mrs Hughes taught Mathematics at many different schools in the Walsall region. In 1989 she was appointed her first lead role as Head of KS4 at St Thomas More Catholic School, which would be the start of an era of leadership roles at alternating schools.

Maggie Hughes joined the St Edmund’s community in September of 2007 as Deputy Headteacher. As St Edmund’s underwent its transformation from a school to an academy, Mrs Hughes was appointed by the Directors as Principal after the retirement of former Principal, Deirdre Finucane. Mrs Hughes has taken the academy from strength to strength, and has achieved much in her time here, such as a ‘Good’ from the Ofsted inspection of March 2016, and the Ubi Caritas Award from Archbishop Longley in recognition of her role in leading all that is exceptional in Catholic education.

The academy is now over-subscribed with approximately 630 children applying for the 200 places available in Year 7 in September 2018 and has a thriving Sixth Form. Clearly, Mrs Hughes has helped to form the school into the distinguished Academy it is today. She will be sorely missed.

Mrs Hughes retires this year