DIDCOT Girls’ School’s new headteacher Rachael Warwick has vowed to be strict on uniform and punctuality at the start of the new academic year.

Mrs Warwick, who has joined the school from Bartholomew School, Eynsham, hailed the progress the school has made in the last year, and said she wants it to continue.

She takes over from acting head Fernand Dierckens, who was drafted in following the retirement of predecessor Paula Taylor-Moore following an Ofsted report which downgraded its rating from “good” to “satisfactory” and revealed behaviour problems among its pupils.

Mrs Warwick told the Oxford Mail: “I want to continue to support work taking place, and make sure there is a really excellent sense of behaviour in school.

“There is tremendous optimism and a shared will to move forward and make progress.”

Also starting his first day at a new school yesterday was a new headteacher at Didcot’s boys’ school, St Birinus, fellow English teacher Alwyn Richards.

Both say they are aiming for the schools to be rated “outstanding” by Ofsted.