The Ladies’ College, Guernsey have announced that Ms Daniele Harford-Fox has been appointed as the next Principal.
Daniele will succeed Mrs Ashley Clancy, who retires from this role in April next year.
Ms Harford-Fox takes up the role of Principal of The Ladies’ College in 2022, when the College celebrates 150 years of educating and empowering young women. She says, “I was drawn to the school’s powerful ethos of ‘do what is right, come what may’. Now more than ever, it feels important to raise young women to believe in the power of their own voice and their ability to change the world for the better.”
“Furthermore, The Ladies’ College is somewhere kind – a place in which each individual is known and every journey valued. For me, kindness is the ground in which all other things grow, in which young people can learn, take risks, be brave and flourish.”
“I’m so excited to have the opportunity to lead a school full of such talented staff, pupils and students. The Ladies’ College has such a powerful place in the culture, history and education system of the island and it will be a huge honour to continue the exceptional work of my predecessors in creating a genuinely wonderful, caring community.”
Ms Harford-Fox is an alumna of a Girls’ Schools Association school and, having completed a degree in Experimental Psychology at Oxford, she became a theatre director, working with companies in the UK, Bosnia, the USA and, finally, Kenya. In 2003, as the daughter and granddaughter of teachers, she moved into education and started the Psychology Department at Hillcrest International School in Nairobi, where she was promoted to Head of Sixth Form. In 2009, Ms Harford-Fox returned to the UK to take up a post at Solihull School, an HMC school in the West Midlands.
She was quickly appointed Director of Studies and then Deputy Head for Teaching, Learning and Innovation, and has been responsible for a number of major initiatives, from a large body of work on inclusion, gender and equality, through to the introduction of the Novus Curriculum, which is a reimagining of how to approach education in the 21st Century. The Novus Curriculum at her current school has been shortlisted for the Independent Schools of the Year Award for Outstanding New Initiative.
Advocate Caroline Chan, Chair of the Board of Governors, noted that, “Daniele Harford-Fox was appointed from a strong field of candidates. Her experience and values resonated with everyone involved in the appointment process and I look forward to welcoming her and her husband, Will, to the island. Ms Harford-Fox’s work on the Novus Curriculum complements the Future-Ready skills which College has been working on in a recent curriculum review, to ensure that pupils and students are supported in developing skills that sit alongside, and contribute to, the development of each individual’s knowledge and understanding”.
Mrs Ashley Clancy said, “I am incredibly pleased that the Board of Governors have appointed Daniele to be the next Principal of The Ladies’ College. She has a wealth of experience, which will support, develop and ensure the evolution of this very special community, which holds a special place in my heart”.
Ms Harford-Fox will be introduced to colleagues, pupils and students in October, when she visits Guernsey; and it is hoped that she will be able to join parents, alumnae and friends of the College at their annual Networking Evening, which will take place in March 2022, to celebrate International Women’s Day.
