By Emily Hemsley
January 22 2020, 16.00
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The CEO of Richmond West Schools Trust was awarded an OBE in the 2020 New Year’s Honours List for her services to education.
Philippa Nunn has been headteacher of two ‘outstanding’ schools, The Holt School in Wokingham and Waldegrave School in Twickenham, for a total of 17 years.
She said: “I think that behind this award is really the hard work of staff and all the people I’ve worked with across the years.
“The key to working in schools is enjoying seeing the impact you can have on children.”
Since the beginning of 2019, she has been the CEO of Richmond West Schools Trust, which aims to reform previously failing Hampton High and Twickenham School, as well as working as an Ofsted inspector.
She was congratulated by former staff, pupils and parents online.
“Well deserved, we are all so proud of her,” said @WaldegraveSch via Twitter, the account of her previous school.
Former Waldegrave student, Georgia Madden, 19, said: “She was a great headteacher because she was caring and approachable but definitely had everybody’s respect.”
She was inspired to work in education as she admired her mother’s role as a teacher and enjoyed interacting with children.
She said: “Being a headteacher was my dream job, I love having the opportunity to grow your own school how you want it and make improvements and see how it makes an impact on the lives of people in the school.”
However, Ms Nunn admitted facing challenging times in her headships when funding to education decreased, which she said made her job ‘really difficult.’
She is currently looking forward to the ‘really exciting and impressive’ improvements Richmond West Schools Trust and staff are making at Hampton High and Twickenham School, which are ‘rapidly changing’.
Ms Nunn will be invited to receive her award later this year but said it was: ‘unexpected, emotional and very exciting’.
