Head starts

The new head has been a teacher for 10 years and Mrs Aldridge was the deputy-head at Hassocks Infants School before joining the Lancing school at the beginning of this new term.

Mrs Aldridge, who is married with five children, aged from 17 to 29 years old, lives in Hove.

She told the Herald: "It certainly is an exciting opportunity for me to take over as headteacher at Freshbrook First School.

"There are many positive things here. It's a real community school with a dedicated staff, excellence in art, a spacious site, good ICT facilities and a purpose-built nursery and large early years unit.

"It's my aim to build on existing strengths in the school to develop an early years provision which is exemplary, where children are active, motivated, happy, confident and with high esteem, so that they become independent, enthusiastic life-long learners."