THE Department of Education has appointed Sally Brookes as Head of Services for Children, with effect from 1st September 2009.
The post has been created as the Department works with the Departments of Home Affairs and Health and Social Security to more closely integrate services for children.
Mrs Brookes will move from Ballakermeen High School, where she has been Assistant Headteacher since 2002, to take up the new key management role within the Department of Education.
She will report to the Deputy Director of Education and will have a pivotal role in raising standards in services for children and families.
The announcement of her appointment comes on the eve of the publication of the first ever Children’s Plan this week and ahead of the creation of an expanded Department for Education and Children.
Mrs Brookes qualified from the University of London with a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and taught in schools in London and Bradford before joining the senior management team at Salt Grammar School in Shipley as Assistant Headteacher and completing a Masters degree in Education Management.
On the Isle of Man, she has spent seven years on the leadership team at Ballakermeen High School, overseeing the large special educational needs team and completing the National Professional Qualification for Headship while also becoming involved in the wider community to improve outcomes for children and young people.
Mrs Brookes said ‘Although I am sad to be leaving Ballakermeen, I am looking forward to the exciting challenges of this new role, where I will be working with an excellent team of people in a variety of fields.
‘Our job is to ensure that, from the very beginning of their lives, we put in place everything that the children need, so that they can be the best that they can be, for the sake of our future society.
‘We need to ensure that we work closely with all agencies involved to ensure that we utilise children’s services in a planned, cohesive and sustainable way for the benefit of the children and young people of the Isle of Man.’
Stuart Dobson, Deputy Director of Education, said there was a strong field of candidates for the post.
He said of Mrs Brookes’ appointment ‘We are delighted that Sally will be joining us in September to take up this new and important post, which will help us to make the best of our work on children and families with other Departments and efficiently and effectively manage some of our services for children.’
