SEND school head teacher retires after 21 years

A head teacher who has retired after more than two decades in charge of a special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) school has shared her pride at its transformation.

Shez Webb became the head of Northgate School in Northampton in September 2004 and was awarded an MBE in 2024 for services to education.

As well as running the school, Webb oversaw the creation of a specialist sixth form with vocational experience called The Bee Hive in Kingsthorpe, which operates a cafe and charity shop that are open to the public.

Webb said her 21 years in charge of the school had "flown by" and she "couldn't remember being anywhere else".

Under Webb, who retired prior to the Easter holidays, Northgate was the first Send school in the England to become an academy.

When reflecting on changes in her 21 years in charge, she said: "It [Northgate School] was a third of the size it is now, not only the buildings, but the number of children.

"It had a reputation for being a school with children with bad behaviour and it just needed some sorting out.

"We put some structure in, got a great team, built them up and we have turned the school around over the years."

Webb added: "As the school has gotten bigger it's got a bit more strategic. You get very involved in the local authority and planning for special needs and we developed our sixth form which was a whole new concept of The Bee Hive."

After recognising there was a lack of support available beyond sixth form for pupils, she created a vocational education facility for students to learn life skills for independent living known as The Place to Bee in Kingsthorpe.

"A lot of people slipped through the net years ago. Society's attitude to special needs was very, very different [in the past].

"Now we're much more out in the community and it's much more about employability for the youngsters," she said.

Webb added she had few plans for retirement beside walking her granddaughter to school "when the weather is nice".

"That's all I have planned, and I'll see what comes up," she said.

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