She has been appointed assistant head of Graffham and Duncton schools and will start there in September.

Sally was an air stewardess with British Caledonian and BA for several years, ending as a training instructress before leaving to retrain as a phlebotomist, taking blood samples.

This fitted better with family life and also enabled her to fund an access course before her degree in English at Chichester University, where she also took her PGCE to qualify as a teacher.

Her first job as a newly-qualified teacher was at Central Junior Shool in Chichester where she taught Year 6 for four years, moving to Fernhurst to teach Years 4 and 5 in 2005.

During her three years there she has covered such topics as the second world war, including building an Anderson shelter in the classroom; the Tudors, where she had everyone dressed for the part; Nelson and the Victory and many more. She is the art, music, maths and the national healthy schools co-coordinator.

In September she moves to Graffham and Duncton where she will teach for two-and-a half-days and handle leadership and management for the rest of the week. She will be responsible for the Reception class and for the Early Years Foundation.

Sally, who is married to Graham Bloomfield, headmaster of Fittleworth School, said she would miss the school and being part of the village, and being with all the people she knew.

Fernhurst head teacher Margaret Edwards said Sally had given a tremendous amount to Fernhurst School and in her capacity as leader of Key Stage Two she had transformed the education of the older children.