'ONE of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make'.

That was how Carol Ann Penrose described when she as given the chance to take over as rector at Cupar's Bell Baxter High School leaving Lochgelly High after over six years at the helm.

Looking back at her time at LHS she said that she was so proud of the way both staff and pupils had worked to continue to the school's improvement curve.

Carol Ann was only the now 30 year-old school's fourth rector when she arrived in February 2012 to replace Campbell Wood.

She said: "When I walked through the door here I felt that there was a lot of strength in the school and while there were areas that needed to improve I always was confident that these could be achieved as the qualities of our young people were very solid.

"One of the early successes we saw was the development of the Employability initiative which Ray Fernie worked very hard on developing.

"We knew from the feedback we were getting from our local employers that it was something they would welcome us following through and Ray built up an impressive range of contacts in the local business community.

"Within a matter of a year it was proving itself as an excellent initiative and now it has been adopted nationally."

Carol Ann believed that Employability played an important part in opening up avenues for pupils to develop their future paths but she was also delighted to see the efforts of staff and pupils rewarded year after year with Academic performances at the school improving and last year there was a 15 per cent rise in exam passes.

Carol Ann saw the school's 30th anniversary celebrations and the Polar Academy experience as two very significant happenings over her tenure as rector.

She added: "I felt that it was really important that the anniversary was fully recognised as a significant part of the school's history and the weekend celebrations were really superb with over £4,000 being raised for charity.

"The Polar Academy initiative was something which I hoped would see us involved in and the Academy's Craig Mathieson was someone who appreciated that Lochgelly High fitted the factfile for the challenge.

"Over 270 of our pupils volunteered to take part and 20 were chosen.

"I was astounded when Craig suggested that as the Academy always took a member of staff with them I could be the person.

"I wondered if I would be able to tackle it but decided to give it a go and it was an amazing experience.

"What I change I noticed in the young people who took part and it is something I will never forget."

Talking about the move to Bell Baxter after the holidays Carol Ann said: "The opportunity came up a bit out of the blue in June and I must say that it was something I found very difficult to decide upon.

"I have always found the LHS community so very warm and responsive and the challenge of Bell Baxter, which has a much bigger roll, as an interesting one.

"As I felt Lochgelly High was in a very strong position I felt I would take on the new challenge and I know that LHS will continue to flourish."