New Headmistress for Farlington’s Prep School

01 Sep 2014

Farlington is delighted to announce that Frances Mwale has joined Farlington’s Prep School as the new Prep Headmistress from The Hawthorns School, Bletchingley. She takes over from Joy Baggs, who has retired after 25 years at the School.

Frances Mwale has been teaching since 1986, spending six years in Bexley, North Kent and then eight in Nairobi, Kenya, before teaching for fourteen years at The Hawthorns in Surrey. She grew up in Norfolk, was a student in Nottingham and then London, after which she lived in Dartford before heading off to Nairobi. She returned to West Sussex to live near her family.

Although until recently in a co-ed school, she attended Norwich High School from four until eighteen years of age and fully understands how girls’ education allows you to be yourself! She left school with plenty of confidence, a ‘can do’ attitude and the security to know that she could follow her passions, irrespective of whether these were perceived as male or female domains.

She is looking forward to working with a fantastic teaching team at Farlington and getting to know both the girls and their parents. She says, “I am an ‘ideas’ person, so hope to be able to offer fresh ideas and ways of working, to enthuse and motivate others. My first priority is to get to know everyone, their strengths and what concerns them. I want the education offered to the girls to be one that affords maximum opportunity, challenge, support and inspiration. Creativity is so important and to look at ways of using the fantastic grounds and buildings to develop a passion for learning is really important.”