REBECCA Brown was thrilled to start her first day as head of Northwood College for Girls by welcoming the largest number of Year 7 students into the girls’ day school in more than 20 years.

Previously assistant head and director of sixth form and, since 2018, deputy head, Mrs Brown has had oversight of all aspects of Northwood College’s academic life.

She studied history at Balliol College, Oxford, and began her teaching career at North London Collegiate School (Edgware), before joining Northwood College in 2016.

She said: “I am unashamedly ambitious for our students. My aim is to empower each girl with the knowledge, insight and motivation to enter adulthood as an ambitious, confident, conscientious and happy member of society.”

A voracious reader and a keen baker, she practises pilates and enjoys running in the Chiltern countryside near her home in Amersham.

Mrs Brown’s daughters, Darcey and Flora, are both pupils in NWC’s junior school.

Her predecessor, Zara Hubble, has now retired but will remain as a governor. Next Spring, the school will open a new £12m science block. Last term, it opened a new sixth-form pavilion.