ATTEMPTS to “force the head teacher's resignation” from Tenby’s Greenhill School will not succeed, Governors have said, as they give her their full backing this week.

There were reports last week that Jan Kingston was set to leave at the end of the year after a resignation letter written in March was leaked.

But her resignation has been rejected by Governors, the Western Telegraph can reveal.

A Governor, who does not wish to be named, said: "It would appear that someone is trying to force the Head’s resignation despite the refusal of the Governors to accept it."

Mrs Kingston's letter cited a “widespread lack of trust and confidence in my ability as headteacher to lead our school forward”.

However, Greenhill’s chairman of Governors county councillor Phil Baker told the Western Telegraph that Mrs Kingston had the full support of Governors, adding: “She is the person we want to lead us through the next years. She is dynamic and can take us in the right direction.”

He said that he was backed by the school Governors in the rejection of her resignation and an extraordinary meeting was held on Monday (May 18) to formally record the decision and hear that Mrs Kingston will not be leaving at the end of the Autumn term.

Cllr Baker said Governors and staff understood there was a “task ahead of us after last year’s inspection” and there was currently a restructuring review, at the request of Estyn, looking at senior staff at the school.

This had been objected to by teaching associations and “brought about a very protracted and unsettling period for staff, management and Governors of the school,” said a school spokesman.

“We are working together with the full support of the governing body. There’s a lot to do in the school but we believe Mrs Kingston is the person to do that,” added Cllr Baker.

In a statement on behalf of Greenhill School following the meeting, support for Mrs Kingston was reiterated.

It states: “Mrs Jan Kingston, who has a proven track record of raising standards, was appointed by the Governing Body in March 2009 with the express intention of achieving high standards for pupils at Ysgol Greenhill School. However, both Mrs. Kingston and the Governing Body have met with strong resistance in trying to implement the improvement strategies.”

It refers to a natural decline in pupil numbers which has led to a reduction in the number of staff required but adds that heads of departments “continue to be paid the salary supplement for the responsibility”.

The statement adds: “Governors and Mrs Kingston met on a number of occasions, at which all parties agreed that they were resolutely committed to continue the drive forward, despite the resistance to change and Mrs Kingston stated that she would withdraw her resignation. This decision was announced to staff at a meeting convened at the school on Tuesday, May 12.

“Following this announcement a copy of the original letter written by Mrs Kingston to staff back in April was provided to the Tenby Observer. This resulted in an article being published last Friday which wrongly stated that Mrs Kingston would be leaving at the end of the year.

In her resignation letter Mrs Kingston states: “I believe the long term interests of our school, pupils, parents and staff would be best met by a change of leadership and I have resigned.

“I am conscious that our school is still under Estyn monitoring and that there are still significant measures which need to be implemented before I can leave.”