The academy trust which oversees Ely College has announced Evelyn Forde as the new principal.

Ms Forde will take over from the start of the summer term and is to be supported by consultant head teacher Jill Coughlan and two new deputy principals, Martin Serrao and Janet Hallett.

The appointment was announced by the CfBT Education Trust.

Ms Forde steps in after Catherine Jenkinson-Dix resigned from her post as principal of the college in the wake of a scathing report from Ofsted, which placed the school in special measures.

In 2008, Ms Forde applied to be part of the Future Leaders programme, which trains and develops teachers to act as leaders in “challenging schools”.

Of Future Leaders, Ms Forde said it enabled her to make a “massive difference” and instilled confidence in her to be able to do the job.

She spent a year at Hampstead School, in London, as part of her training, where she said she set a focus on improving attendance and punctuality.

She said: “Being able to communicate with a parent, but also being able to communicate with the site staff, and the cleaner, and just recognising that all of those people are stakeholders.

“If you can’t build relationships with all of those stakeholders, I think as a senior leader you’re going to struggle.”

Ms Forde was previously deputy head teacher at Copland School, in Wembley, where, in 2012, she was part of a team which turned the fortunes of pupils around after it was also placed in special measures.