The newly-appointed headteacher of a school due to open in Harpenden next year has pledged to prepare its students to “succeed in a changing world”.

The current deputy head of Roundwood Park School, Tony Smith, will be the headteacher of Katherine Warington School, which will open in September 2018.

He was selected from a field of national applicants after a two day interview process.

Mr Smith has taught at Roundwood Park for 10 years as an economics specialist and has been a member of the senior leadership team for the past eight years.

Since 2015 he has been project manager for Katherine Warington School, liaising with the county council, parents and Kier Construction, which has won the contract to plan and build the new school.

He said: “I am delighted to be appointed as the founding headteacher for the first new secondary school in Harpenden for over 50 years.

“It is such a unique opportunity to set up the Katherine Warington School and work collaboratively with parents, students and the other exceptional secondary schools to open a new school with educational excellence at its centre.

“My absolute priority is to deliver a curriculum which inspires and engages students, promotes critical thinking and prepares them to succeed in a changing world.”

Philip Waters, chairman of Harpenden Secondary Education Trust (HSET) said: “As our project manager [Tony] has put his heart and soul into ensuring that the needs of our community will be met by the new school.

“He will carry this project role to our initial opening in September 2018 and as our founding headteacher he will recruit, develop, lead and inspire the new staff team to deliver a high-quality educational experience for all of the students of Katherine Warington School.”

The school will open with 180 new year-seven pupils on a permanent site in Batford.

Once full, the school will have 900 pupils and a sixth form of 250 young people.

Several public consultation meetings will be held in July and planning permission will be applied for in September.

The open day for prospective parents for 2018 is Saturday, October 14 this year.