A PASSION for education and the drive to improve are the qualities Hartford High School's new headteacher brings to his role.

Mike Holland, 40, from Hartford, is immensely proud of the school where he has been deputy headteacher for the past five years and is looking forward to taking it from strength to strength.

He said: "Applying to be the headteacher was not a difficult decision to make.

"I believe in playing a part in community life and the thought of being a headteacher within the community was something that really appealed to me."

He added: "Obviously I know it's a good school and had my eyes wide open when I took on the role.

"I've got fantastic colleagues and knew I could work with the kids and their parents."

In the very near future the school hopes to achieve its bid for specialist school status in languages and sport, which would bring £500,000 funding over four years.

Mike started teaching at a school in Runcorn 19 years ago before becoming head of history at an Alsager school and head of sixth form at Tarporley High School.

He said: "The thing that sets this school apart is the amount of responsibility it gives to its pupils.

"The school council thrives and the prefect system is going from strength to strength.

"That's why sport and languages fit into the ethos - they're both big on responsibility.

"With languages it's about toleration and other cultures and with sport it's about either self-discipline or being part of a team."

He added: "We want to maintain and improve standards.

"In the past two years we've had the best results to date and we want to make them even better."