A GOUROCK-born teacher has come full circle by returning to a former school as its head teacher.

St Stephen’s High School’s new head teacher Jennifer McDonald says she is delighted to take on the role at the Port Glasgow establishment.

Jennifer’s new job is not her first stint at the school as she taught English at St Stephen’s almost two decades ago when she was starting out as a teacher.

Now at the helm of the school, Jennifer told the Telegraph she couldn’t wait to work with its amazing community of staff, pupils and parents.

She said: “It’s incredible being back. I absolutely loved being in the English department and there were no permanent jobs in Inverclyde at that time so I had to move out, but to have come full circle is amazing - I’m delighted.

“There were staff on the first day who put it together and I’ve already had parents working out who I am and remembering me from 1996."

Jennifer was previously at Notre Dame High School, where she held the position of principal teacher of English for six years before becoming their depute head teacher for seven years.

She said: “I’ve always loved teaching and I’ve always been passionate about supporting our young people and being ambitious for them.

“I really enjoyed the principal teacher role but then I really wanted to look at all of our young people and help them to develop and move onto positive and sustained destinations after school as well.

“When this job came up for me because it’s Inverclyde and I know the young people of Inverclyde, understand them and care so much about them, so knowing what a strong faith community St Stephen’s was that was why I was so passionate about coming here.”

Jennifer says her experiences living and working in Inverclyde have more than prepared her for the rigours of being the school’s new head teacher.

She added: “I’ve lived in Inverclyde for all my life and I do know the many strengths of our amazing areas but I’m also very aware of the challenges they face.

“I’m really looking forward to working in partnership with our young people, with our staff, with our parents and with our partners.

“I really want to support our young people to flourish and become that very best version of themselves and for me it’s about that support and ensuring there aren’t any barriers that prevent them from achieving everything they can in life.

Pupils and staff have already given Jennifer a warm welcome and she says her first few weeks have been full of exciting moments.

She said: “A couple of highlights for me so far has been the whole school mass we had in St Francis’s Church.

"That was Father Matthew’s last whole school mass before he moved on, so it was a really lovely occasion to come together. I was so proud of the whole school community coming together.

“Last week we had our first year welcome mass, and I was able to meet the families and the parents and have a cuppa with them and really feel a strong welcome from them.

“The faith community really is everything for us. Everything we do is about those gospel values, and it’s about having that shared aim to come together as a community.”