10 December 2021

"Crombie has got a special place in my heart"

Angela Pond has been confirmed as the new head teacher of Crombie Primary School.

She was head teacher of Monymusk Primary School and depute at Crombie Primary School prior to her new role.

Speaking about her reaction to becoming the head teacher of Crombie Primary School, Mrs Pond said: “I was completely and utterly overwhelmed. This has been a career-long dream of mine. I started my career at Crombie. When I got the call to say I had been successful I was really quite overwhelmed.”

Mrs Pond graduated in 1999 from the then Northern College in Dundee with a post graduate degree in education following a degree in Biochemistry from the university of Aberdeen. Shortly after she graduated, she relocated to Aberdeen. Mrs Pond applied for a job at Crombie School to work in early intervention with children but was instead given a class teacher role. She started a family and took a career break which saw her relocate to Houston in America. When she returned to Aberdeenshire Mrs Pond applied to be a supply teacher again at Crombie Primary School. She quickly became a full-time permanent primary teacher at the school before becoming depute.

“Crombie has got a special place in my heart because it is where all the big stuff in my life happened. I got engaged there, married there, and had my children there. All the big milestones and life changing events have happened there. Therefore, it is really somewhere I feel like I belong. It feels like home. It is such a special place for me. It feels like all the people who have positively influenced my career – that’s where they have been,” Mrs Pond said.

She added: “My immediate priority has got to be the community spirit and the children. I adore the children at Crombie. They are really pretty special. The team and the teaching staff are like family to me. They work together so well. My priority is to pull everything together to create one big, happy school community working together to enhance the learning opportunities of the pupils, to get out into the community, and make sure there are lots of positive links so that everybody is working jointly for the best outcomes for all.”

Mrs Pond had always wanted to become a depute head teacher, preferably at Crombie Primary School. “I never in a million years dared to think I would be a head teacher one day. I thought that with having my own family becoming a head teacher may not be possible because it is such a big job, but I went to Monymusk Primary School to become head teacher which felt like a natural progression. When the vacancy came up at Crombie, I knew this is exactly what I want to do.” 

Mrs Pond has the following guidance for any teaching considering becoming a head teacher. “Be brave and do it. It’s a passion that’s in you. If you are going to make a difference to pupils and staff, then just do it. If a door opens, I walk through it. I just think I am going to give it a go. That’s exactly what I did.”

Cllr Gillian Owen, Aberdeenshire Council’s Education and Children’s Services Committee chair, said: “I am absolutely delighted for Angela Pond. It’s just fantastic to have a head teacher in post at a school where she has always wanted to be. I am in no doubt that the whole community of pupils, parents and carers, teachers and staff are 100% behind Angela in leading Crombie School.”

Committee vice chair Cllr Rosemary Bruce added: “I hope many teachers take Angela Pond’s advice and make the transition to becoming a head teacher. Head teachers play an important role in shaping and running our schools which ultimately has a huge impact on the development of children and young people in Aberdeenshire.”