Judith Kilpatrick

Dame Judith Ann Gladys Kilpatrick, (née Foxley; 20 February 1952 – 5 September 2002) was an English head teacher who was noted for her work in the improvements in examination results at the City of Portsmouth Girls' School (now Portsmouth Academy) which led to the school acquiring advanced training school status in 2002. She first entered the teaching profession in 1974 at Regent Park's Girls School and went on to serve as a Liaison officer for schools in industry for South East Hampshire from 1987 to 1989. Kilpatrick later moved to Portsmouth where she had the deputy headship of the King Richard School and was appointed to the post of headmistress for the first time in her career in 1993 at The Wavell School.

She moved back to Portsmouth in 1995 and was appointed the new headmistress of the City of Portsmouth Girls' School and sought to achieve high standards from her students and colleagues. Kilpatrick was instrumental in persuading other schools to share teachers with challenging schools in an effort to improve standards and deliver a high-quality education. In her later years, she was a member of various quangos which included the Home Office Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs and served on the executive council of the Teacher Training Agency. Kilpatrick also represented the National Association of Head Teachers on the Portsmouth educational committee. After her death, she posthumously won a lifetime achievement award and a road was named in her honour.

Biography Early life and career Kilpatrick was born Judith Ann Gladys Foxley at St. Helen's Hospital in St Helens, Lancashire on 20 February 1952. Kilpatrick was the only child of James "Jim" Foxley, who was a treasurer for Bury Health Authority, and later worked for the National Health Service. After graduation, she took a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at the University of Southampton and thus qualified as a teacher. The remainder of Kilpatrick's working life was spent on or near the South Coast of England but did not lose her northern accent. She said of the decision to appoint her a DBE,

I'm absolutely thrilled to bits. It reflects well on all my colleagues, and that's the important thing. You don't get these sat in your office, you get them working with colleagues … Schools are about partnerships. It's about trusting your staff. Setting the parameters against which we're going to work, but then trusting people to do that—monitoring, supporting, and generally working with colleagues not above colleagues. In 2014, a development of 46 homes in Cosham was named Dame Judith Way in her honour and a plaque was also unveiled in her memory.