Ian Bruce - Development Director and Company Secretary

Born and raised in Liverpool within the sound of the Kop roar and growing up with the Beatles and Bill Shankly gave me great role models on which to base my ambitions.

After leaving school, four years at Barclays Bank led on to College and I gained the qualification to teach. Eight years teaching in Liverpool then saw me head to Cornwall for a deputy headship and subsequently two headships. My first was in the small, picturesque village of Port Isaac and I then moved to Cornwall's largest urban area, Camborne, as head of Rosemellin School.

I have always viewed education on the wider scale and continually judge success through looking at the bigger picture. This has meant county, regional and national involvement with the National Association of Headteachers and through this links have developed with colleagues and organisations across the country.

In the autumn of 2005 I was seconded for two terms to act as co-ordinator for the Camborne, Pool and Redruth Excellence Cluster. This helped to widen my list of contacts and links with government agencies. On returning to Rosemellin in May of 2006 the governors immediately seconded me to the Rosemellin Children's Centre as Development Director to lead the Community development. This has led to the formation of the Community Interest Company and I am now a director of that as well as company secretary.

In 2002 the Gooseberry Bush Day Nursery was opened on the Rosemellin school site. Gill Smith, nursery manager and I worked with a number of partners over three years to achieve this. However there were times that it was nearly impossible to drive the project and do the day job. Rosemellin governors have recognised that in today’s education climate the major work needed by our CIC cannot be done by the head of either establishment full time, hence my secondment.

My commitment is to ensure that the funding is in place to build our centre and open in September 2009. The local and wider community will be our partners in this success.