A series of new senior school appointments were this morning announced by Education Minister Jennifer Smith.A statement from the Ministry said: "In line with the Ministry's focus on teaching and learning, and in order to address equity across the system, deputy principals have been selected to work with principals as part of an Administrative Team aligned to ensure that all schools achieve successful student outcomes."The Minister noted that the team concept represents stronger leadership across the system to raise student performance."Deputy principal posts are contracted appointments, usually for a period of three years. However, as a result of previous roll-overs of contracts, all deputy principal posts were up for consideration this year."This year, the Department of Education introduced a new process in which the deputies were chosen by the Department, with input by Principals. In the past, deputies were chosen by individual Principals."The process included a rigourous interview process in front of panels which included principals and Department of Education officials. An approved pool of candidates was then created from which principals of maintained schools then carried out their own interviews."Principals then submitted their recommendations which were reviewed by the Department of Education, who then placed them according to principal requests and system needs."School boards of aided schools selected their candidates in line with The Education Act 1996, which provides for aided school staff to be hired by their boards."Dame Jennifer said: “The Department of Education has created a professional development framework for these deputy principals over the following year. There is also an expectation and a responsibility on Principals to ensure accountability.“I trust you will join us in congratulating the new appointments and the reappointment of experienced deputy principals.”* The full list can be seen in the pdf file attached at the end of this story.