Somersfield Academy has appointed former Clearwater Middle School principal Carlos Symonds as its new head of school.

Mr Symonds, a Bermudian with more than 25 years’ experience as an educator, has served at Somersfield since 2011 as deputy head of school and head of secondary.

He also served as deputy principal at The Berkeley Institute and CedarBridge Academy.

Several of Mr Symonds’ referees said in a statement: “Carlos is an enthusiastic person with very high energy. He is an excellent communicator who is articulate and has an excellent command of language. He tries to understand the position of others and that is key. Carlos is organised, well read, understands the International Baccalaureate programme and is very well respected by students and adults alike. He is confident and his commitment is huge.”

Mr Symonds will start his new post from July 2016.

In a letter sent to “the Somersfield community”, the chair of the school’s board of directors Aaron Smith and chair of the board’s search committee Cynthia Thomas wrote: “The board was seeking to determine which candidate would best match the needs of our school and the community and, ultimately, lead Somersfield to new levels of excellence through the fulfillment of its strategic priorities. Through the process, we were proud to recognise that Somersfield’s own internal candidate possessed all the leadership attributes we were seeking in the new head of school.”